Artist: Sean Phillips
Publisher: IMAGE COMICS
Official Site
She was a dame, with legs that wouldn’t quit. Also she was chased by weird men with tentacles and bowler hats. Welcome to the world of Fatale. A world where a classic noir style is thrown into a glass with cosmic horror, and given a twirl-around. Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, Fatale is a nifty mix of hardboiled detectives and Lovecraftian demon-beasties. Fatale is a series worth sitting back and leafing through.
Much like Colder, Fatale is more about the psychological terror of the unknown, and madness. However, there are many visual representations of madness only described in the works of Lovecraft. Not so in Fatale, as it is a visual medium, that of the comic. Whole lot of tentacles going on.
Issue eleven starts the newest arc in the series. It's going to be flashbacks of our heroine, Josephine, as she first discovers she has the power to make men do whatever she wants, to alarming degrees.
The newest issue starts in the 1930s. It has an obvious Lovecraft knockoff, an author named Alfred Ravenscroft. Ravenscroft wrote a story published in a pulp magazine Jo read, and she thought it sounded an awful lot like what she’d experience, so she tracks the man down, and visits him in his Texas home. Eleven is a solid issue, and it’s great to see another homage to the father of cosmic horror.
The first issues took place in the present day, and the 1950's. This arc is collected in a trade, called Death Chases Me. In the present we meet Nicolas Lash. After attending his Godfather Dominic Raines' funeral, Nicolas visits his Godfather's home, and finds a manuscript. You see, Raines' was a writer, only the manuscript Nick finds has never been published. All of a sudden, people are after Nicolas. He takes the manuscript, and goes on the run. What he reads in the book, we then see. This is the bulk of the first arc, set in the 50's, in San Francisco. It follows Jo, as she meets Hank, or Dominic (his middle name was Henry) and we see as Hank is drawn into Jo's twisted life. We meet her violent detective husband, Walter. Walter is on a case; a series of violent homicides which appear to be the work of a cult. Things get progressively weirder for everyone involved as the story progresses.
Arc two continues to follow Nicolas, as he keeps up his detective work on Jo. The second arc flashes back to the 1970's, and Los Angeles. We follow Miles, a b-movie actor, as he gets mixed up with Jo. He was once a member of a cult, as actors are wont to be. We watch his raging coke habit, and as his life spirals out of control when he gets thrown in the mix with Jo.
A lot of description, but then, this comic is vast. It goes through the ages, and deals with all manner of people. Evil gods, cults, detectives, drugs. Fatale is full of mystery, and plot to become obsessed with. Every time you think an answer is on the way, more questions arise.
The art by Sean Phillips is exquisite. The colors, particularly the use of shadow, by colorist Dave Stewart are noir to the max. And they're also vivid. The plot by Ed Brubaker is enthralling. It's just a good series. If you like crime comics, check it out. If you like horror comics, check it out.
If you want to see a lot of shadow covered naked lady bits, definitely check it out. This is one Fatale that lives up to the definition, and then some. Its killer.
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