Cosmic Detective

September 11, 2023
With reality itself falling apart, it’s up to one world-weary gumshoe to save the universe in this trippy noir thriller from Eisner Award winner Lemire (Gideon Falls), Kindt (Mind MGMT), and Rubín (Beowulf). At the behest of his shadowy employers, the Detective attempts to solve a murder involving a dead god and a human who seems to have returned from beyond the veil. A host of obstacles both terrestrial and existential, including his own employers and a clutch of unseen enemies, stand between him and the devastating truth behind a case that may remain better off unsolved. He’s pulled through ever stranger locales and scenarios that find him uncontrollably hopping between dimensions when all he really wants is a good stiff drink and a night at home with his wife and kids. “Looks like it might be a lot of overtime,” he tells his sympathetic wife, in an understatement of intergalactic proportions. Spanish cartoonist Rubín’s bold, visceral linework and intense, ethereal palette create a dazzling future-noir world, equal parts The Third Man and The Fifth Element. It adds up to an otherworldly mystery for the ages.

Starred review from May 19, 2023

Cowriters Kindt (Spy Superb) and Lemire (Little Monsters, Vol. 2) team with illustrator Rub�n (The World of Black Hammer, Omnibus 1) for this twisty sci-fi/noir mashup that kicks off with the discovery of a godlike being's corpse in a fleabag motel and only gets stranger from there. How is it possible to murder an immortal? Why would anyone want to do such a thing? These questions and others plague the protagonist, an unnamed detective whose pursuit of justice leads him to discover a connection to his own past and a secret that threatens to unravel the fabric of reality. Kindt and Lemire's propulsive plotting pushes their protagonist into encounters with a colorful cast of characters in a variety of settings, from dingy parking garages to eerily austere medical facilities to interdimensional libraries overseen by floating imps. Rub�n renders each scene with incredible dynamism and a sense of scale that becomes more pronounced as the story builds to its cosmic climax, resulting in almost unbearable suspense and a true sense of wonder at the nature of this remarkably imagined universe. VERDICT An outstandingly inventive and thrilling cosmic noir.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.