Lucky or Lie, Burn in the Fire
Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark and Sean Philips deliver another crime noir masterpiece! All the elements and narrative structure of the genre are present: a private eye detective (a broken man, looking for a second chance, the classic hero that don't fill the standarts and ironically has only one eye), a sexy blonde client (that aproaches the detective so he can find out her sister's whereabouts) and a terrific mystery (a murder involving a cult, drugs, sex and sins from the past), all that combined with witty and clever dialogues result in this magnificent novel, a true detective crime noir story, ranking with Agatha Christie and all the pantheon of this style. It's incredible how Brubaker truly has mastered this style, every word he writes, every line, even if it's a little too obvious, fit perfectly for the plot's development, there's a great dynamic and ownward/foward movement driving the story, Brubaker's sense of continuity is awesome: he introduces the right characters (the ex girlfriend, the broken hero, the dad's partner of the past, the cops that aid the detective, the crooks, the uncles), calmly sets things in motion (he knows when to accelerate and when to bring depth to a scene with an important dialogue and then shock things up with a big action scene) and most assuredly presents a start, the middle and end of the story, there aren't any loose ends, there isn't a single flaw, the details are awesome (the murder weapons, the motives, the clothes, the cars, the streets, the waiting etc), all the important (and irrelevant) details are there and I really think this is important in any medium (in short, there isn't a single blooper here). Perhaps one ot the best things about this novel is that it has truly thrilled me a lot and more than once I saw myself thinking who could have done it or what would happen next, so this feat in crime noir stories is very important, the writer's ability to bring the reader into the story, like a true immersion and Brubaker nailed this perfectly. I don't believe there're bad things about his book, if I squeeze too hard maybe a few repetitions in the course/flow of the main character's lines and ideas, but nothing essencial. I would like to transcribe some lines of this novel so I can show a little of what I'm talking about: "I couldn't stop thinking about all the fucked-up childhoods that had been colliding with my world lately...Their eyes were all blinking in my mind - the cold, dead stares, and the fractured faroff looks, full of held-back tears and fake courage. Why were we all ending up with guns in our mouths or needles in our arms? Did anyone actually grow up undamaged, or did some just hide the scars better than others?" and "In my dreams that night Maggie Jordan was running from the flames of her past, but the fire was always quicker, leaping ahead of her at every turn. Untill she was surrounded". Brubaker makes us get to know the characters, he creates deep personnas to them all, from the private detective's famous uncle (a crime scene fotographer) to the old friend that got into the same business of private eye just to compete with him, they all have singularities and you cheer for them all, even the bad guys. As I read this novel, fallling deeper and deeper in amazement with the harmony of words and art, I knew for sure that comics are definitely something important to spread a message, to enlighten people and to entertain, you just need to look in the right place.