THE FADE OUT: VOL. 1

Ed Brubaker (Author), Sean Phillips (Illustrator) Image Comics (Publisher)

> Review by Brian Kearney

Hollywood at the end of its Golden Age: wild parties, blacklisted writers, and dead starlets. This is the sordid reality that permeates The Fade Out, the new crime mystery series from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Already proving themselves on other crime series such as Sleeper, Criminal, and Fatale, the writer and artist distinguish themselves once again in what may turn out to be their best work yet. In The Fade Out Brubaker brings us back to the hazy days after World War II. The nation recovers while the film industry doles out escapism like a factory line. Leading an extensive cast of characters is Charlie Parish, a screenwriter. As it goes in noir stories, Charlie stumbles upon a mystery much bigger than himself: the death of a young and upcoming actress. As he stumbles around piecing the clues together he becomes more and more enmeshed in the dirty underbelly of Hollywood in the late ‘40s. The shadowy details of this harboiled tale are given their dark hues by long-time Brubaker collaborator Sean Phillips. And the unsung hero of this book is Elizabeth Breitweiser, whose colors bring a whole new level to the story. All-in-all it’s another great start from Brubaker and Phillips. But grab yourself a glass of rye and settle in, because this mystery is just getting started.