The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #3 – Chris Condon, Writer; Jacob Phillips, Artist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Of the three new Vertigo books that have launched so far, this is the one with the most straight-forward feel. It’s a classic noir mystery by a pair of creators who are masters of the genre. Even when there isn’t anything supernatural going on – so far – the sense of suspense and dread carries the day incredibly effectively. When we last left off, Ezra Cain was investigating the disappearance of a hardworking immigrant, and traced it to the factory of a man named Hans Huber. He sees strange things outside, such as a man with apparently metal legs, and then gets knocked out – only to be met by Huber, who puts on quite the show. You have a “kidnapping victim” who claims simply to be married to his work, and a criminal mastermind who claims to be a humanitarian. Cain does his best to seek answers, but is eventually forced to walk away with his life.
From there, Cain goes into friendlier quarters – sort of. He’s reunited with some old friends, but the drink-up is set at a police bar – and we know Cain has a tricky history there. As a former cop who was drummed out of the force, he still has some friends but a lot more enemies. An encounter with his former chief results in a brawl that nearly gets him killed, and it comes to light that Cain was fired for interfering in what likely would have been a fatal beating for an innocent boy. Many officers still hold a crudge, considering Cain a “Rat”, and he’s marked the second he walks into the bar. The tension in this scene is excellent, and even if this issue doesn’t really have any more reveals about the supernatural mystery that’s been set up, it does an amazing job of establishing the world we live in, as well as the way the various plots in the background might be starting to intersect.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
