The Black Diamond Detective Agency
First Second
Artist Eddie Campbell and writer Alan Moore’s graphic novel From Hell presented the Jack the Ripper slayings as part of an elaborate magical ritual to usher in, and set the tone for, the 20th century.
With this solo outing, Campbell again turns his attention to the turn-of-the-last-century, this time using his considerable storytelling skills to render a fairly straightforward (but remarkably engaging) police procedural of sorts.
The year is 1899, and a train is blown up in the middle of a small, Western town. Casualties are significant, but it’s not a simple act of random terror. Something’s gone missing from the train in the chaos: a very heavy safe, contents unknown. The titular agency, a private detective outfit, is on the case, competing with the Secret Service to find the culprits. Their No. 1 suspect was framed, and to clear his name he tries getting a job with the very agency trying to arrest him.
Much of the story will seem awfully familiar to anyone who owns a television set, given how one out of every three shows seems to be some kind of police procedural these days, but the unique setting makes the particulars refreshing, as do Campbell’s idiosyncratic storytelling choices and lush, painterly art work.
Death and the Man Who Would Not Die No. 1
Silent Devil
Writer James Patrick and codenamed artist “Se7enhedd” (pronounced, what, “Suh-seven-head?”) return to the weird wild West of their previous miniseries, Death Comes To Dillinger.
Their Death is personified as a tight-lipped gunslinger who rides a monstrous white horse and has a face that looks like it belongs on a heavy metal album cover. He carries a saddlebag full of gold pocket watches, each with a person’s name inscribed on it, and when one stops ticking, then the person’s time is up, and Death rides to collect them.
In this new series, a no-good scoundrel by the name of Josiah Clark has stolen the watch that represents his own life from out of Death’s bag, and rode to the town of Red Rock. No matter how much trouble he gets into there, he can’t be killed, since his life is now in his own hands; guns pointed at him mysteriously misfire, and bullets shot at point blank range sail around him.
In order to claim Clark’s life, Death must track him down, and team with a recently hanged killer for help. It’s a quirky, campfire-tale take on a pretty standard Western story, with the Grim Reaper as sheriff.
Black Summer No. 0
Avatar Press
It may seem a strange thing to say about a comic book in which a superhero assassinates President Bush, but Black Summer No. 0 just didn’t seem political enough.
It’s the first issue of an eight-part series written by Warren Ellis, whose past work has seesawed back and forth between acidic iconoclasm and blockbuster-pop, and it’s drawn by his sometimes collaborator Juan Jose Ryp, who works in a hyper-detailed style. The super-assassin is John Horus, the former leader of Justice League-like group called The Seven Guns. He dresses in a silver Sgt. Pepper jacket and Rocketeer helmet, and is followed around by a cloud of floating sci-fi eyeballs.
The presidential administration he killed is left unnamed, but the rationale he gives the White House press corps immediately afterward lets us know this isn’t exactly the Clinton administration we’re talking about: The war in Iraq was illegal and predicated on lies, the last two elections were stolen, and so on.
This is hardly any kind of liberal fantasy; in fact, Horus seems to be the bad guy, and not just because of the murder. His old teammate, a bitter, chain-smoking, whiskey-guzzling ex-hero named Tom Noir watches at home on CNN, and seems to be the hero of the piece.
The result then is surprisingly middle-of-the-road: Bush and Cheney are evil criminals who are destroying America, but those holding such opinions and willing to fight back are dangerous lunatics.