THE PERIL OF THE BRUTAL DARK: AN EZRA CAIN MYSTERY #1 / Script by CHRIS CONDON / Art, Colors and Cover by JACOB PHILLIPS / Letters by HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU / Published by VERTIGO COMICS

The year is 1941. The place is New York City.

Ezra Cain is something of an oddity among the private investigators of Manhattan. Like many consulting detectives, he’s a veteran and a former cop. However, he’s also an amateur anthropologist, whose only reason for not entering academia was a desire to do his duty during The Great War.

This eclectic background, coupled with the recommendation of an old professor, is enough to give Cain an intriguing offer. Someone stole an ancient Greek artifact known as the Anvil of Hephaestus from the Natural History Museum. The curator believes Cain is the ideal person to track the thieves given his knowledge.

However, that is not the only case on Cain’s schedule. As a favor to an old cop buddy, he agrees to consult on the case of a missing man. A man who, perhaps not coincidentally, works at the Natural History Museum…

I’m a sucker for good detective story and, after his brief but amazing run on Green Arrow, I’m willing to give anything Chris Condon wrote a shot. As such, I was looking forward to The Peril of the Brutal Dark and I was not disappointed by this first chapter.

Condon does a fantastic job of introducing us to Ezra Cain and his world. We get to see the aftermath of Cain’s latest case before he is given two new ones. There’s also a flashback, born of the old pulps, where we get to see just how The Anvil of Hephaestus was retrieved with great difficulty. Cain himself comes off as more Indiana Jones than Sam Spade, but the economy with which he is introduced makes up for the trope-heavy opening. Some things are cliches because they work and as the first chapter to a Noir/Pulp hybrid, this works wonders.

I haven’t read any of Jacob Phillips’ earlier collaborations with Chris Condon. After reading this issue, however, I fully intend to track them down as soon as possible. Rough in the right ways, Phillips perfectly captures the aesthetic of 1940’s Manhattan. The letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou should also be praised for their subtle emphasis of certain keywords.

It is rare for a new comic series to grab my attention immediately and leave me anxious for the next issue. The Peril of the Brutal Dark has done that. Hopefully this will be the first of many Ezra Cain mysteries to come.