Kolchak: The Night Stalker - Lambs to the Slaughter

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My Rating

Rating: 4 out of 5.

“Lambs to the Slaughter”

Six teenagers were reported missing in the downtown area of Hollywood, California. Three males and three females. As Tony Vincenzo sat in his office at the Hollywood Dispatch reviewing the police reports, it was clear that there was a pattern. All the disappearances had taken place in a two-week period near the Greyhound bus station.

Now, rumors began circulating through the press that a survivor tied to the cases was found wandering the streets of Santa Monica Boulevard, incoherent, and mumbling the name of one of the other missing persons. It was time to act. Tony opened the door to his office and yelled out into the newsroom.

“Carl!” Vincenzo barked. “Get in here!”

The editor-in-chief had lost all subtlety with his star reporter years ago. If one only knew how much drama the man had brought Tony Vincenzo with the city, the police, and the mayor’s office. Carl Kolchak was a good reporter, however, breaking several major news stories over the years, elevating the Hollywood Dispatch into the national spotlight. His wild theories, on the other hand, Tony could do without.

Vampires, witches, and werewolves roaming the streets of modern America? It was simply preposterous. Tony insisted that Carl stick to the facts and let the readers decide if ghosts and goblins were involved. Over the next few days, Carl Kolchak would test both his editor’s will and blood pressure. Welcome to Holly-weird, the front lines of the bizarre and strange, where modern society meets the occult and supernatural. According to Carl Kolchak, that is.

Reviewer Notes

As a child brought up on 1970s and 1980s television, one could not pass up the awesomeness of Darin McGavin’s “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” television series. The original series debuted on ABC in 1974 after two successful television movies featuring the wire service reporter who tracks down real life monsters who always seem to baffle the police and their detectives. I was born in 1972, so I was extremely lucky that my parents were fans of the show, and horror movies in general.

It’s strange how someone so young could remember or even comprehend what was taking place within the show in general. It became more apparent once Kolchak hit syndication in the St. Louis area and I was a bit older. I was hooked, and like millions of others, I am still drawn to this horror premise to this day.

In or around the year 2002, a company called Moonstone began publishing comic books and graphic novels based on the television series and Kolchak character. I wasn’t collecting comic books at that time, so I missed out completely on this revival. Too bad, as I would have helped boost sales as a fan and a collector.

The “Lambs to the Slaughter” is a one-shot comic released by Moonstone in April 2003 – with two similar comics released in the previous year. Since I’ve never read a Moonstone comic, I decided to buy just one from my local comic book shop to test the quality of the product. I have to admit I really enjoyed this book.

Writers Joe Gentile and Mark Dawidziak do a fair job keeping with the feel and ambiance of the television show. There are some differences, however. I may be completely wrong here, but this continuation may take place sometime in the future – possibly the late 1980s, or early 1990s, as the characters are using early desktop PC computers. In the television series, everyone in the news office still used manual typewriters. Some of the other equipment and automobiles depicted in this book seem several decades newer. This may be due to artist Trevor Von Eeden stylization of the material.

Overall, I did enjoy the comic. This version of Carl Kolchak leans heavily on pointing fingers and making wild accusations to get people to interact with him. In the television series he seemed to always have his facts together before acting the fool. I don’t know if the difference between the characters is due to the lack of space in the comic to fully illustrate his investigation, or if it was simply faulty writing. In any case, Moonstone did a good job with this production, and I would recommend this one-shot to any fan of the television series. I give it four out of five stars.

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