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SANDMAN PRESENTS: DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2
"The Secret of Immortality Part Two"
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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DC Comics/Vertigo imprint
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Bryan Talbot
Inks: Steve Leialoha
Colors: Daniel Vozzo & Jamison
Letters: Willie Schubert
Editor: Will Dennis
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Brubaker is writing an interesting mixture of genre here,
crossing boy's adventure with the fantasy style seen in Sandman with a pinch of
the crime genre he does so well. Like Mike Carey with Lucifer, Brubaker has taken a pair of Sandman spinoff characters and made them into more than just a watered-down version of Gaiman's tales. All the more impressive that the story seems fresh and original while containing a few references for Sandman fans, including a cliffhanger finale that will read as a twist ending only to those who know the Sandman mythos fairly well.
The core concept of Edwin and Charles is
that they are both a little self-deluded, like most children, into crossing the
line between play-acting and real-life. They're ill-suited to do anything more
than play at being detectives, and so to see them on a very real murder case has
potential to be quite creepy and horrific, because it could come to a point
where their being ghosts doesn't protect them against the foes they are facing.
In the meantime, though, it's charming, watching Charles try to hide a painfully
obvious crush or seeing them try to play cynical and hard-boiled while
swallowing a story strewn with lies just like a couple of wide-eyed children
would.
The story that they are duped by takes up a
lot of the issue, and sheds some light on the antagonist of the story without
giving it all away. This is done largely through the use of an unreliable
narrator, but there are also references within the story to folklore and rumor
passed down through the ages, and so Brubaker has the opportunity to fudge what
has been said later. At any rate, the story itself is interesting, setting up a
monstrous villain in the tradition of horror stories and original fairy tales
and a line of heroic challengers to that villain that makes for an interesting
idea as well.
I remember when I first heard that Bryan
Talbot was doing the artwork, I was surprised. Not because I didn't think he'd
do a good job, but because I thought of Talbot as someone who largely did
creator-owned work that he wrote and drew. I'm glad that's not the case, as his
artwork here is a treat. He gives Charles and Edwin an otherworldly quality
without making them creepy, and does the reverse with Marquez, giving him a
thoroughly realistic and human look but making him utterly chilling and creepy.
Talbot also covers a lot of territory rather well, whether it's a believable
London subway or castles and villages in the time of Joan of Arc.
This book has a lot to offer to anyone. It
has some truly hilarious moments where the boys get in over their heads
(Marquez's initial reaction to them is one of amusement more than anything
else), some horror lurking in the background and a mystery that is intriguing
without being overly hard to keep track of.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
