This Damned Band continues to disappoint in an issue full of cute little touches that are wasted on a boring story. Tony Parker is good at drawing creepy things, actiony things, texturally detailed things--so why in the ever-loving fuck does Cornell have him drawing chairs? Okay, so there's just two panels prominently full of chairs, but the people and settings in this comic are washed out, devoid of detail, and unsuitable of Parker's talents.

Kindzierski's colors are still distinctly late 60's early 70's, but this is wasted too. Everything in this book is wasted. The talent of the creators, the concept--it's all going nowhere.

At one point, people slowly disappear from a painting. At another, a bust of a woman awkwardly prominent in the shot slowly begins to grin over the course of several panels. Other than these two little cutesy background moves (the latter of which is horribly cheesy), there are maybe three haunted moments worth of things that happen to the main characters. Still, nothing has manifested, nothing of the devilish promises that made me enjoy the first issue so much have had a direct impact on these characters.

It's been three issues. And this is a mini-series. Even if this weren't a mini-series, taking three issues for anything of interest to happen, for there to be any real conflict outside of a bunch of whiny bandmates, is inexcusable. This comic is moving dreadfully slow. That's probably part-and-parcel with the rock band mockumentary vibe, but again, the only conflict is the uninteresting, typical conflict, and the occasional reminder that something's not quite right here.

It shouldn't be an occasional reminder that something is amiss: it should be what the fucking comic is about! Instead, we jump from odd, creepy, probably-deadly situation set-piece to the next set-piece, bridged by 20 pages of "HEY, DID YOU KNOW WE'RE IN A BAND AND WE HAVE GROUPIES?"

Yes, I know. I'm painfully aware. It's essentially all I'm aware of. The end of the first issue made me think I was in for an adventure, but every time we're on the brink of something, the story backpedals, and these talented artists are robbed of a chance to strut their stuff.

This Damned Band is a tease, and a bad one at that.

Score: 1/5

This Damned Band #3 Writer: Paul Cornell Artist: Tony Parker Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 10/7/15 Format: Mini-Series, Print/Digital