Hot on the heels of Saga Brian K. Vaughan launched The Private Eye, a digital-only collaboration with artist Marcos Martin. It's a very forward looking format: DRM-free comics (in PDF, CBR or CBZ format, so they can be read in most comic book viewers, or with Adobe Acrobat), offered on a "name your price" basis. So you can try it out for free, which is what I did with the first issue. Tried a couple of different file formats while I was at it, and finally decided that a comics reader app worked best on my Kindle Fire HD.
They're now up to Issue 3, plus a "Making of" special which is very thorough. It includes email correspondence between the creators and the original pitch, plus script and layouts for the first issue. I paid for everything after that first issue, so I'm on board.
But enough about format. What about the story? It's set in the future. There was a huge crash that made all of the data in the Cloud public, which caused chaos and resulted in the death of the Internet. Privacy is now at such a premium that most people wear disguises in public. This gives Marcos the opportunity to draw really cool masks and costumes, in addition to normal character design. Visually the series reminds me of Paul Pope's sci-fi stories, as well as Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed those. If you follow the link above you can download for free to check it out, and there are also previews of each issue linked on the site (the previews are pre-dialog, so they're kind of a silent movie version). It's a grand experiment, and so far it seems to be working.
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Martin does a great job formatting the pages to look good on a screen, doesn't he? It's rectangular, like a landscape version of a comic book page. But it quickly begins to feel completely natural.
Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) said:
Cool, you beat me to it! I downloaded it last night, but I haven't read it yet. I love the "cover" image.
Just read issue four. There is a lot more about the villain, so it's nice to see that plot line moved along. The P.I. and his client make some progress in their murder investigation, but that sure ends on a cliffhanger. I can't wait for the next issue! This is the closest I've come to following a monthly comic in years.
Issue Five just came out over the weekend, still with the "name your price" model. The P.I. and his client cope with the results of the automobile accident that closed the previous issue: they're banged up but OK, but the driver is in a coma. They are closing in on the TV executive that is their main murder suspect, and we see him engage in more violent, ruthless behavior. In the Afterward Vaughan confirms that this is the series halfway point, so the plan is still to end at ten issues. He also reveals the news that there will be another series coming out using the Panel Syndicate platform, "a new work from an amazing artist we're very honored to host."
One other thing I noticed while hunting for this thread. I missed an earlier thread on this title, which I would have resurrected if I had known it was there.
Issue Six came out yesterday, and I read it this morning. In the Afterward Vaughan says the voluntary payment model is working out great; he's sure they will be able to get to Issue Ten, the projected ending. There's real progress made towards solving the murder mystery in this installment, although there's a bit less action than usual.