The Private Eye #3

written by Brian K. Vaughan
art by Marcos Martin
with Muntsa Vicente

Fortunately for our P. I. protagonist and Raveena McGill, De Guerre's masked hit men are terrible shots.  Impeded by their unusual gasmasks, which keep fogging up from their breath, neither could get a clean shot.  Short only a left middle finger and a right ear lobe respectively, P. I. and Raveena make their escape by tumbling out a window and bribing their way onto a city bus filled with anonymously costumed people.  His office—and record collection—and her apartment were torched soon after, and though his identity remains concealed, from De Guerre as well as us readers, Taj's shady past is hard on his heels.

De Guerre may be ruthless—which his actions thus far and the icy, fearful welcomes he gets from his former associates make indesputable—but his motives and agenda are difficult to tease out.  He has revolutionary ambitions, desiring to, in his words, "change a few minds" (The Private Eye #3: 23) but with a huge missile.

Despite its thematic immediacy and the emotional gravity of Taj's murder, The Private Eye maintains a surprising degree of levity throughout.  If De Guerre's quip at the assassination and forensic failures of his masked henchmen—"Whoever said you can't have a revolution without the French should be guillotined" (22)—weren't delightful enough, the perseverance of Blockbuster Video following the crash of the internet cloud is plenty to incite a few giggles.

Marcos Martin's artwork continues to improve with each issue.  Although some pages still have oddly placed negative space, e. g., the flat space behind the door to his room (4), the overall quality is very kinetic and utilizes dramatic perspective shifts to excellent effect.  As ever, the details riddled throughout crowd and street scenes continue to impress and to flesh out Vaughan's futuristic world in subtle and meaningful ways.

Buy THE PRIVATE EYE at PanelSyndicate