Dark Horse Comics 2016
Written by Fred Van Lente
Illustrated by Guiu Vilanova
Coloured by Mauricio Wallace & Josan Gonzalez
Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot
SHADOWS OF LOATHSOME HORRORS from beyond space and time, seeking to usher in the unimaginable evil of the Old Ones, are lurking in New York City. And the only man capable of fighting against the unspeakable terrors, Detective Sebastian Greene, may not be a man at all.
Good Grief Charlie Brown! Do yourself a favour call your shoppe or contact your subscription service and make sure they have a copy of this for you! If I could i’d have Fred’s love child because this is the kind of thing that you will never escape from, it won’t leave you after reading it and you’ll wonder how in the world this can come from one man’s mind. It’s like taking Doctor Who and merging him with John Doe (short lived Fox show) and putting him in the Supernatural universe infused with lovecraftian monsters, not finished then put him in SVU with a touch of X-Files cases and that’s the closest approximation I can think of and it works on every single level possible.
As we meet Detective Greene you immediately know he’s an odd one. As he talks about his ability to use seventeen senses where humans only utilize three (of their famed 5) on a regular basis. The premise is fantastic already he’s one of those overachievers who trained himself or is lucky enough to be able to use so many.
At some point the story starts to deviate a little from that as we see clues that perhaps what we’re being led to believe isn’t accurate. A kind of bait and switch if you will. We also learn that he’s being forced to have a partner now. The Chief of Detectives, Thomas Malone, wants to know how a mediocre Detective counting the days till his pension can suddenly turn into a supercop. So he’s got himself someone to spy on him. Sana Fayez has to take this assignment if she wants to keep her badge. She carries a lot of baggage and you see what the higher brass thinks of her this issue.
Normally i’m one for keeping secrets and letting things be drawn out over time but the way Fred handled this oversized first issue with all the reveals was utterly flawlessly fantastic. Now I love where Greene lives and that he’s got this vagabond cat he rescued with major attitude just fills things will glee. Oh and wait till you meet him I mean he’s just the epitome of a vagabond. I actually got thrilled beyond belief when his home life was shown and we got a really good look at who Greene is. No mystery about him now other than what he’s doing on his cases.
The character dynamics is done so incredibly well that you know everyone’s place and their job. You see the potential for things to change, characters to grow and lives to be irrevocably altered. I don’t think i’ve ever come across a first issue that left this excited I had to share with the world, in both the review and to people I know in person. When you can’t stop talking about it you know it’s something extraordinary.
I think Guiu is the absolute best choice for the artwork here. His sense of vision, style and imagination leave no question that he’s eminently qualified to bring this to life. The flow of the story is perfect and his clues all the while are so well placed and done till Fred reveals his biggie. The characters have this life and charm that you want to see more of, including the cat whom i’m naming Papa Vagabond.
Seriously this will be the best thing you read this week, regardless of what else is out there that I haven’t read yet.