by L.A. Mood Comics and Games

By Dan Brown

SPOILER WARNING: This column contains plot details from the graphic novel covered by L.A. Mood’s comic book club last weekend. If you value surprise, scroll away now! This is your first and final warning.

The L.A. Mood Graphic-Novel Group met Saturday, August 8. 

The book: The Private Eye, which was written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Marcos Martin with colour artist Muntsa Vicente. 

The Private Eye is a future noir that takes place in Los Angeles, just like another future noir you may know, the landmark film Blade Runner. This graphic novel continues the tradition of hard-boiled detective fiction with the creative team putting its own spin on the genre.

(I haven’t had a chance to read the back-of-the-book material yet, so bear that in mind.)

GNG member Gord said he felt it’s an underperformer compared to another Brian K. Vaughan-written tale of the future. “It’s no Y: The Last Man,” he said, referencing the speculative series about a dude living in a world of only women. 

Gord thought the worldbuilding in The Private Eye is good but felt the story is weak.

One of the points brought up in our discussion was the format of the book. It’s wider than it is long, and is hard to hold, even the hardcover edition. The glossy paper flops in your hands when you try to read it.

GNG member Amanda felt there was no panel in The Private Eye that couldn’t have been rendered in a standard comic format. In other words, it could have been a regular comic without any impact on  the storytelling. I agree, the shape is kind of a pain.

Giving it the title The Private Eye conjures up images of Humphrey Bogart and Jack Nicholson. The title is also a nod to the book’s central theme, personal privacy.

It takes place in a post-internet world. At some point before the events of the book, all the information stored in the cloud leaked to the general public. As a result, there are no superheroes but everyone has a secret identity because staying anonymous is everyone’s central concern in this milieu. 

The investigator of the title wears a low-tech cloak that makes it hard for people to identify him. Others wear holographic masks. To be known is to be in danger.

For my part, I enjoyed it. I thought The Private Eye contains some intriguing ideas. The future it depicts makes sense to me. It feels like Vaughan took current trends and explored how they might play out 50 or 100 years from now.

One aspect of this future world – journalists taking on the functions of law enforcement – struck me as interesting. How did that happen? I wanted to know more about this society and the characters who inhabit it. But I’m a journalist, so perhaps I’m the only one who was enchanted with the idea of reporters turning into law enforcers. 

The members of the group also discussed how David Cronenberg (Gord’s pick) would be the  ideal choice to direct a movie adaptation of this comic. The Canadian filmmaker would bring just the right touch of weirdness. I could see it working as not a movie, but a miniseries. 

The bottom line? The full range of reactions was represented Saturday morning.

GNG member Carol didn’t find The Private Eye compelling enough to finish reading the thing, so at the risk of putting words in her mouth, I’ll call that a thumbs down.

GNG member Gord gave it a thumbs sideways, neither up nor down.

GNG member Amanda gave it a thumb slightly inclined upward, but not fully up.

I give it a solid thumbs up. To me, it’s a thought-provoking and worthy future noir.

L.A. Mood’s Graphic-Novel Group meets the second Saturday of every month. 

Next month’s selection is Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira Volume 1. It’s a cyberpunk manga. We’re set to meet September 12 at the gaming tables in the store at 11 a.m. 

You’re more than welcome to join the discussion!

Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.