The Private Eye 01

Title: The Private Eye

Series Type: Maxi-series

Publisher: Panel Syndicate

Creative Team:

                Writer: Brian K. Vaughan

                Artist: Marcos Martin

                Colorist: Muntsa Vincente 

Genre: Futurist, Noir

And you thought your mom had eyes in the back of her head.

The Private Eye is the cautionary tale for our generation.  We share everything.  We scarcely go a day without voluntarily making our thoughts, feelings, and whereabouts public knowledge.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more cynical and when I’m introduced to anything I always wonder in fascination what its end will be like.  The Private Eye shows us the corpse of the information age.  Or as our titular character puts it, “Once upon a time, people stored all their deepest, darkest secrets in something called ‘The Cloud’, Remember?  Well, one day the cloud burst.”

Secret clouds make you want to shower more than acid rain clouds.

So what do you do as a society when everyone’s ‘deepest darkest secrets’ are made public?  You hide.  The world of The Private Eye is filled with people who all have secret identities but without the powers to go with them.  In this world you may know someone but rest assured that even if it’s not obvious, they are in disguise.  But then I suppose you could say that of the world we currently live in.

The Private Eye is about (big spoiler coming) a private eye.  As we’re introduced to him, he’s doing the unthinkable.  He’s trying to get a picture of someone’s secret identity.  Apparently, this is a big no-no because he’s chased off.  The people trying to arrest him however are reporters who seem to occupy some sort of state funded police role.  

Home Sweet Office.

While the story is very colorful it has very obvious noir roots.  Our main character is a private detective who has run afoul of the local law.  Check.  Our private detective is clearly thought of as the best.  Check.  His services are required by a femme fatale.  Check.  And plot quickly thickens as we find a larger mystery in play (several larger mysteries really).  Check.  (There’s even a Maltese Falcon poster on the wall of his office).  But even with all these troupes in play the material feels fresh and new. 

Brian K. Vaughan is one of my favorite writers by far.  After getting on board Y the Last Man and Ex Machina late, I vowed to jump aboard any of his future projects sight unseen.  And so far I’m 2 for 2 (I’m also reading Saga, which P.S. You should check out).  Brian’s characters are always 3 dimensional.  They feel like real people that you could meet or have already met.  His stories are character driven.  And of course, wrapping his characters in an interesting high concept universe helps too.

It may look like Marda Gras but this is just a normal evening in the future.

I’ve seen Marcos Martin’s work here and there and I have to say that while I enjoyed it he rarely was working on comics I wanted to read.  His art is very unique in today’s comic landscape and I’ve been waiting to see a project from him I was interested in.  With The Private Eye, I need look no further.  His style is fairly minimalist and his colors are sharp.  With all the elaborate costumes in this comic there is plenty to pour over.  This book looks beautiful.

What makes The Private Eye extra interesting is the way it’s formatted and distributed.  Vaughan and Martin have chosen to ‘sell’ there comic online completely free of DRM (Digital Rights Management).  They have setup a site @ www.panelsyndicate.com where you can choose how much you would like to pay per issue (you can choose to pay nothing if you like you cheap basterd).  Once you’ve paid (or chosen not too) you can select to download the comic as a PDF, CBR, or CBZ file.  You can also download it in English, Spanish, or Catalan (I’m sorry to say I had to look this one up; I won’t spoil it for you).  Beyond that The Private Eye has pages formatted for a widescreen tablet presentation.  You don’t have to scroll through a page with this one.   I’m sure there are other people out there producing and distributing comics this way but I have personally yet to come across two highly regarded creators doing so. 

Vaughan and Martin have so far expressed their intention to make The Private Eye a ten issue maxi-series.  I’m excited to see where it goes and hopefully you are too.  There is no reason not to pick up this comic immediately.