Guest Review: The Private Eye: The Cloudburst Edition Hardcover

   How's this for a great Christmas present? A long-time pal of mine (we don't say "old pal" at our age) sent in this guest review to give me a day off during the holiday. He prefers to remain Anonymous - so thanks, Anon! He writes:

   I am not a gambler. I’m bad at math and I don’t like losing hard-earned money. I recently took a $50 gamble on The Private Eye: The Cloudburst Edition Hardcover, published by Image. 

   I’m pleased to report that this gamble paid off. Is this book worth $50? Absolutely, if you like your science fiction in a near future format, brightly colored artwork, and a plot that pays respect to classic film noir movies, but also modernizes every aspect of the story. 

   Brian K. Vaughn’s writing makes this bet the least risky. Known for such great writing as Saga, Y: The Last Man as well as some cutting edge television programming, Vaughn takes us to a world that is both familiar and strange at the same time.

   Marcos Martin, who seems to be the heir apparent to great Steve Ditko, leads the art. If you missed his Spider-Man run, you need to get it. Martin makes full use of this hardcover’s widescreen format for maximum effect.

   Marcos’ art also helps with the story’s setting, which is a brilliant commentary on today’s Information Age. After the “Cloudburst” (when everyone’s most secret information was made public when the Cloud broke), the people in this future all wear mask and costumes to hide their identity. These disguises range from a hood and bullet mask to holographic projections. 

   With the twists and turns of both film noir and science fiction, the reader enjoys a wild ride that does pay off, but, of course, not in the way you expect. 

   I’d suggest that you would enjoy The Private Eye more than a big stack of the new $4 comic books that most folks are making these days. But, then again, what do I know?

   NOTE – Some folks read comics online, which is weird to me. The Private Eye originally appeared as an online comic, which can be found at http://panelsyndicate.com/comics/tpeye.