Barrier #2 Review (Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin)

It’s been a nine month wait since the first issue but Barrier #2 is finally out! 

Liddy, the American cowgirl, and Oscar, a Honduran chap trying to get into America illegally, have been abducted by aliens on the Texas border. But why - and what are the aliens doing on Earth? 

The Walking Dead: The Alien Review (Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin)

Like anyone with good taste, Robert Kirkman is a huge fan of The Private Eye by Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente. He asked Vaughan to let Image publish a hardcover edition of the series. Vaughan would - IF Panel Syndicate could do a canonical issue of The Walking Dead (up til now only Kirkman has written for the title). The deal was done. The gorgeous Cloudburst edition of The Private Eye came out last year from Image Comics and today Panel Syndicate’s The Walking Dead: The Alien was released - and it was very good! 

Barrier #1 Review (Brian K Vaughan, Marcos Martin)

The Panel Syndicate team behind The Private Eye – Brian K Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente – return for a great new digital comic: Barrier! 

Texas cowgirl Liddy and her Mexican employee Balthazar find a horse’s head on her land, skinned of its hide and missing its eyeballs – is it a message from a Mexican drug cartel who’re using her land for deals, or something else...? On the other side of the border is Oscar, a young Mexican man, making the arduous journey of getting into the States illegally. 

The Private Eye, Volume 2 Review (Brian K Vaughan, Marcos Martin)

We head one last time into Brian K Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente’s oddly un-futuristic future world of The Private Eye in this second and final volume. 

60 years ago at the start of the 21st century, The Cloud burst, giving away everybody’s private information and internet was subsequently outlawed. Privacy became a primary concern, so much so that people wear Halloween masks all the time in public to keep their identities secret. 

The Private Eye #8 Review (Brian K Vaughan, Marcos Martin)

PI’s assistant Melanie has been kidnapped by one of Deguerre’s French hitmen while the other has been killed by Deputy Correspondent Strunk. PI and Raveena hustle to discover where Deguerre’s taken Melanie before his villainous plan of bringing back internet can take off. Also, PI’s grandpa is questioned by CNN. 

I’m beginning to see flaws in this series now with The Private Eye #8 which has otherwise been utterly amazing throughout. The whole plan of kidnapping Melanie has turned into a fiasco for Deguerre. I know he did it to get back at PI but really, what a waste of time when (in the words of Chris Walken’s Max Shreck) you’ve got bigger fish to fry! The man’s trying to launch a satellite from the wonderwall to bring back internet, a massively ambitious plan, and he’s messing about with some guy he doesn’t like’s assistant? Sheesh, get your priorities straight, mister! 

It’s been three months since the last issue and the irregular schedule isn’t helping the increasingly slow plot. Nothing much happens in this issue besides setting up PI and Deguerre before the big moment when the satellite is launched. We catch up with Deputy Correspondent Strunk who was shot by one of Deguerre’s French assassins but is recuperating in hospital; PI’s grandpa is ornery towards reporter/investigators; there’s some minor action with the surviving French assassin; and not much else. 

There’s also an extended exposition scene between Deguerre and Melanie - maybe that’s why she was kidnapped, to be his audience? - that kinda makes Deguerre seem almost naive about what the internet could do. 

I’m still loving the art in this series and Marcos Martin’s work with Muntsa Vicente colours still looks fantastic. A lot of the stuff in this issue happens at night so it’s a bit more noir than the other comics have been though the pages still look amazing. And that cover’s awesome! 

But Brian K. Vaughan’s script for #8? A bit loose, a bit lacking in energy, and not nearly as snappy and fun as it usually is. The comic at times feels quite boring at times which surprised me. 

And with just two more issues left, I’d like to say I’m amped at what’s to follow but the way things seem to be going, I’m only losing interest. Maybe I’ll be surprised and the last couple issues will be amazing - I hope so! As it is, The Private Eye #8 is definitely the weakest issue in the series so far. 

Check out this issue and the others at panelsyndicate.com

The Private Eye #7 Review (Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin)

I’d read The Private Eye even without Brian K Vaughan’s excellent script - Marcos Martin’s art and Muntsa Vicente’s colours are so good by themselves. 

I think it’s because this issue is mostly a visual one. Our hero PI crosses the villain Deguerre’s path for the first time resulting in a car chase with PI on the coolest futuristic motorbike ever! The sequence is so fast-paced with amazing visuals that you don’t need the dialogue at all. 

There’s also a cute scene at the beginning where we see PI and his assistant Melanie’s first meeting - check out PI’s awesome camouflage coat - in sharp contrast to Melanie’s current situation: badly wounded in a wheelchair and being kidnapped by the last of Deguerre’s French assassins. 

The action’s indicative of the story ramping up as Deguerre’s about to put his plan to bring back Internet into action and, worst of all, the press have caught up with PI. 

The Private Eye #7 is another fine issue in this series - there hasn’t been a bad one and I’m sure this creative team will make it to the end, ten for ten. Great writing, wonderful art, The Private Eye never lets you down for a cracking read. 

Check it out today, if you haven’t already, at panelsyndicate.com

The Private Eye #6 Review (Brian K Vaughan, Marcos Martin)

PI’s assistant, Melanie, is recuperating in Schwarzenegger Medical (really!) after the crash that totalled her cute lil’ car, while PI and Raveena have a lead on who killed Taj - a mysterious guy she hung out with called Deguerre. And there’s more: he plans on bringing back Internet. 

