Author: Ed Brubaker | Illustrations: Sean Phillips | Colors: Elizabeth Breitweiser
Genre: comics, crime fiction, mystery, historical fiction, noir
Published: March 10, 2015 (first published February 24, 2015)
Publisher: Image Comics
Brubaker and Phillips' newest hit series, The Fade Out, is an epic noir set in the world of noir itself, the backlots and bars of Hollywood at the end of its Golden Era. A movie stuck in endless reshoots, a writer damaged from the war and lost in the bottle, a dead movie star and the lookalike hired to replace her. Nothing is what it seems in the place where only lies are true. The Fade Out is Brubaker and Phillips' most ambitious project yet!
Collects THE FADE OUT issues #1 to #4
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My first comic. Of course I'm aware of its HUGE difference from manga. The blurb grabbed my attention. It's historical fiction. It's a mystery. It's noir. I'm not used to comic art but it's very easy to adjust.
Set in 1948 Hollywood, lead actress Valerie Sommers is found dead after a party causing major re-shooting for the studio. Charlie Parish, a screenwriter for Victory Street Pictures, wakes up after the party to find the body of Valerie near him. Without much resurrection of the night, he found himself mixed into a dark mystery and possible danger.
The Fade Out is a very intriguing mystery that really got me going. This first volume allowed me to delve into the crazy world of movie stars, film writers, and whatnot. It has that dark atmosphere that would make you want to look at everyone even at Charlie himself. This volume tries to settle its readers to the world as well as introduce the characters in such a way that they'll really stick to you. It's brief but you'll be curious. You'll want more. You'll want to dig deeper into them. See what's really going on.
The art was really topnotch.
Another thing I liked here is the way Brubaker tells the story. It's a multi-POV which allowed me to get to know other characters such as Charlie Parish, the main POV, and Maya Silver, Valerie's replacement. I also liked reading Charlie's thoughts - the things that goes through his head allowed me to really get into the mystery.
Overall, this first volume of The Fade Out successfully introduces the characters, sets the mystery into place, create a glamorous yet dark setting, and make its readers want more of it. The ending really frustrated me because just when I was finally getting into the mystery, it ends.
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What I Like: (1) the intriguing mystery, (2) the dark and somehow realistic world, (3) Charlie's narration, (4) the outstanding art and great paneling,
What I Didn’t Like: (1) while it did pull off a nice amount of revelation, nothing big really went on
~this comic was provided in exchange for an honest review~
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