Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery

*Criminal Macabre*
Criminal Macabre
	Cover of Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery (2003), trade paperback collected edition; , art by Ben Templesmith
First appearance	"Big Head" (1990)
Created by	Steve Niles
Publication information
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics ; Image Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Title(s)
	"Big Head"; "Hairball"; Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery; Last Train To Deadsville: A Cal Mcdonald Mystery; Love Me Tenderloin: A Cal McDonald Mystery; Supernatural Freak Machine: A Cal McDonald Mystery; Criminal Macabre: Two Red Eyes; Criminal Macabre: Feat of Clay; Criminal Macabre: My Demon Baby; Criminal Macabre: Cell Block 666
Formats	Original material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) Fly in My Eye and Dark Horse Presents and a set of limited series and one-shot comics.
Genre	Horror ;
Publication date	1990 – Ongoing
Main character(s)	Cal McDonald
Creative team
Writer(s)	Steve Niles
Artist(s)	Jim Whiting ; Ben Templesmith ; Kelley Jones ; Kyle Hotz ; Nick Stakal
Reprints
	Collected editions
Criminal Macabre	ISBN 1-56971-935-7
Last Train to Deadsville	ISBN 1-5930-7107-8

Last updated January 20, 2022

Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery is a comic book series starring Cal McDonald, an antihero American comic book character created in 1990 by writer Steve Niles. The character's adventures have been published by Dark Horse Comics and later IDW Publishing.

Publishing history

Cal McDonald's first story, entitled "Big-Head", was released in 1990 as part of the anthology comic Fly in My Eye: Daughters of Fly In My Eye from Arcane Comix, with art by Jim Whiting. That story led directly to the four-part "Hairball", serialized in Dark Horse Presents #102-105 in 1996. Hairball was later printed as a one-shot comic.

Cal's subsequent appearances were in two 2002 novels, Savage Membrane, and Guns, Drugs and Monsters. In the latter, Cal relocated to Los Angeles, after following a living, severed head searching for its body.

Following the novels, Cal made his return to comic book form in the Dark Horse Comics mini-series, Criminal Macabre (2003) with Ben Templesmith as artist. The two would pair up again for a one-shot comic titled "Love Me Tenderloin" in 2004. Cal's adventures have continued in other mini-series such as "Last Train to Deadsville" and "Supernatural Freak Machine", both with artist Kelley Jones, where he re-encountered the severed head. Next, he starred in the mini-series "Two Red Eyes" with artist Kyle Hotz, where he does battle with the vampire Nosferatu. He also made a brief appearance in short story format in the Dark Horse Comics released title Drawing on your Nightmares, again with Ben Templesmith as artist. From there, he went on to do "My Demon Baby" and "Cell Block 666" with artist Nick Stakal. The series "Two Red Eyes" started a trend continuing in "My Demon Baby", where action film actor Thomas Jane would portray Cal on the issue's covers, stylized by artist Tim Bradstreet.

During the release of some of the comic book series there was another novel released in 2003 titled Dial M for Monster: A Cal McDonald Collection. This novel included several short stories featuring Cal.

Criminal Macabre: The Complete Cal McDonald Stories collects the entire catalogue of Cal McDonald short stories (not the comic stories) until this point. It was released on December 26 of 2007.

Series titles

Hairball (IDW one-shot, collected from Dark Horse Presents v1 102-105)
Criminal Macabre (Dark Horse 5-issue mini-series, 2003)
Love Me Tenderloin (Dark Horse one-shot, Criminal Macabre 6)
Drawing on your Nightmares (Dark Horse short story entitled Letter From B.S.)
Last Train to Deadsville (Dark Horse 4-issue mini-series, 2004)
Supernatural Freak Machine (IDW published 1-3; Dark Horse included issues 4 and 5 in the Criminal Macabre Omnibus Vol. 1 and the Supernatural Freak Machine collection)
Feat of Clay (Dark Horse one-shot, 2006)
Two Red Eyes (Dark Horse 4-issue mini-series, 2007)
My Demon Baby (Dark Horse 4-issue mini-series, 2008)
Cell Block 666 (Dark Horse 4-issue mini-series, 2009)
Call Me Monster (Dark Horse FCBD 2011 one-shot)
When Freaks Collide (Dark Horse one-shot crossover with The Goon)
No Peace for Dead Men (Dark Horse one-shot, 2011)
Die, Die, My Darling! (Dark Horse one-shot, collected from Dark Horse Presents v2 4-6, 2012)
Final Night (Dark Horse 4-issue crossover with 30 Days of Night)
They Fight by Night (Dark Horse one-shot, 2012)
The Iron Spirit (Dark Horse oversized deluxe hardcover one-shot, 2012)
The Eyes of Frankenstein (Dark Horse 4-issue mini-series, 2013)
The Third Child (Dark Horse 4-issue mini-series, 2014)
The Big Bleed Out (Dark Horse 4-issue mini-series, 2019)
Spirit of the Demon (Dark Horse graphic novel, 2022)

