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Wormwood Volume 1
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List Price: $19.99
Our Price: $13.59
Your Save: $ 6.40 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Manufacturer: IDW Publishing
Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5
EAN: 9781600100475
ISBN: 1600100473
Label: IDW Publishing
Manufacturer: IDW Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 152
Publication Date: 2007-03-28
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Studio: IDW Publishing
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Editorial Reviews:
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Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Singularity 7, Fell) creates an all-eerie and humorous new series. Things are awakening in the city. Things that have a nasty habit of leaving mutilated bodies in their wake and it all reeks of demons and dark gods up to no good. Owing a favor to his lazy ghost cop buddy Trotsky, Wormwood, the gentleman corpse and his oddball entourage are brought in to investigate the case (or at least hopefully not stuff it up too much.)
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Macabre humor with an attitude
Comment: That's Wormwood on the cover - see him? Not that animated corpse in the front, look into his eyes, or at least sockets. There, that maggot, that's Wormwood, animating that well-dressed corpse.
Nattily attired in his zombie suit, Wormwood inhabits the demimonde of supernatural beings and "adult" entertainments. When people start exploding in his favorite venue for exotic dance, he takes it on himself to hunt down the source of this annoying evil. Aided by an attitudinous guard-babe any by Pendulum, a mechanical man looking for upgrades in the manhood department, he's off.
Templesmith's jagged, chromatic style carries this story, cheerfully working from one blood-spattered clue to the next, racing against time to prevent a ghastly assault on our universe. He finds that threat and goes to nullify it ... a moment too late. What happens then had me rolling on the floor.
It certainly isn't for little kids, but I recommend Templesmith's eerie artwork and gallows humor. Enjoy!
-- wiredweird
Customer Rating:
Summary: A step backwards in human/Leprechaun relations
Comment: Bizarre brilliance.
Templesmith's scripting is as morbidly humorous as his art, and the result is a wacky, "New Weird" romp through the modern occult underworld.
Although there's little time for explanation or backstory, Templesmith actually got me to care about his collection of misfit adventurers by the end of the first page. Or, at the very least, I was ready to cheer them on as they thumped on the demon intruders.
Not sure how to accurately praise the Leprechaun scene, other than to say it is a truly legendary moment in comic book history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: wormwood
Comment: A fabulous idea coupled with fantastic original artistic style make for a must read comic.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hellboy + Constantine = Wormwood
Comment: Hot on the supernatural heels of Constantine and Hellboy comes another demon fighter/monster killer of ambiguous character named Wormwood. He's a welcome addition to the horror comic-book hero pantheon due to his unflappable personality and dark humor.
Like Hellboy, Wormword isn't, shall we say, quite human. He's a sentient wormlike creature who uses corpses for mobility and to blend in with humanity (magic helps a bit with his camouflage). As with Constantine, he's familiar with the nasty underbelly of reality and has a sense of noirish mirth that leavens his altruism. And there is also the typical assortment of oddball, gifted sidekicks to provide comic relief and take the brunt of punishment during combat.
In this collection, Wormwood and his partners take on some Cthulhu-like creatures that are threatening to devour humanity. Of course, this particular storyline has been done many times before. But Mr. Templesmith manages to (ahem) inject some interesting angles. For example, the author does a fine job tapping into our primal fears of sharing bodily fluids, STDs, and being consumed by one's lover or offspring. And as for the medium of transmission - well, I'll certainly never watch a male enhancement commercial the same way again.
Despite the intriguing characters, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the climactic battle between Wormwood & Co. and the main nasty. It was handled in a somewhat different way than these conflicts usually are, but the resolution seemed to invalidate the preceding mayhem. Clever at first reading, but it kind of lost its luster for me after further reflection.
The helter-skelter art suggests Bill Sienkiewicz's run on the New Mutants awhile back. Normally I prefer a more realistic approach - I liked Mr. Sienkiewicz better when he was a Neal Adams clone (a la "Moon Knight"). For reference, my favorite horror artists are "Swamp Thing" illustrators Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch, and John Totleben. However, as with Hellboy's artist, Mr. Templesmith's pencils fit his undead character's surreal tone and icky atmosphere just fine. As a bonus, cover and sketchbook art are included as well.
Overall, "Wormwood" is an interesting take on the loner hero (Wormwood and his ilk are always set apart, even when surrounded by associates) who stands between us and the forces of chaos. If you enjoy Hellboy and Constantine, then "Wormwood" will slither easily into your collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: SQUISHY, DARK FUN!
Comment: Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse is the product of 30 Days of Night artist, Ben Templesmith, who not only provides the art, but wrote the story as well. This 152 page trade paperback collects the four issue mini-series along with the Wormwood: The Taster which served as a prelude to the mini-series. If I could pick just one word to describe Wormwood it would be...squishy...that tends to sum up both the look and feel of the book. Wormwood is a sentient worm that lives inside the eye-socket of a rather dapper English gentleman corpse. I've heard Wormwood described as actually being a maggot but no, he's definitely longer and, uh, squishier than a maggot.
Wormwood is never without his sidekick Mr. Pendulum, a mechanical construct with a bad attitude who looks like one of the members of ZZ Top. He's also frequently in the company of a lazy ghost detective named Trotsky, assistant Phoebe Phoenix, and former girlfriend Medusa who runs a local strip club and guards a gateway to hell. A pretty eclectic band of characters, no doubt about it!
Wormwood is like the John Constantine of the worm/maggot world. He's known to associate with various demons and deities, often over a multitude of beers. The opening prelude takes place in Medusa's club which suddenly becomes infected with demonic plants which have a nasty habit of bursting out of the customer's mouths. Wormwood and crew have to find the sporefather and destroy it before all of the customers become hothouses four more of the beasties. "Birds, Bees, Blood, and Beer" is a four-part story making up the bulk of the book. Someone is selling men what amounts to tainted viagra...improving their sexual performance, but also causing their seed to quickly germinate until a many-tentacled creature explodes out of their partner's belly. Yes...squishy is definitely the word for Wormwood.
By his own admission, Templesmith's art is love it or hate it. I have come around and you can count me in the "love it" category. His sketchy, abstract style is a perfect marriage to visual horror genre. Few artists today make use of color for style and setting a mood they way Templesmith does. Even the word balloons take on distinctive characteristics for the various characters. Templesmith weaves the horrific elements with dry humor for a masterful series. The book concludes with a spectacular cover and pin-up gallery featuring art by Templesmith, Grant Gould, Colton Worley, and Art Grafunkel.
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