The Private Eye #6 is, of course, another fine digital issue in this great series - there hasn’t been a dud yet! This issue sees the plot advancing as PI and Raveena inch ever closer to the villain, Deguerre, and it’s about time - if there was a flaw with the first book, it was that there wasn’t really a confrontation between our hero and the bad guy. As the series gets ever closer to the final 10th issue though, Brian K Vaughan is slowly steering those characters together by making Deguerre aware of PI and deciding to hurt him by kidnapping his assistant Melanie. 

Vaughan makes the plot much clearer with this issue: Deguerre is bringing back the internet and to do so he needs to launch a satellite into orbit - that’s what the giant missile Nebular’s been working on is for. 

Deputy Correspondent Strunk gets his moment in the spotlight as he faces Deguerre’s two French assassins who’re trying to abduct Melanie, and an awesome gunfight erupts. Strunk’s gun has various settings, like Dredd’s lawgiver but much less deadly (no grenades!), firing colourful (paint?) pellets as well as live rounds. 

And speaking of colourful, artist Marcos Martin and colourist Muntsa Vicente continue to provide wonderful art for this book. The designs for futuristic hospitals are believable but still look different from what we have today, and the mask designs are as brilliant as ever. Vicente’s colours are unbelievably good and every page in this issue is gorgeous as a result of her work. 

The issue ends on a great cliffhanger which sets up PI and Deguerre’s first encounter - looking forward to that! The Private Eye #6 is another great issue full of strong writing and even better art.

Get all issues of The Private Eye at: http://panelsyndicate.com/

The Private Eye Volume 1 Review (Brian K Vaughan, Marcos Martin)

A man with a camera lurks in the shadows of a building looking across at a building opposite where a beautiful woman is undressing. She takes off her coat; she takes off her jewellery; she takes off her dress; and then she takes off her skin to reveal another person underneath!!! The world of the future is a pretty weird place to say the least!

In 2075 the internet is no more. Everyone stored information in The Cloud until The Cloud “burst” and ruined everyone’s lives. Search histories, recorded conversations, private emails, texts and tweets – all of it came out and inverted the world. Now privacy is a premium with everyone – EVERYONE – wearing masks and disguises in their day to day lives and if anyone wants to find out about anyone else, they hire a paparazzo like Patrick Immelmann aka PI to get information. 

Ayoung woman called Taj McGill hires PI to investigate her. PI reluctantly agrees but things become more complicated when Taj is murdered and PI realises he’s stumbled into a massive terrorist plot. Hunted by international assassins, global conglomerates, and a maniac with a modified space shuttle, PI, Raveena (Taj’s sister) and his faithful chauffeur, the teenage Mel (aka Lady Nunchuk), must survive it all and stop the madman. 

Brian Vaughan and Marcos Martin’s The Private Eye is the most entertaining neo-noir story you’re likely to read. It follows the conventions of the classic sleuth story – the jaded investigator, the femme fatale, the underdog against the powerful, a mystery that leads to a greater mystery, even the sassy accomplice – but does so with a freshness and lightness that’s enormously invigorating. It also helps that this is an incredibly good looking comic thanks to Martin’s stunning art and Muntsa Vicente’s bright and beautiful colours. 

While it’s set 60 years in the future and is clearly futuristic, it’s not implausibly so. The vehicle designs are different (especially Mel’s car which rocks) but they’re not a million miles away from what’s on the road now, and there are still high street shops (including, depressingly, McDonald’s). The changes are there but subtle – nobody has smart phones anymore since the internet no longer exists, but computer games are still played on wall-sized screens, just not online. Bizarrely the press have replaced the police as the guardians of law and order and libraries have become fortresses since information is the new currency. 

The new world order, where disguises are de rigueur as people have become their former internet avatars, means Martin can let his imagination loose leading to some eye-popping pages where crowds of superheroes, monsters, cartoon characters, and animals populate the streets and the ones not wearing costumes are the “weird” ones - it’s a world filled with cosplayers! 

Vaughan’s on top form with this series. His characters are sharply realised, his plot clicks along at a perfect pace with the mystery unfolding in satisfactory pieces, and his future world and it’s society is convincing and fascinating. Even the small details are brilliant like the Schwartzenegger Medical Center, PI’s office in the Chateau Marmont, and the hint that Rand Paul (or Ron) was once President! I really like PI’s Gramps too. You know everyone these days who has tattoo sleeves? Gramps was one of those people when he was younger; as an old guy with those tats? Ergh – doesn’t look right! 

You might be looking for the book on Amazon or on your library catalogue and you won’t find it because here’s the thing about The Private Eye: it’s available only digitally and only on the website, www.panelsyndicate.com, owned and operated by Vaughan, Martin and Vicente. It’s also designed to be read on tablets/laptop screens because the pages are rectangular. Here’s the other thing about The Private Eye: it’s completely free! Well, you can download it for free as a DRM-free PDF OR you could be cool and chip in a few bucks to show your appreciation. Even if you don’t want to pay full graphic novel price for it, give them something rather than take it for nothing: quality work deserves to be rewarded. 

The Private Eye is an utterly brilliant and highly original neo-noir story that crime and comics fans will absolutely adore. First class storytelling, writing and art, The Private Eye is the full comics package – don’t miss it!

The Private Eye #4 by Brian K Vaughan and Marcos Martin Review

My review of The Private Eye #4 went up today - read the full piece here: http://whatculture.com/comics/5-awesome-comics-you-must-read-this-week-9-october.php/6