Collected editions

The series has been collected into a number of trade paperbacks:

Title	Artist	ISBN	Collects
Criminal Macabre	Ben Templesmith	ISBN 1-56971-935-7	Issues 1-5
Last Train to Deadsville	Kelley Jones	ISBN 1-59307-107-8	Last Train To Deadsville 1-4 (Criminal Macabre 7-10)
Supernatural Freak Machine	Kelley Jones	ISBN 1-59307-731-9	Supernatural Freak Machine 1-5 (Criminal Macabre 11-15)
Two Red Eyes	Kyle Hotz	ISBN 1-59307-843-9	Two Red Eyes 1-4 (Criminal Macabre 17-20)
My Demon Baby	Nick Stakal	ISBN 1-59307-908-7	My Demon Baby 1-4 (Criminal Macabre 21-24)
Cell Block 666	Nick Stakal	ISBN 1-59307-908-7	Cell Block 666 1-4 (Criminal Macabre 25-28)
Omnibus Vol. 1	Ben Templesmith and Kelley Jones	ISBN 1-59582-746-3	Issues 1-5, Letter From B.S., Love Me Tenderloin, Last Train to Deadville 1-4, Supernatural Freak Machine 1-5
Omnibus Vol. 2	Casey Jones, Kyle Hotz and Nick Stakal	ISBN 1-59582-746-3	Two Red Eyes 1-4, My Demon Baby 1-4, Cell Block 666 1-4, Feat of Clay, The Creepy Tree, The Trouble With Brains, Hairball
Omnibus Vol. 3	Scott Morse and Christopher Mitten	ISBN 978-1-61655-648-8	Final Night: The 30 Days Of Night Crossover 1-4, The Eyes Of Frankenstein 1-4, The Iron Spirit, Call Me Monster, When Freaks Collide, No Peace For Dead Men, Die! Die! My Darling, They Fight By Night

In other media

Novels

Title	Publisher	ISBN	Release date
Savage Membrane	Idea & Design Works	ISBN 978-0-9712282-3-8	April 2002
Guns, Drugs & Monsters	Idea & Design Works	ISBN 978-0-9719775-2-5	February 2005
Dial M For Monster	Idea & Design Works	ISBN 1-932382-05-4	September 2003
Criminal Macabre: The Complete Cal McDonald Stories	Dark Horse Books	ISBN 1-59582-118-X	December 2007

Film

A Cal McDonald film is said to be on the way, however due to the nature of the character, Steve Niles does not want to compromise or "water down" Cal McDonald, making it tough to find a studio that will finance the film as is.^[1]

Universal Pictures signed a deal to produce a Criminal Macabre movie with Kyle Ward scripting. It was set for release in 2010.^[2]

Notes

↑ "Steve Niles Interview". Ugo.com. 2010-10-07. Archived from the original on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (August 13, 2009). "Universal has 'Criminal' intent". Variety . Retrieved October 27, 2019.

Related Research Articles

IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recognized as the fifth-largest comic book publisher in the United States, behind Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image Comics, ahead of other major comic book publishers such as Archie, Boom!, Dynamite, Valiant and Oni Press. The company is perhaps best known for its licensed comic book adaptations of movies, television shows, video games, and cartoons.

The Goon is a comic book series written and drawn by Eric Powell. The series mixes both a comical and violent atmosphere with a supernatural slant, which pit the titular character against undead creatures/zombies, ghosts, ghouls, mutants, skunk-apes with an unnatural hunger for pies, giant squids, mob/gang leaders, extra-dimensional aliens, mad scientists and robots.

