Blue Estate #11

Written by Viktor Kalvachev, Kosta Yanev, and Andrew Osborne
Art by Toby Cypress, Nathan Fox, Aleksi Briclot, and Peter Nguyen

I strongly believe that Blue Estate is one of the unsung great comics of the recent Image Renaissance.  This is a truly unique book, with a story and approach to art that is not done anywhere else.

This issue is the penultimate one of this 'first season', and all of the various plot threads that the writers have been laying out for some time are all beginning to intersect and collide throughout.  To give a summary of this book at this stage in the game is very difficult - basically, a whole whack of Russians and Italians have converged on a termite-infested house to blow each other away, and some of our heroes - alcoholic recently widowed actress Rachel Maddox, hapless private investigator Roy Blount Jr., useless mob son Tony Luciano, and recovering alcoholic assassin Clarence (also known as Johnny).

This is a much faster paced issue than we are used to, as much of the book is given over to people from the various groups try to shoot one another.  Rachel figures out that it was Clarence who killed her husband, and much woodwork gives way.

This is the first issue that does not have Viktor Kalvachev's art in it, though he continues to serve as 'art director'.  It looks like most of this issue was drawn by Cypress and Fox, although it can be very hard to tell who has done what with this comic, which is a big part of its appeal to me.

I'm pleased to hear that there are plans for a second season of Blue Estate, as I would miss this book.