Review- Steve Niles Omnibus

STEVE NILES OMNIBUS (IDW, 2008; softcover)

Collects Aleister Arcane Nos. 1-3, The Lurkers Nos. 1-4, Secret Skull Nos. 1-4 and Wake The Dead Nos. 1-5 (cover dates September, 2003- January, 2005)

IDW apes the Dark Horse Omnibus format, right down to the trim size and trade dress. That's cool, as it's a sharp design. Aleister Arcane is a decent story with mediocre artwork. Wake The Dead is fantastic and worth a read. It's the only series in this book with decent artwork, and the cover image (above) is taken from the cover of one of the issues. Secret Skull has a solid enough premise, but is marred by Chuck BB's amateurish artwork. Horrible, non-Horror tinged garbage, it really holds the story back. The Lurkers is a severely decompressed, lazy read. It's Bendis bad, with padding and unnecessary "camera angle" changes.  The final tally: One series that's a winner, three that are losers.