Newburn #1

Newburn #1

Image Comics 2021

Written by Chip Zdarsky & Nadia Shammas

Illustrated by Jacob Phillips & Ziyed Yusuf Ayoub

Lettered by Frank Cvetkovic

EASTON NEWBURN is a private detective without loyalties, investigating conflicts between rival crime factions while collecting enemies along the way. In this DEBUT ISSUE, a man is murdered after stealing from his own mafia family, but they aren’t the ones who ordered the hit…

I like the premise of the story here. An ex-cop who is now a private investigator who works for various crime families in New York to settle outside disputes when they need an impartial party. This is a great introduction to the series and the character by way of the debut issue. There are few issues as strong as this one that do a debut of this calibre and I have to give a huge shout out to the guys for this one. Why we don’t see a lot more private eye stories on stands is beyond me because they have some of the most interesting, strong and intriguing stories available. The situations, circumstances and the sheer amount of misdirection, manipulation and unpredictability that comes with em is utterly delightful. Also there’s something to be said about a man who is seasoned in the ways that Newburn is and that opening page really caught my attention.

I’m a fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in establishing their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing us to the characters, the world they live in and the story itself we are captivated by what we see.

I’m pretty impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. How we see the layers within the story open up new avenues to be explored or in this case as the case itself unfolds and takes us in some interesting directions. This adds some great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything work together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

The interiors here are insanely good. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work is mind blowing. That we see backgrounds being utilised so prevalent throughout the book is great as they really enhance and expand the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a phenomenal eye for how colour works. More so because these tend to be more muted tones and the variations within really are spectacular.

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With some smart, intelligent writing and hard biting characterisation alongside these bloody amazing interiors this is going to become a magnificent obsession. Side note, the opening firmly establishes him as a daddy type too and his driver Henry is a hot little ginger. Now there is a backup story here and what this has to do with anything is beyond me but here’s hoping we’ll find out next issue. One of the best debut issues in a long while folks.