High Praise for High Crimes
HIGH CRIMES #2 Review
HIGH PRAISE FOR HIGH CRIMES!
5/5
When HIGH CRIMES first came to my attention I was pleasantly surprised and I have been chomping at the bit since the final page of issue #1 for more. Now it’s here and issue #2 does not disappoint. Issue one was a great set-up story of Haskell and Zan and their partnership as grave robbers and tourist’s guides in the high altitude of Kathmandu. Their grave robbing business gets the wrong kind of attention when they find the body of a government secret agent that went missing and wanted to stay that way.
Writer Christopher Sebela wastes no time getting to the action as the mysterious and incredibly deadly “Strange Agents.” The group introduced at the end of the first issue, get right to work on their search of rouge agent Sullivan Mars and their “work” is messy. The plot line had the potential to drag through several issues as the agents hunt down Haskell and Zan. Yet their ability to find them is clearly defined right off the bat as is their ability to inflict gruesome and dramatic torture. The art by Ibrahim Moustafa is beautiful and it would be easy to lean hard on darks and blacks to set the mood but Moustafa’s design and the colors depict the grittiness with subtle neutral tones and shades. The sheer gruesomeness of seeing a trapped rat under glass on a victims stomach to the simplistic shot of a few drops of blood in the snow shows his understands all the right notes to hit with his art.
Sebela jumps right into the action with High Crimes but is taking his time on Zan’s backstory revealing just enough each issue to keep you hooked without making it long-winded. The pace of the book maintains it’s quickness without feeling rushed and the writing is tailored to the art for a solid balance between the two. While this book could be easily dismissed as a simple, “wrong place, wrong time,” crime story it is so much more. Zan; a disgraced athlete, Haskell; the old man ready to retire and now running from a deadly government black-group. Simple right? Not so, as High Crimes is as multi-layered and deep as the snow on Mount Everest.
High Crimes is an excellent book from all aspects. The story is gripping, dark, mysterious and above all fun. The action is fast paced and intense. The art simply spot on. This book is a high point for, not only Monkeybrain and it’s creators, but comics as a whole. The work here is a good as any in comics today and it most cases better.High Crimes is an excellent read and regardless of what your favorite genre of comic book is High Crimesshould be on the top of your list.