Brubaker, Phillips turn to supernatural horror in 'Fatale'

I have less free time these days and a dwindling budget to go along with it, so it’s rare for me to pick up any new book or comic book without knowing anything about it.

Any Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips collaboration gets tucked right away into the ‘buy now’ pile. Their latest, Fatale, hit the shelves last week and it does not disappoint.

Brubaker and Phillips have worked together on several different critically-acclaimed titles; from the crime series ‘Criminal’ to their take on super-powered characters in ‘Sleeper’ and ‘Incognito.’ Their stories are dark and gritty; relentlessly paced.

Fatale is heavy on the noir like those titles are, but adds in a mystical element of Lovecraftian horror. The story is told by Nicolas Lash, the godson of the Dominic Raines, a writer of trashy—but popular—detective novels and revolves around a mysterious woman he meets at Raines’ funeral. From the beginning, he is captivated with Jo, and then he pulls a picture with a woman bearing her likeness from an unpublished manuscript The story then flashes back to that time, when two crooked San Francisco police officers are looking into a bizarre series of murders. Jo’s look-alike, who goes by the name Josephine, is there, too—along with a reporter named Hank Raines, who is trying to prove just how crooked the two cops are. Josephine is the link between them.

Brubaker’s story is impeccably timed, the characters well defined and distinctive. There are a few clichés thrown in, which took me by surprise, but the story itself is intriguing enough to overlook those minor annoyances. Phillips’ distinctive artistic style, which had always seemed perfectly attuned to the back alleys and sleezy bars of the Criminal arcs, is a more than adequate match for the grotesque and creepy places the corrupt cop Booker and his partner are drawn into, as well.

The first issue of Fatale has been out for a couple weeks and might be hard to find. If you can, it’s worth picking up. The second issue drops on Feb. 1.