3 out of 5

You want to love Caballistics Inc.  It’s such a fun idea – a completely broken B.P.R.D. – and one that’s wonderfully suited to Rennie, who’s excelled at genre twists, but it turns out to be plotted almost too meticulously for the confines of the week-by-week 2000 AD progs.  Reading it in a chunk almost works against it, as the hooks that are hints for serials that would’ve been months away end up just being sort of confusing and misleading when they’re stacked so close together; Rennie clearly knew where some of his twists would wind up and chose to seed them in super early, while also committing little batches of supernatural monster-fighting arcs.  But the twists are big and our group is constantly in upheaval, so it’s hard to get a handle on it.

Confession: it’s my first time reading this stuff.  I fully acknowledge that knowing where it’s all going makes reading it through again exceedingly more fun, but the rating stands as that first impression: a series that reeks of awesomeness just around the corner… if you can just wrap your head around what the focus is supposed to be.

Caballistics Inc. is formed from the remnants of a closing down occult-investigating government agency – now just two out-of-date fuddy duddies – two freelance badass ghost / demon killers named Chapter and Verse; a scarred up, knife-wielding, wonderfully accented Scotsman; a demon; and a guy named Ravne who’s maybe been alive forever.  The rarely seen rockster Ethan Kostabi has purchased the services of this troupe for reasons unknown, but his emissary – a Mr. Slater – is happy to relate tasks to CI, ranging from demons in the subway to Scottish mythbeasts ranging the countryside with machetes to golem and more.

The characters are fantastic, fitfully getting along and always dealing with some sudden turnaround or allegiance flip-flop; Dom Reardon’s black and white art passes through a brief early Duncan Fegredo looseness before settling into a confident, blocky style that’s a perfect match for the ramshackle vibe of the group; the lettering changeups between Tom Frame’s more compact work and Ellie De Ville’s expansive, formal lettering is a fantastic showcase for the effect these two classic 2000 AD letterers can have on a strip’s mood.  And Rennie is clearly having a ball with the spattering of sci-fi / horror references tossed in, but which are not required to enjoy the comic for what it is.

But again, it’s a bit of a jumble.  Caballistic Inc. is essentially written like a long form comic, with an end game in sight and a whole bunch of moving parts, and then Rennie had to figure out how to rearrange that into prog-sized slices.  Momentum is stop and start as a result, and some of the reveals thus don’t hit with the required punch.  Tellingly, once we’ve past the point where most of the cards are on the table, and Caballistics can relax with the dense plotting, the promise of greatness instantly feels fulfilled, and then you’re sad that the story ends soon after…

…Although, I read this dang thing twice, right in a row, and know I’ll be diving back in again some point soon.  So, yes, first impressions are what they are, but the price tag is not only worth it as-is – 300+ pages plus covers and sketches – but certainly a deal considering the story just gets better with subsequent visits.