Titan Comics 2015
Written by Ben Aaronovitch & Andrew Cartmel
Illustrated by Lee Sullivan
Coloured by Luis Guerrero
Right off the bat here i’ll say this I am in love with the interior artwork here. It’s full of attention to detail in not only the characters but in everything around them really makes this seem like a complete picture on a photographic level and it’s this attention that I adore! Then there’s the people themselves and how good they look really does give us such emotion just by looking at them and it really helps to tell the story more fully.
So we open up with a man whose car goes into the River Thames and we are introduced to Detective Constable Sahra Guleed and Detective Inspector Miriam Stephanopolous
who are on the scene as the car comes out of the river and then we also quickly meet Peter Grant a member of that branch of Metropolitan Police that deals with magic and the supernatural or the “weird shit” as it’s referred to by other departments. So right off the bat you know this is going to be something interesting.
We learn how Peter got wind of the body in the car in the river Thames and oh I like the idea behind it. So the real question becomes why did she contact Peter and what makes this up his alley however remains something of a mystery. All I can gather from what we see here is that there’s something about that the car itself that has drawn Peter’s attention. So with the two female officers they go to discover what they can about the victim, it’s very MI6, the television show.
So we’ve got some proper police work tied into this story as the ex-girlfriend is questioned and gives Peter a new lead. The engine to his car was replaced with a new one on the cheap, she knew someone. Sahra and Peter go to check it out and what happens next well it’s kind of like that movie with Emilio Estevez where the cars all tried to kill the people. or Christine if you will. To see the details and learn more Peter, his reputation and his mentor then you’ll have to read the story because what we get are bits and pieces here. Just enough to ensure that the story moves along nicely, not giving away too much and it definitely leaves you will that desire to come back next month to learn more.
Ben and Andrew are spot on in mixing the “real” world police work with the supernatural elements that make us as readers get all jittery. There’s a sense of danger in what they encounter as well as a whole thing in regards to Peter where it seems he’s a bit of rogue whose work tends to get messy even under the best of circumstances. They’ve fleshed out just enough on everything concerned that it’s off to a splendid start. A mysterious bad guy or organization, a death under suspicious circumstances and an eclectic cast of characters all wrapped up in some stunning interior artwork.
Titan is really bringing us some of today’s most exciting stories.