Broken Frontier

Boston Blackie, gentleman thief, recovering addict and unlikely hero, confronts the limits of humanity in two gritty crime stories from Moonstone Noir.

Boston Blackie is an updated character from a series of silent films about a gentleman thief; turned to a life of crime despite his college education and social mobility. Stefan Petrucha has taken this character to gloriously gritty depths in two stories; ‘Black Out’ and ‘Inside Out’, collected here in digest form as ‘Bloody Shame’. These two original and entertaining stories show that old fashioned concepts and clichés can be given enthralling new lives in the hands of a consummate creator.

The first of these two stories deals with Boston Blackie’s guilt over the disappearance of a young boy during one of Blackie’s robberies. Blackie’s search for the truth will lead him to a female detective, a fellow thief and a possible watery grave. The seriousness of the story is given the gravity it deserves. Petrucha deftly balances the morbid and disturbing aspects of the story with touches of lightness and humour. Despite a slightly confusing climax, ‘Black Out’ tells a highly satisfying story of guilt, greed and justice.

The second story, ‘Inside Out’ takes Blackie behind bars. As Blackie investigates the murder of a prison guard by a young convict, he starts to wonder who is responsible for the worst crimes, the men locked up or the sadistic warden with Old Testament ideals of crime and punishment. The charisma of Blackie’s character is very much on show in this story as he ingratiates himself with inmates and guards alike. The conclusion of the story is very noir indeed and ‘Inside Out’ is, on the whole, the more successful of the two stories.

The crisp black and white artwork makes the conversion to digest size well enough although there are some panels which could probably have been a bit cleaner. Van Wormer’s expressive artwork suits the drama of the first story while Chris Burnam’s inky pages impart the claustrophobia and violence of prison life very well. His scenes of a violent prisoner uprising are especially breathtaking.

This is another clear winner from Moonstone as they corner, almost uncontested, the gritty, noir corner of the comics universe. At ten bucks you get a handy sized slab of drama, action and mystery- who can walk past that?