By Cthulhu’s tentacled mug, there’s a lot of HP Lovecraft-themed comics around these days, eh? Weird Detective is yet another one but it’s one of the better books out there and is also Fred Van Lente’s best work in years.
Previously a crooked Noo Yawk detective on the make, Sebastian Greene is now the vessel of an alien, here to stop the Old Ones from wreaking havoc on Earth. Greene picks up the trail after their victims start appearing around the city sucked dry of their innards like empty juice boxes!
The humour is what made Weird Detective stand out to me – the crime and horror is on point but also throwing in comedy? It’s unexpected and different yet the combo works particularly as the jokes are actually funny! Being an alien, Greene acts oddly but everyone shrugs it off with “He’s Canadian”, like everyone in Fawlty Towers did with Manuel – “He’s from Barcelona…”. Greene also utilises more senses than humans and talks telepathically with my favourite character, his sassy lil bastard of a cat, talking smack to his owner the whole time (though, as anyone who’s owned cats will tell you, they are very arrogant creatures so the characterisation is spot on!).
Guiu Vilanova’s art is decent and serviceable but nothing memorable or impressive. Though I did like how Greene, in researching his cover as a detective, dressed throughout like famous detectives from Sherlock Holmes to Bogie as Sam Spade to Miami Vice!
I wasn’t totally clear on Greene’s background/motivation. His race created the Old Ones… or something? They chose Earth to secretly invade… why? His race is under some kind of threat and he’s isolated for some reason…? It’s a little convoluted but didn’t really affect the overall story as that’s a fairly simple dichotomy: good aliens vs. evil aliens with the humans caught in between.
I hope Weird Detective becomes an ongoing as it’s a really fun title. While Van Lente sets up some story threads here that don’t go anywhere in this book (the rich and mysterious blonde-bearded chap up to no good), I’d be interested in seeing them play out especially as the cast are so enjoyable to read about. Even if it doesn’t go any further than this though, Weird Detective is still a really good and unique read with a solid story, characters and comedy wrapped up in a compelling Lovecraft-flavoured police procedural.
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