Jack Morris reviews The Private Eye #1…
Brian K. Vaughan is well known within the world of comic book fans as the creator of Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina and most recently the stand out hit of 2012 Saga, and today he has released his latest offering with artist Marcos Martin, The Private Eye. Unlike his previous works, this comic is only available via download and the consumer can choose how much or how little they want to pay for each issue. Some fans may not be happy without actually being able to own a physical copy of the comic, but when you are given the option to pay whatever you want for an issue, I’m sure they will be able to put their grievances aside for a short while.
It is often hard to explain a Brian K. Vaughan story without having to sit someone down for about an hour so that you can go into an incredible amount of detail and let them know exactly what happens. Usually there is so much within his worlds, so because of this I’m just going to give the bare minimum in the hope that it entices you to go out and read the comic for yourself (just remember you can pay whatever you want for it!). Set in America in the future where the internet is no longer around, (both creators understand the irony that they are releasing their work straight onto the ‘net whilst their story does not include it), the world is populated by strangely dressed characters or ‘nyms’ and paparazzi has been outlawed. The main character is a private investigator, hence the name The Private Eye, who becomes involved in a case to research a woman’s past for herself.
Vaughan usually works over a vast number of issues – Ex Machina was over 50 issues and Y: The Last Man was 60 – but he has stated that this story will only be over 10. This is good for readers who may be venturing into the world of comic reading for the first time and feel they don’t have time to go out and collect the issue for their local comic store, but it is going to be a task for Vaughan and Martin to show that they can start with some pretty big issues in the first and make sure it all comes together nicely by the end of their run. There is certainly a lot for them to work with and from knowing Vaughan’s previous work, he could take the reader in any direction.
I would highly recommend giving this comic a try. Considering both the writer and the artist’s previous work, you are certainly in for a treat over the next couple of months and I for one certainly can’t wait to see where April’s issue is going to take us.
The Private Eye is available (at any price) from http://panelsyndicate.com/.
Jack Morris
Originally published March 20, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
