Weird Detective #1
Story: Fred Van Lente
Art: Guiu Vilanova
Cover: Mauricio Wallace
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
When a woman’s skin appears, absent of bones, blood and entrails, without a single mark on it, at the bottom of a public pool, and that’s NOT the weirdest thing you see in this first issue, you know you’re in for a real treat.
Van Lente is no stranger to the weird and unusual, having previous credits including Big Trouble In Little China and Conan The Avenger. But when the skin suit sets the ball rolling, leading to our introduction of the cops investigating, it’s the unexpected that you should be expecting.
It has a flair for the dramatic, the noir, the old school detective story, but is also unafraid to push the bizarre, or leave you asking questions about the main players. Greene, for example, was as middle-of-the-road as a cop could be, with his recent turnaround of successes being unusual… even supernatural…
And you get where we’re going with this.
The visuals are unapologetic, and it gets colourful with the violence and the language, but it’s always an enjoyable read.
Weird Detective sinks its hooks in early and often, whispering that it doesn’t want its game given away, but also demanding you give it your full attention. It covers a lot of ground for a first issue, asking you to reevaluate the way you look at its world, all the while rooting itself deep in the teachings of Lovecraft.
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. Weird Detective gives us plenty of that, while treating fans of horror comics to a story they feel they know, but have never quite seen this way.
4.5 out of 5 nerds
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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