Image Comics 2016
Written by B. Clay Moore
Illustrated & Lettered by Jacob Wyatt with Kathryn Wyatt
Someone has murdered Anthony Antonio and Byrd’s other younger brother, Mike, has booked a flight to Hawaii to track down trumpet player Tread Lightly for a Kansas City mobster. Oh, and Bishop Masaki appears to be back from the dead.
OH Hell To the No! That was my reaction upon completing this issue. I love a good Private Dick story that’s heavily rooted in the past. I mean some of the greatest were damaged men who didn’t know what they were doing and yet somehow managed to have the girl, solve the case and get beaten up along the way. After this issue i’d love to see Clay write a real full length Byrd of Paradise novel because this is an incredibly good story.
That we open up this issue with Mike desperately trying to locate Tread and not even realizing that Byrd is sitting at the bar was great stuff. Then their conversation outside well that was all kinds of illuminating. The characterization here has and continues to be exceptionally well done. While the brothers have their issues with one another it wouldn’t be far to reach that Mike’s involvement with Garozzo will likely mean that he ends up staying in Hawaii for a while and teaming up with his brother more often. That’s one scenario, the other is that for some as of yet unforeseen reason Byrd has to kill his other brother as well. Either way the cast here is opening up in the most delightful and unexpected of ways.
There’s something rotten in Denmark and it isn’t on Detective Mo’s part. His boss on the other hand well I’ve reason to suspect that Masaki’s return is known to him and he’s in his pocket again. So what’s an honest cop to do when he’s taken off the case after coming from a lunch where a beautiful woman asks him on a date? Hopefully team up with Byrd and figure out this whole mess and how it ties into the case from issue one!
I can’t go into any details, that would be extremely spoilery of me, but Masaki and Tread have a meeting and well you need to see this one folks. Oh and yes we do get to see more of Duque and he’s having his own suspicions about Byrd’s subpoena business but he too is shut down by his boss, hmm a nice recurring theme here.
Jacob’s work on the interiors keep getting more and more interesting to me. There’s a tone and feel he brings to this story that has that colourful noir type feel which is very much technicolour reminiscent of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. Forget Magnum P.I. or Hawaii 50 this is a more traditional and vibrant stylistic look at a Private Dick story in Paradise. Plus his eye for the flow of the story through pages and panels is amazing to see.
Traditional and yet surprisingly current this is a modern day old school Private Dick noir story. With an amazing cast of characters, wonderful characterization and bizarre turns of circumstances this is one that you need to be reading!