Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips

The creative team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips bring their noir sensibilities and mixing in a little bit of horror and fantasy with their newest project, Fatale. When Nicholas Lash meets a strange young woman at his godfather’s funeral, he finds his life taking some unexpected turns, and wonders if it has anything to do with a novel his godfather wrote three years before he was ever published.

Having never been a fan of Phillips artwork before, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it through out the book. There’s impressive amount of detail, and the overall composition in most of the pages helps to move the story along. It’s very evocative of pulp detective tales of the 40s and 50s. The art is especially effective when it comes to one particular scene, showcasing the mutilated bodies of a group of occultists. Not to mention an impressive splash page flashing back to World War II. The color work by Dave Stewart certainly helps to set the mood from one page to the next.

Storywise, Brubaker is all about the slow burn. We’re given just enough story to peak our interest, as we’re introduced to the beautiful Josephine, and Hank Raines, who’s looking to break a story on police corruption that might get both of them killed if he’s not careful. She warns him about Walter, a homicide detective she has a relationship with, the nature of that relationship still unclear. And despite his pregnant wife at home, Hank now finds himself inexplicably drawn to Josephine, and dead set on protecting her, should any danger cross her path.

The set up is all there for quite an intriguing series. It’ll be interesting to see what Brubaker and Phillips have in store for readers.

Verdict: B+