Ever since Sherlock Holmes solved his first case, Private Investigators have taken center stage as the super-stars of crime fiction. They can do the jobs the cops can't touch. They can act on the fringes, or even well outside, of the law. As fictional PIs go, there tend to be two schools of thought: you've got your glamorous, smooth-talking action heroes with cool sports cars, or you've got your seedy, alcoholic, loner who just barely gets by and is only a step away from the darkness of the criminal underworld. The hero of Stumptown is much more on the seedy side.
Oni Press's Stumptown, by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth, stars Dexedrine Callisto Parios, Dex to her friends, an investigator who clearly has her share of human frailties. Based in Portland, Oregon, Dex seems to be trying her best to take care of herself and her special-needs younger brother, but she drinks too much, smokes too much, and she definitely gambles too much. Not the best recipe for success, by anyone's standard. Unless you're trying to find yourself homeless or on life-support, I suppose.
In Stumptown #1, her gambling has gotten Dex into a lot more debt than she can handle. Luckily, Sue-Lynn, who runs the show at the Whispering Winds casino, offers Dex a way out. All she has to do is track down Sue-Lynn's missing teenage grand-child, Charlotte. Unluckily, this gets Dex involved with some very bad people from Portland's criminal underworld. The kind of people who take you out to the lake for a swim. At night. After they've shot you a couple of times.
Stumptown feels a lot like Brian Bendis's much-missed Alias, with all the fantasy, super-hero elements removed. Greg Rucka has already made a name for himself as a mystery/crime novelist, and he brings that pedigree to his work here. Dex feels like a real person, and the mystery pulls you in to her world right away. What seems like the simple case of a runaway teenager is quickly revealed as the tip of a much darker, more dangerous, iceberg. (If they had icebergs in Portland, Oregon, which I'm pretty sure they do not.) Matthew Southworth's art perfectly captures this dark world, and his meticulously researched images of Portland lend this a very authentic feel.
So if you're in the mood to investigate some dark deeds in the middle of the night, or just want to read about someone else doing so while you watch from a safe distance, you should track down some leads to find yourself a copy of Stumptown #1. Honestly, we've done most of the work for you. Just head over to Four Color Fantasies and carefully investigate the shelves. You'll be reading this Book of the Week before you know it! No gambling required: it's guaranteed!
Oni Press's Stumptown, by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth, stars Dexedrine Callisto Parios, Dex to her friends, an investigator who clearly has her share of human frailties. Based in Portland, Oregon, Dex seems to be trying her best to take care of herself and her special-needs younger brother, but she drinks too much, smokes too much, and she definitely gambles too much. Not the best recipe for success, by anyone's standard. Unless you're trying to find yourself homeless or on life-support, I suppose.
In Stumptown #1, her gambling has gotten Dex into a lot more debt than she can handle. Luckily, Sue-Lynn, who runs the show at the Whispering Winds casino, offers Dex a way out. All she has to do is track down Sue-Lynn's missing teenage grand-child, Charlotte. Unluckily, this gets Dex involved with some very bad people from Portland's criminal underworld. The kind of people who take you out to the lake for a swim. At night. After they've shot you a couple of times.
Stumptown feels a lot like Brian Bendis's much-missed Alias, with all the fantasy, super-hero elements removed. Greg Rucka has already made a name for himself as a mystery/crime novelist, and he brings that pedigree to his work here. Dex feels like a real person, and the mystery pulls you in to her world right away. What seems like the simple case of a runaway teenager is quickly revealed as the tip of a much darker, more dangerous, iceberg. (If they had icebergs in Portland, Oregon, which I'm pretty sure they do not.) Matthew Southworth's art perfectly captures this dark world, and his meticulously researched images of Portland lend this a very authentic feel.
So if you're in the mood to investigate some dark deeds in the middle of the night, or just want to read about someone else doing so while you watch from a safe distance, you should track down some leads to find yourself a copy of Stumptown #1. Honestly, we've done most of the work for you. Just head over to Four Color Fantasies and carefully investigate the shelves. You'll be reading this Book of the Week before you know it! No gambling required: it's guaranteed!
