Stumptown Vol. 2 #4

Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Matthew Southworth

As much as I have come to love Stumptown and its rather difficult private investigator main character Dex Parios, I didn't expect the newest issue to be so exciting.

This story arc, "The Case of the Baby in the Velvet Case" has had Dex chasing down a rock star's guitar that was stolen, and may be involved in some sort of drug smuggling.  The guitar has mysteriously shown up at Dex's house, and she stashes it at her office before going to collect Mim, the guitarist.  When they get to the office, they find the pair of rednecks that have also been searching for the instrument, holding a gun to Mim's drummer.

What follows is an excellent chase scene as the rednecks take off, with Dex giving chase.  At this point, Matthew Southworth turns the art sideways, so as to best utilize the wide-screen format that a landscaped page allows.  When the cars stop, the pages return to portrait orientation, but as soon as the chase is back on, the art goes sideways again.  It's a very effective technique, and I have to say that the bridge-jumping scene is executed perfectly.  Rarely does a comic book sequence create such excitement in me.

I am very excited to see what happens in the next issue of Stumptown, although I'm also saddened, because I imagine that will be the last we see of Dex for a while.