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SANDMAN PRESENTS: DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #4
"The Secret of Immortality Part Four"
Recommended (8/10)
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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 |
Some of the Sandman spin-offs have tried to echo the tone and style that Gaiman had, and they often come off like second-rate copies as a result. Brubaker, Talbot and company have wisely avoided that feeling with Dead Boy Detectives, and rather than giving us a gloomy
goth fantasy, they've given us a boys' adventure with magical overtones that
comes to a lovely and fun conclusion this issue. Despite the very real danger
that the boys' friends were in, or the somewhat creepy details of the plot, this
is mostly a fun and light-hearted book that plays up the somewhat fanciful
notion of two time-lost boy ghosts trying to be detectives.
The early issues of this book have been
largely about figuring out what's really going on, and who or what is the real
bad guy of the plot. The big conflict wasn't going to come as a result of
fisticuffs, but rather as a result of the boys learning to overcome their own
naivete and act like the detectives they want to be, and the ghosts they are.
With a little help from some supporting characters established earlier in the
series, the story comes to a nice conclusion with a nick-of-time rescue that
doesn't exceed my belief in the boys' capabilities.
What has been most enjoyable about the
series has been the light and humorous tone that Brubaker has taken, and Talbot
has echoed with his artwork. The dismay as the boys go to one shop after another
following mystically mislaid directions is comical despite the peril their
friends are in, and the crazy plan that Edwin comes up with was good for a few
chuckles as well. In addition, the light and conversational tone that Hettie and
Gadling take with the villain of the piece keeps things from getting too dire,
despite the fact that the story involves draining the life forces of children.
Talbot's work gives the book a timeless
look, with Hettie and Gadling and even Edwin evoking thoughts of Dickens's
London even as the other bystanders and buildings remind us of the modern day
city. And his use of whited-out eyes to remind us who is ghostly and who is not
is suitably creepy without being horrific or breaking the light tone. Brubaker
helps to keep this balance as well, because while part of the story is about
Charlie and Edwin saving their new friends from a monster, another part is about
the strange relationship between Charlie and Marcia.
Perhaps the most stark difference between Sandman and this spin-off project is the ending. In most of the endings for the Sandman stories, Dream was
moping about one thing or another. In this one, we've got a nice sit down and
chat and a reminder that despite the strangeness and dark magic, the existence
of these characters is really rather amazing and neat.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
