Before its most recent resurrection, Vertigo’s lineup of crime comics did well to keep the genre alive and distinct during a time when the comic’s landscape of the Big 2 publishers’ mainline books focused on events, crossovers, spec market catering, and other such one-upmanship. Therefore, it only makes sense in this newest iteration of the creator-driven imprint launches with a crime book led by one of the premiere duos of the genre: Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips. Written by Condon, drawn by Phillips, and lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery hit stands with all the excitement of pulpy adventure serials meeting noir mystery that would have dominated the time period this comic takes place. From the broadest high concept to give potential readers, it’s what you get when you cross Humphrey Bogart’s Sam Spade with Indiana Jones, but done so in a way that only works in comics and is the exact type of book you would expect to see from Vertigo.
Since hitting the scene with That Texas Blood alongside Phillips, Condon has proven he knows how to plot not only a solid story, but a mystery as well, making Brutal Dark no different. Kicking things off with a spooky cold open akin to the very movies which likely inspired the comic, Condon knows how to set the mood to be picked up by Phillips and translated to the page in a way where you’re sure to be well aware of all the possible risks associated with breaking into the Lost Temple of Hephaestus. You believe the hard work and digging day after day this group likely went through until they finally found what they were looking for. There is true belief on the page. In the supposed gods, their machinations, and the possibilities in the things left behind. Like an anvil of legend perhaps?
It’s after all this we finally meet our titular hero in an action-packed 8-page sequence tracking down a lost parcel for a client resulting in multiple deaths, property damage, and a lost hat. But it’s here where I think we get some of the most important bits about Ezra. We establish him as someone not afraid to get violent to get the job done, intimidate others to do what he wants, or balk in the face of death. Leading to a few important questions given the premise of the book: How long will each of these facets last for him? Who can’t be intimidated? How far will he go? Will there be deaths that even he can’t handle?
In the aftermath of that sequence is where I think the partnership of Condon and Phillips really flourishes. For about a page and a half we get very little dialogue as Cain returns home. He’s the neighborhood tough guy with a heart of gold standing up for the little guy; while making sure clients know there’s hell to pay if he is not paid himself. But it’s in the following silence of Ezra’s apartment where we get to know him more intimately, and where Phillips shines. The tired shuffle through the front door where he lives alone. The limited photographs huddled on a desk, each telling their own story of some fallen war buddies and a broken marriage in a shattered frame. The guy can’t even enjoy a smoke in his own bed without someone else needing their fire put out by way of another desperate client.
Staying with Phillips, he comes up with such interesting character designs. It’s like every person on panel looks like someone you’ve never seen before, while feeling very familiar. Just a great illustrator of people in all their uniqueness. There are believable faces and builds on every page. Arguably, I’d say it’s some of his best work, with him hitting a whole new level when you also take into consideration his coloring, something he’s become known for over the last few years in coloring the collaborations between his father, Sean, and Ed Brubaker. There is a whole new evolution here in Brutal Dark with work that feels distinctly his.
It continues to be impressive how comic artists seem to have to know how to draw everything in existence and do it extremely well. Old cars, fashion, and architecture abound, this is a well-researched book serving not only as an entertaining story, but a time capsule look into the world of 1940s America. Near the end of the issue, in a museum curated by Cain’s next client, we see more of this in the form of a complete T-Rex skeleton. Readers will notice the tail dragging along the floor, compared to more contemporary depictions with the tail aloft. Phillips, on the “BIFF! BAM! POW!” podcast, revealed a note from Vertigo editor Chris Conroy stated that paleological beliefs at the time were the tail dragged along the ground, with the revelation it didn’t not occurring for several years. Redrawing the tail for accuracy, Phillips that much more enriched the world of the book while showing his versatility on the page.
Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s letters continue to standout in this book, like every other he works on. Everything he does is perfectly worked into the chaos and action on the panel with sound effects, turning blood splatter into the blast of a Tommy gun splintering a door, the burning puzzle to the locked, ancient ruins, and the dread and fear dripping in the final panel where a character speaks the name of the cult responsible for launching this mystery. There’s a reason I’m sure the line to work with him likely wraps around the proverbial block. If there’s to be words in your comic, they might as well be put there by the best.
The issue ends with a great payoff from earlier in the issue, again playing on old Hollywood noir tropes: and old friend asking for a favor, only for the favor to end up tying directly into the larger mystery at hand, bringing the investigator into this, literally dark, world and out of his depths. Condon knows how to set those pins up, just to knock them all down in a strike later. We’re on the cusp of US involvement in WWII and that point in history is ideal for this story featuring ancient Greek supernatural treasures when you consider the very real efforts of the Allies to preserve cultural relics bound to be lost or destroyed by the Nazis, who are looking for every weaponizable edge they can get, even if it’s from the occult and supernatural. It was fun to see that for now at least, that superweapon has hit the shores of the US and we’re not so sure who’s after it.
As with any first issue, there are still lots of questions, but it feels like a lot was revealed. The serialization of monthly comics works great for this story that is something like the old radio detective serials like Dragnet or Sam Spade, Buck Rogers, etc. Even the title itself being this riff with an intriguing, mysterious title and subtitled by the main character’s name shows to me he’s been doing this for a while and there are probably more to come if he survives this one! The credits page being a movie poster teaser, complete with episodic title, the main cast, and even a “Tune in next time, dear listener! For the continuing adventures of EZRA CAIN!” banner running across the bottom seals the deal for me as sticking with this one till the final issue drops.