Things get weird in the world of murder mysteries in Fred Van Lente and Guiu Vilanova’s “Weird Detective”. Read on for our review of this debut issue but be warned, there are some spoilers within.
Written by Fred Van Lente
Illustrated by Guiu Vilanova
The streets of New York have been plagued by a pattern of crimes too weird and bizarre for the average detective. Lurking in the evidence are shadows of loathsome horrors from beyond space and time, seeking to usher in the unimaginable evil of the Old Ones. And the only man capable of fighting against the unspeakable terrors isn’t a man at all. Detective Sebastian Greene is one of them-it takes a monster to catch a monster.
This month at Multiversity Comics, we’re looking back at thirty years of Dark Horse. Part of what Dark Horse has done so well over their history is greenlight quirky, genre mashing, sometimes humorous series that are unlike much else happening in comics. “Weird Detective” is one of those series that combines horror and the crime genre damn nearly seamlessly and a perfect fit for Dark Horse as a publisher. With an interesting premise, a fantastic sense of humor and stylish art, “Weird Detective” #1 is this week’s most pleasant surprise.
“Weird Detective” #1 introduces us to Detective Sebastian Greene, who until a few weeks ago, was your average detective. He was fine at his job but never stuck out. Now he’s become an extremely capable detective surpassing anyone on the force. The reason for this? Sebastian is no longer Sebastian. We find out very early on that he’s an alien but why he’s here is something I won’t spoil for you. His boss has decided that he needs a partner and he’s paired with Sana Fayez to investigate the death of a woman at a pool and more.
When I decided to review this book, I picked it mostly because it tied with this month’s Dark Horse theme. I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. Van Lente is known for writing some very funny comic books but I was almost taken aback by the tone of “Weird Detective”. This is mostly because from what I saw, the book wasn’t marketed this way. With “Weird Detective”, Van Lente doesn’t just poke fun at detective tropes. His humor relies in how the characters interact with the actual investigating of crimes handled in a very serious way. This to me is one of the most endearing parts of this book. It’s easy to poke at tropes but writing funny dialogue with the right timing is much more valuable. The jokes about Greene’s supposed Canadian origin don’t get old and his awkwardness as a literal alien from another world is both charming and uncomfortable (in a funny way). Greene and Fayez have a great back and forth as Greene’s quirks become more and more obvious. I found myself enjoying this book more than any other comic book this week and that’s such a wonderful surprise.
The double sized nature of the issue helps engage you in a way that other publishers can probably learn from. Without the extra pages, there would have been a lot left untold as far as the set up of this story. The extra page count comes from it’s debut in “Dark Horse Presents”. Apparently half of this issue as published there and there are added story pages to flesh things out more and draw in more readers. It succeeds at that entirely. It’s such a technically sound book because of the page count. We get a lot of time with each character on their own so that we have an understanding of their voice and their background. Greene’s alien backstory is not groundbreaking but it’s nice to get it all upfront. We get to spend time with Fayez and her wife and we get to learn her backstory. “Weird Detective” #1 gets to do all this and then some.
Genre mashups can be a really tough sell because when done poorly, you’re left wishing it was never even attempted. A mashup like this also lives and dies by it’s art. You have to find someone who can bring together a lot of different things and have it make sense. Vilanova does that for the most part. His ability to bring together genres is great but the first part of the book is a little rough. Some of the expressions are really big and almost frozen in time. They don’t feel organic or authentic. He gets better as the issue goes on as he loosens up the expressiveness in the characters. Greene in particular is stiff in his body language as he should be but there are some great sight gags done with him that add to the comedy. The creature designs are unique and felt Lovecraftian. The horror aspects were gory enough without going overboard. I really loved the modernity of the world this takes place in in contrast to the retro feel of the monsters and aliens. The coloring is handled by the team of Mauricio Wallace and Josan Gonzalez and together, they do a really nice job. There isn’t too much of a difference in what they do and it creates a nice, consistent looking book. The book is on the darker side but doesn’t get bogged down in this. There’s a levity that exists at times in the coloring and it keeps things from getting too serious.
“Weird Detective” #1 was a joy to read and I’m so excited to read more. This is a fun genre mashup that still brings the drama when it needs to.
Final Verdict: 8.7 – Weird? Sure. But that’s it’s charm. “Weird Detective” #1 is funny and has a great core mystery.
