The Fade Out, Vol. 1

I purchased and read volumes 1-3 (the story ends in 3). This three part graphic novels shows what graphic novels can be, but often are not. The art of very good, the plot is interesting and well done. The characters are complex and, in some cases, have unexpected depth.The graphic novels has the feel of the movie Chinatown or LA Confidential. This is the post war noir Los Angeles, with its corrupt polices and out of control movie studio bosses and actors. This is a time when fortunes were built in Los Angeles and in the movie business. Women and sex was seen by some as a reward for power and money in a stark and raw way that is not true in the twenty first century.The story also has the feel of the movies of the era. In those movies men often get into fist fights with other men. The idea that slugging someone might be criminal assault is alien. This is men acting like school year boys.The constant fist fights are the only element of the story that didn't work for me. Fist fights between men are serious and sometimes result in death or serious injury. Except in the movies, where none of that seems to happen. And perhaps that's the point. Reading this graphic novel is like watching a movie made in the 1940s and 1950s.Another 1940s and 1950s movie element in the plot is that almost everyone smokes. And they smoke everywhere - in cars, inside buildings. Whenever they get nervous or upset they light up.At one point the narrator of the story mentions that the two main characters are alcoholics who would not be bothered by that diagnosis. They drink hard liqueur constantly and this is a part of the story line, since there are blackouts and actions that only someone who was drunk would undertake.To a reader in 2016 this noir world of the late 1940s seems like a strange and alien world. But it adds to the movie and noir quality of The Fade Out.After reading this graphic novel, I'm going to look up some of the other work by the authors.

I love the movie backdrop to this story. It begins with the setup of the book itself (this first part is labeled act one after all). From there it goes into Hollywood in the late 1940s or early 1950s. The starlet of the film that's always sort of in the background has been found dead. Brubaker and Phillips sure know how to set a hook on a story.The characters are all interesting. There is definitely something shady going on and everyone seems to be involved in some way. Unpacking where each character fits in is quite a bit of fun. This book is more of a setup for things to come than anything else, but it does it so well.And the art is superb. It captures the essence of the period perfectly. Anyone with a passing interest in noir type stories should check this out.

The Fade Out, Act One is the first volume in the new 1948-set crime series by acclaimed pair, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. A bloody typewriter. A dead starlet. Moguls and security men. Charlie Parish is a tortured screenwriter who wakes up from a blackout drunk to find a dead actress in his bungalow. As he tries to piece together the night before, things simply don't add up, so he confides in his friend, Gil Mason, a former screenwriter who was blacklisted for having communist ties.The series is haunted by two specters, World War II and Valeria Sommers/Jenny Summers. Visually, the first thing that caught my eye was Elizabeth Breitweiser's coloring. She uses all sorts of greens and browns. Don't get me wrong – this is a noir title – but she brings out the light of day in daytime scenes. Fade Out is full of surprises, and a few famous stars from the 1940s make cameos, like Clark Gable and Ronald Reagan, the latter of which is tied with the F.B.I. I don't know if I have enough room for another title to follow, but if I do, it's most likely to be this one. ****3/4

Man, this is just a great story. Glad I'm buying the comics as well, but also nice to have the trade for getting others hooked. I also suggest to everyone to get the comics, as there's also a small section in the back about a solved or unsolved murder, or other true stories in the same era as the main.

This is a superb first book in the series. Brubaker's plot is dense, and Phillips' art hits all the right notes. If anything, I will say that Brubaker's propensity for narration boxes during his scenes lowers the effect of the story overall for me. He does a great job setting a scene and character interactions, but then the dialogue gives way to a series of narration boxes that explain the scenes away. While I love this approach when it comes to recap pages, it is difficult to have the level of emotional investment the subject matter and presentation deserves when I never feel like I am fully allowed to get a sense of the characters' voices.

I used to exclusively collect Silver Age DC war comics like Unknown Soldier, etc. Then - maybe a year ago - my local comic shop introduced me to The Fade Out. It's changed my relationship with comics completely. I now only read the new stuff - mostly from Image - and am slowly winnowing down my older items. I really do think that comics are having a new Golden Age, and The Fade Out is a huge part of it for me. It's really changed my reading habits, much for the better!Thanks Brubaker and Phillips!

I've read quite a bit of Brubaker and Phillips, from SLEEPER to INCOGNITO to CRIMINAL to FATALE, so I think I was hoping for more from this series than what I got. A Hollywood screenwriter working during the Blacklist era wakes up next to a dead actress and watches helplessly as the studio tries to cover up her death and move on. Except for a potential connection to the government and Communists, there's really not much to go on in this first volume. If it wasn't for Brubaker and Phillips' prior record of consistently good work, I'd be tempted to give Volume 2 a pass whenever it comes out. I hate to think the talented pair is resting on their laurels, but that's how this book certainly reads.