I probably say it to the point of tedium but on the few occasions that we do review super-hero comics at Broken Frontier it’s because they have something different to offer. When we covered The Stranger #1 a couple of years back on the site here the notable thing to point to in that respect was its non-traditional premise. This was a story where our point-of-view character was not the costumed adventurer of the title but rather the jaded detective Sal Denaro, on a mission to discover the secret identity of that returned super-hero.
That opener did everything it needed to hook the reader. Presenting an intriguing mystery and providing a whole host of suspects who live in the apartment block the murder took place in to pique the readers’ interest. In The Stranger #2 writers Tom Philipson and James Patricks, and artist Devlin Baker, heighten the enigmatic atmosphere, as the questions surrounding why a hero who supposedly died in the 1950s is back in the mid-Seventies. And what the reasons could be for their killing of a recently released super-villain?
The fun here for the reader is as much in piecing things together for themselves as it is in following Denaro’s investigation in a passive sense. This second instalment rounds up those possible killers – including a millionaire businessman, a child prodigy inventor, a glamorous actress, a reporter with a specialism on super-heroes, among others – and gives us lots of hints and teasers, some of which may be clues and some red herrings. It’s dense and layered stuff from Philipson and Patricks, with the super-heroics a thematic backdrop only in #2 and the noir detective fiction very much at the fore.
Baker’s art is impressive throughout. This is largely a talking heads issue with little traditional action, and yet so immersed are we in the visual storytelling and the body language of the characters that the reader forgets that entirely. Colourist Davi Pinheiro’s choices ensure events are moody and suspenseful when necessary but it’s in the character sequences that they really shine, almost colour-coding the backgrounds of each cast member and underlining their places in the proceedings.
This is a gripping thriller that you would hope bigger US serial comics publishers would be looking at and considering picking up because it easily competes with anything in its genre being published by one of the Big Five. The crowdfunding campaign for The Stranger #3 can be found here on Kickstarter for those wishing to catch up and acquire all issues to date and the upcoming third part.
Tom Philipson & James Patricks (W), Devlin Baker (A), Tom Philipson (L/D) • CoCo Comics
Review by Andy Oliver
