Private Eye #2 – Review

By: Brian K. Vaughan (story), Marcos Martin (art), Muntsa Vicente (colors)

The Story: Lord help the mister who comes between a gal and her sister.

The Review: I have to admit, I do love reading a story written by a master storyteller, someone who’s a veteran at all the fundamentals of good narrative work.  Even when the story itself isn’t anything new, if you have someone at the helm with enough experience to get his points across efficiently and to switch up the pace at the right moment, then you’ll get a much more enjoyable read out of it.  Certainly it beats an interesting story poorly done.

With Private Eye, Vaughan displays how honed his chops have become over years of writing top-notch comics.  His first issue set up the series’ world, protagonist, antagonist, and premise in short order without overtly feeling like a set-up, as if Vaughan has gotten so used to this basic kind of work that he can drum it off without thinking.  Here he introduces supporting characters and scaffolds upon the foundation of plot he laid down last month, proving as adept at second issues as he is at firsts.

No good P.I. tale would be complete without the gorgeous dame, and ours already got bumped off.  In her place, we have her sister, Raveena McGill, the one who got the late Taj in touch with our investigator in the first place.  Just from the nature of the genre, we’re inclined to view her with suspicion.  But since she starts off by attempting to kill then blackmail Patrick, it’s not likely any betrayal that may come down the line will get any worse, right?

Though it’s unclear what kind of relationship they have now, they obviously have a deep connection.  To convince Raveena that he did not kill her sister, Patrick wipes the dark make-up around his eyes so she can see them clearly, and in a world as devoted to concealing one’s self as this one is, his action seems the most profound kind of exposure, a fairly important show of trust.  Even if Raveena doesn’t turn on him herself, she’s the perfect tool to manipulate Patrick.  He’s a decent guy, even if he is paranoid and conditioned to look out for himself.

It’s good to know that even in a world as suspicious as this one, one can still have a sense of morality.  That appears to be the role of the young Melanie (or “Lady Nunchuck” as she’d prefer to be known), Pat’s ride.  If you read Hawkeye, she serves a similar role as Kate Bishop in that book, not only unintimidated by his seniority, but acting as his moral compass.  Between her and Raveena, it may be that Patrick will have no choice but to put his illegal activity to some good.

Because despite the blending of journalism and police in this world, they seem incapable of rooting out the threat at large here.  Melanie quotes Patrick in describing “the press” as “just a bunch of drunk typists,” and Strunk (the press man who chased Pat in the first issue) sort of proves it by seeming completely oblivious to Raveena’s clearly suspicious behavior.  He admits that he’s not much of a book person, being “more of a teevee guy” himself.  Though Vaughan remains deliberately mum about the exact nature of the evil at hand, we do get a hint of its scope: “[De Guerre’s] plan definitely sounded…extreme, but part of me still wonders if it might be exactly what this country deserves.”  It’ll be Pat’s biggest case, that’s for sure.

This is really my first exposure to digital comics told in landscape style, which allows Martin complete freedom with how he uses the page.  With the middle crease of your typical glossy done away with, Martin has absolutely no mandated divisions to work against.  Splash pages are more absorbing than ever.  Take a look at the page introducing Nebular amidst the backdrop of a ghetto made of abandoned subway cars.  You have this beautiful widescreen view of the place, a rail line speeding overhead and blue mountains from behind, but you also have smaller inset panels traveling diagonally across the page to show Nebular navigating through the scene, with all the illicit activity going on around him, from drug deals to prostitutes.  Vicente doesn’t hold back where colors are concerned; even when they land in the cooler end of the spectrum, they’re warm, bordering on hot.

Conclusion: Quite as intriguing as it was before, even if the developments have diminished somewhat at this point.

Grade: B+

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – Hurrah!  My French skills can finally be put to good use.  Granted, it takes a preschooler’s knowledge of French to get by in this issue, but I’ll take what little pride I can get.

– It figures that Barbie and Ken would survive well into the future.  It just goes to show that while social candor is ephemeral, cheap plastic is forever.