The Private Eye #2

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Marcos Martin with Muntsa Vicente

There can sometimes be a danger when supporting creator-owned, web-only, no-middlemen comics that they could be a little like eating organic, gluten and sugar-free muffins, completely deserving of respect for their earnestness, their politics, and their sense of place in the world, but not actually all that good.  And then there's The Private Eye, the completely independent, pay what you can digital comic from comics legends Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin.

It's as good as it is good for you, as ethically sound as it is amazing entertainment, and completed to a standard that is higher than just about anything on the comic book stands, right up there with books like Saga (obviously), The Walking Dead, The Manhattan Projects, Fatale, and East of West.

In Vaughan and Martin's world, everyone lives with a fake identity (or two).  A young woman has hired an illegal PI to look into her past and make sure that her identity is safe from exposure by the paparazzi, but she's turned up dead.  Her sister thinks that the PI may have had something to do with it, but we learn she was part of a mysterious group, and suspect that whatever is going on has to do with them.

This is a quick-paced comic, filled with gorgeous art.  I'm not a fan of webcomics, but this is one that I look forward to a great deal.  You can check out the first two issues at Panel Syndicate.  It's well worth dropping a few dollars on.