If you see Ben Templesmith on the cover, you know the series you are about to read is going to be full of horror, death, gore, and insanity. Choker is chock-full of that. The story revolves around an ex-cop, Johnny Jackson, who gets called back by his old boss to bring a prisoner who escaped back. It doesn’t turn out well, as the department is using a steroid-type drug on their cops called Man Plus, which is somehow connected to the prisoner’s drug ring. The story takes a long time to catch your attention. It starts out with you completely lost and characters talking like you already know what’s going on. Later issues backtrack to catch you up until you hit the final wall.

Choker isn’t the best series I’ve read, but I read it mainly for Templesmith’s art. His sick and twisted watercolor drawings are fantastic and one-of-a kind. He’s one of my favorite comic artists. Sure, it looks messy and sloppy compared to most artists, but it’s unique in a way that it matches the story it’s telling. Choker doesn’t have the most memorable characters; it’s too short to keep you hooked for long, with only six issues; and the story is kind of predictable. The whole 20-minute-in-the-future setting is nice, with a scummy city like Gotham City or even Neo Tokyo. I wanted to know more about Shotgun City and its inhabitants, maybe some side stories.

If you like crime dramas, you will like Choker. It has vampires, gore, cops, mutants, and crazy characters. Just don’t expect to be in it for long because it ends before you even realize it started.