The Badger is a fictional character, a superhero in American comic books publisher by the short-lived Capital Comics company and then First Comics. He was created by writer Mike Baron in 1983 and published through the early 1990s in a titular series that ended when First Comics also ceased all publications. Since the ongoing series ended in 1991, new Badger titles have been released through Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics and IDW Publishing.

Geofrey "Geof" Darrow is an American comic book artist, best known for his work on comic series Shaolin Cowboy, Hard Boiled and The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, which was adapted into an animated television series of the same name, as well as his contributions to The Matrix series of films. Darrow's approach to comics and art has been cited as an influence by a multitude of artists including Peter Chung, Frank Quitely, Seth Fisher, Eric Powell, Frank Cho, Juan José Ryp, James Stokoe, Chris Burnham, Aaron Kuder, Nick Pitarra, and others.

Godzilla has appeared in a range of comic books that have been published in Japan and the United States.

Tim Bradstreet American artist and illustrator

Tim Bradstreet is an American artist and illustrator, best known for his work on comic books, book covers, movie posters, roleplaying games and trading cards.

Steven Grant is an American comic book writer best known for his 1985–1986 Marvel Comics mini-series The Punisher with artist Mike Zeck and for his creator-owned character Whisper.

Steve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery, Simon Dark, Mystery Society, and Batman: Gotham County Line.

Ben Templesmith is an Australian comic book artist best known for his work in the American comic book industry, most notably the Image Comics series Fell, with writer Warren Ellis, and IDW's 30 Days of Night with writer Steve Niles, which was adapted into a motion picture of the same name. He has also created book covers, movie posters, trading cards, and concept work for film.

30 Days of Night is a three-issue horror comic book miniseries written by Steve Niles, illustrated by Ben Templesmith, and published by American company IDW Publishing in 2002. All three parties co-own the property.

Scott Morse is an American animator, filmmaker, and comic book artist/writer.

Leah Moore is a British comic book writer and columnist. The daughter of comics writer Alan Moore, she frequently collaborates with her husband, writer John Reppion, as Moore & Reppion.

John Mark Reppion is an English comics writer. He is married to Leah Moore, the daughter of Alan Moore, and he has worked with both on the comic Albion.

Scott Hampton is an American comic book artist known for his painted artwork. He is the brother of fellow comics-creator Bo Hampton.

Matt Fraction American comic book writer

Matt Fritchman, better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of The Invincible Iron Man, The Immortal Iron Fist, Uncanny X-Men, and Hawkeye for Marvel Comics; Casanova and Sex Criminals for Image Comics; and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen for DC Comics.

Kelley Jones is an American comics artist best known for his work on Batman with writer Doug Moench and on The Sandman with writer Neil Gaiman.

Angel: After the Fall, also known as Angel: Season 6, is a comic book published by IDW Publishing. Written by Brian Lynch and plotted with Joss Whedon, the series is a canonical continuation of the Angel television series, and follows the events of that show's final season. Angel: After the Fall was prompted by IDW Publishing and Joss Whedon after the success of Dark Horse Comics' Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight which is the official comic continuation of Angel's mothershow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel: After the Fall sees the heroic vampire, Angel, coping with the apocalyptic aftermath of the television series after he took over and subsequently betrayed the demonic law firm, Wolfram & Hart. The city of Los Angeles has since been sent to hell by Wolfram & Hart as a result of Angel's actions. The series follows his attempts to rescue the people he has sworn to protect. The first issue was released on November 21, 2007.

Kyle Hotz is an American comic book artist and writer. His work has appeared in series published by Marvel Comics, DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics.

Nat Jones is an American artist working primarily in comic books and film. Jones is best known for his work on Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer.

References

Cal McDonald at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery at the Grand Comics Database
Cal McDonald at IDW Publishing
Criminal Macabre at Dark Horse

at Variety Online

External links

My Demon Baby #1 review, Comics Bulletin, September 24, 2007

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Steve Niles Interview". Ugo.com. 2010-10-07. Archived from the original on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2010-10-11.

[2] Fleming, Mike Jr. (August 13, 2009). "Universal has 'Criminal' intent". Variety . Retrieved October 27, 2019.

[1]

[2]