This issue left me with just one question… where the hell is my Occultist ongoing series? Honestly I’m disappointed that this is all of the character and the world that I have to enjoy until the next outing. You may recall after the release of the second issue that we were privy to an exclusive preview of this, the third issue. If it didn’t excite you for the conclusion then I question your taste in comics. Seeley has been knocking it out of the park as of late. The second issue was very exciting and character driven, then his run on Witchblade began and it too was very good. So how does the conclusion of The Occultist measure up? This issue actually takes a step back to events that took place in the first issue as we find several (probably too many) police officers examining the dead body of the murdered mage. After that we travel to the dimensional pocket of Eilat Cohen. She was the character that was warming up to Rob aka The Occultist in the last issue. That is before she pulled a gun on him. Rob begins talking to her and asking her to read him since he’s now one with the book and her talent is reading. He begins to get through to her when his new cop friend knocks her ass out with a big “Ki-yah!” Everything seems okay for a moment before Rob is grabbed out of the dimension by the serpent woman trying to kill him. It’s then revealed that Rob cast a spell on his girlfriend so that she wouldn’t leave him. He breaks the spell and the serpent’s power over him by planting a big kiss on the detective. Then it’s just him and the sword versus the deadly serpent that already has a few notches in its bedpost from killing mages.

This book was worth the wait and that’s really the best thing I can say about any mini-series. When you know that a book is going to come to an end and you just have to wait for it, it’s terrible when you get to the end and it’s bad. Thankfully, The Occultist has a great conclusion that leaves the book open to future stories or as I would prefer monthly issues. The potential for this character and world is huge and if Dark Horse manages it properly they could have their next big franchise. Regardless, this is the end for The Occultist for now and writer Tim Seeley did a bang up job of delivering the goods yet again.

Victor Drujiniu has also been very consistent with the art from beginning to end. He has a wonderful photorealistic style that is not only perfect for comics, but for this genre. He really brings the characters to life and gives them emotional facial expressions with believable body language. His work on this book has far exceeded any of his previous work and hopefully we’ll see a lot more of him in 2012. If you missed this series then I encourage you to pick it up in digital and get caught up. In fact if you like you can pick all three up today and read them in one setting, which I bet makes for a better read overall.

Score: 3/5

Writer: Tim Seeley Artist: Victor Drujiniu Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 1/11/12