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The Private eye

Vaughan, Brian K. Graphic Novel - 2015 Adult Book / Comics & Graphic Novels / Science Fiction / Vaughan, Brian K. 1 On Shelf No requests on this item Community Rating: 4.2 out of 5

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Call Number: Adult Book / Comics & Graphic Novels / Science Fiction / Vaughan, Brian K.
On Shelf At: Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length Call Number Checkout Length Item Status
Pittsfield Adult Books
4-week checkout
Adult Book / Comics & Graphic Novels / Science Fiction / Vaughan, Brian K. 4-week checkout On Shelf

Cover title.
Back cover : "The cloudburst edition".
Digital web comic compiled. "A detective story set in 2076, when everyone in the United States has a secret identity."--Publisher's website. Contains 10 issues plus a "Making of" special.

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Fiction Profile
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Topical future noir story about privacy concerns. submitted by eknapp on May 13, 2016, 4:45pm Gotta hand it to Vaughan, he does not think small. In Y: The Last Man, he explored sexism, patriarchy and sudden depopulation in a postapoc man-free world. The insane epic Saga lets him shine the light on war and racism while pitting magic against science in a galaxy- and civilizations-spanning conflict. Here in The Private Eye, Vaughan tackles privacy-vs-security concerns in a tricentennial America that has no internet, no smartphones or other devices (but does have flying cars and hologram projectors, oddly enough).

It's a future noir story, in spite of the bright colors. At some point in the past 'the Cloud' released everybody's private info to the public, destroying lives and public faith in connectivity. So the internet was disbanded. And decades later everybody wears costumes in public, rather pitifully parodying the anonymity of their former cyberspace lives. (Vaughan has a hell of a knack for world-building.)

Our hero is an illegal private investigator hired by a dangerous woman to solve her sister's murder. It pretty much follows the noir formula while guiding us through the author's weird vision of a high-tech but internet-free world. It has the odd effect of making the plot seem both totally off the wall and completely predictable.

I'm not a huge fan of the art, honestly. The characters all look like heroin addicts and the simple bright colors make me feel like I'm at a circus. But the abundance of closeups is fascinating: books, posters, eyes, mouths, masks...wounds... It draws focus to different aspects of the 'scene' and allows Vaughan to quickly introduce his characters (you learn a lot about PI by the books he's reading and the movie posters on his wall.)

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PUBLISHED
Berkeley, CA : Image Comics, [2015]
Year Published: 2015
Description: 1 volume (unpaged) : chiefly color illustrations ; 20 x 32 cm.
Language: English
Format: Graphic Novel

ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9781632155726
1632155729

ADDITIONAL CREDITS
Martín, Marcos (Artist),
Vicente, Muntsa,

SUBJECTS
Webcomics.
Private investigators -- Fiction.
Graphic novels.
Detective and mystery fiction.
Science fiction.