Fatale‘s first issue has some extra pages, but not so many it’s totally different from a regular comic. Brubaker does wonders with the pacing. He opens with a modern story, then flashes back into something. It’s unclear if it’s the manuscript the protagonist found or just a flashback.
But in that flashback, Brubaker moves between three characters. So it’s a less than thirty-page comic with four characters and all the time well spent. The pacing’s so great, Fatale being compelling is just a bonus.
The cliffhanger’s a little soft though. It doesn’t have enough impact since the reader has just meant that particular protagonist.
Sean Phillips’s artwork is fantastic, whether it’s the action scenes or the fifties stuff. The fifties art is a lot more static; it’s calm, even though it’s rather violent.
Brubaker and Phillips turn in such a strong, but singular, first issue, Fatale‘s hard to anticipate.
CREDITS
Death Chases Me, Prologue and Chapter One; writer, Ed Brubaker; artist, Sean Phillips; colorist, Dave Stewart; publisher, Image Comics.
