Dark Horse Comics 2016
Written by Fred Van Lente
Illustrated by Guiu Vilanova
Coloured by Mauricio Wallace
Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot
HAVING DISPERSED THE ANZIO CRIME family and their fireworks barge all over New
York City’s harbor, Detectives Sebastian Greene and Sana Fayez have upset the wrong brass in the NYPD. A demotion from the Minor Crimes Unit takes them to the streets to canvass for the Juice Box Killer. Clouded by her rage and suspicion toward Greene, Sana is unaware that things are about to plunge into new levels of weird.
This is wild ride I love the way that Fred’s mind works. Yes Sebastian is an alien who has assumed the identity of a corrupt cop who's kept in the houseboat incapacitated. Yes there are creatures running around that are kind of disgusting and infinitely interestingly dangerous. However there’s also a real detective story involved in all this too. Sana is there to spy and find Sebastian’s secret and she’s made no bones to him that’s what she’s doing. She’s reported in to those in charge and has once again placed herself and her career in jeopardy.
The characterisation here is fantastic and the fact that Sebastian has his unique style of speaking English and it’s passed off as his being Canadian well that’s just even better. The simplicity of hiding in plain sight with explanations that seem outrageous but people don’t want to delve into things further than on the surface no matter how strange they think something is. It’s kind of a sad state of things that he’s able to pull that off in a police station so easily. Though to be fair he’s only been here four months so who knows if he’ll change and evolve to act and behave more like humans.
Guiu and Mauricio are doing great work on these interiors. I love the Miami Vice outfit Sebastian don’s this issue to revisit old lady Boucher. The look, tone and feel of the work here is marvelous in bringing this to a more traditional Noir Detective story. Muted colours and a lot of darkness really make this stand out. Plus the use of page layouts, angles, perspective and the backgrounds highlight what we really need to see to get the whole picture.
Last time he was there he noticed something that’s up his particular alley so he’s back to investigate. Turns out his instincts are right only things aren’t what they seem and he may be out of his depth on this one just showing up to check things out unprepared. Though this is all related to the Juice Box Killer and while he can’t tell anyone what’s actually doing it he can put an end to it, or can he?
There’s personal drama going on and that the end ties back into the Sana and what she told him well it’ll be interesting if things play out the way I think they will. It would be nice if he could gain her trust and tell her the truth and then become true partners. This plot development is so in line with what’s happening it’s great that while it feels separate it’s not. This is the way Fred can write a story like no other. Different, unique and utterly familiar in ways you can’t explain the originality here is unmistakably good.