Simon Dark #8 - DC

We finally find out what this cult . . or "men's club" is this issue. It's called Geo Populus. We don't really know what their intentions are yet . . other than the usual, death and destruction . . but we do see the results of their demon-seeded soap that they've been spreading around town. It's mostly been random . . I think they just wanted to cause fear and confusion to run rampant in the streets, but there's one target that's intentional, a Senator Moss. The soap affects him while he's in a hotel having a rendezvous with his campaign manager, and he ends up killing her. However, the men from this club get there and inject him with some "cocktail" that a Dr. Jeffries put together. It calms down the rage and turns him into nothing more than a puppet for it's owners use. "After a quick tour of the makeup and costume departments, our performing monkey was ready for his debut." Rachel and Simon are down in the basement of the church trying to do a "far seeing" spell. Tom, the detective, comes down and informs Simon that he's just like him. They're brothers, of sort. The two of them decide to go after the group. They end up at a warehouse about the same time as these 2 cops. The cops got their information from the soap-delivery guy that was abducted. In the 8 issues now, this was the first time that Batman was even brought up. One of the cops asks his partner if they want to call for back-up, before they go in . . "What, and have Gordon and Batboy show up and take all the credit? No thanks. I want to take these terrorist maniacs down myself." That's hard to believe, considering this whole story takes place in Gotham. At the end of the issue, Simon and Tom, I think, are going to confront the group. But when they call Beth and Rachel to warn them . . we see that Rachel has already been infected. I really like what Steve Niles is doing with this series. I like that way that he's perpetuating the story. I am also very impressed with Scott Hamptons art. I've been a fan since way back in the Pacific and Eclipse days. But I think that his work on these issues, is simply stunning. I hope this book sticks around for a while. It's nice to have something different like this on the shelves.