That’s what I’ve come to expect from Mills though. He’s always figuring out ways to liven up traditional concepts by looking at them from a different way or exploring corners that we haven’t been into before. Even that first issue of Femme Noir: I don’t want to call it a set-up issue, because – like “pulp” – I have a knee-jerk, negative reaction to that term. Mills certainly sets up his series, but he does it in an exciting way that works as a complete, stand-alone story and doesn’t make you sorry that you didn’t just wait for the trade.
I’ve neglected to mention Joe Staton’s illustrations before now and that’s as criminal as anything Femme Noir’s characters are up to. Staton is a legendary artist who’s clearly still in the game and is very comfortable with the series’ noir setting. Staton is too “Staton” to suffer comparison with any other artist, but damn if I wasn’t constantly reminded of The Spirit the whole time. In fact, if you’re at all enjoying DC’s current Spirit series and would enjoy reading more like it, you really need to give Femme Noir a try when it starts in June.
It's interesting that everyone so far assumes that the narrator of the first issue is a private eye. He's not... but his identity won't be revealed until the second miniseries.
He's not? Dammit, now I'm even more impatient. :)
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