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WARNING ! Spoilers ahead for Where The Body Was
If noir has a name in comics , it would have to beEd BrubakerandSean Phillips . The pair have consistently put out the finest crime / noir tales in comic over the year atImage Comics , establishing themselves as one of the most celebrated writer / artist duos in the whole of the comics diligence . Now , they rejoin with their latest oeuvre , Where The Body Was , an epic hardcover graphic novel that sees the pair tackling a execution whodunit , with a wrench .
First team up in 2001 for the DC Elseworlds bookBatman : Gotham Noir , Brubaker and Phillips later collaborate on work such asSleeper , Criminal , andIncognito . The publication ofFatalein 2012 discover the duette make their debut at Image Comics , where they ’ve proceeded to produce a issue of acclaim titles likeThe Fade OutandKill or be kill . With the outlet of their 2020 titlePulp , Brubaker and Phillips move off from monthly comics and instead chose to focus on recollective - configuration graphic novels like theRecklessseries and last summer’sNight Fever .
Where The Body Wascontinues Brubaker and Phillips ’ journey into long - grade graphical novels , and is easily their most challenging work yet .
Brubaker and Phillips Map Out the Art of Murder inWhere The Body Was
Where The Body Wasopens with a threefold - page spread of a function of the neighborhood where the volume of the action takes billet , along with a page detailing the cast of characters appear therein . It sets the stage nicely for the account that unfolds over the 134 pages that follow , a offense fable peel back the layers of an average American suburb to come up the rot seeping in at the cracks . “ Epic ” is a condition that is thrown about rather loosely these solar day , but Brubaker and Phillips truly earn that recording label with this latest project , a story that is widely - ranging in both setting and story content .
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Set in the summer of 1984,Where The Body Wastakes place principally in the suburbia of Pelican Road , whose dweller find themselves twisting through each other ’s lifespan in a swirl of sex , lies and attempted murder . The hurl of character is expansive , with Brubaker and Phillips using this hear - and - on-key plot of a murder mystery to uncover the secret lives of very distinct graphic symbol living in the same suburb . From the untested junkies in love to the cheating wife to the war veteran survive in the tent on the outskirts to the untried girl tasking herself with dressing up like a superhero and protect the region , Brubaker and Phillips employ the “ murder enigma ” plot as an self-justification to examine the lives of these characters in a very specific moment in time .
Where The Body WasPeels Back the Layers of Suburban Violence
What is most at once apparent aboutWhere The Body Wasis the willingness of the creators to take classical music genre tropes and turn them on their ear at every turn . When the lecturer first meets the part in the story , they may intend they know what role they will play out in this grand “ execution mystery ” tableau , but each of them carries a secret and none are as simple on the surface as they may appear . This overture even stretch to the titular “ body ” of the title , the mystery of which is not revealed until the very last scene of the book , as Brubaker and Phillips subvert outlook at every turn . There is a murder endeavor and there is a dead body found , but the victim is n’t who you opine and nothing plays out how you think it will .
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What Brubaker and Phillips are really doing here is test social club in microcosm . The “ consistency ” of the title is n’t just referring to the dead consistency found on the Pelican Road sidewalk on that tranquil summer afternoon in 1984 , but also the various bodies get up the prominent body of company . The Almighty take an interesting plan of attack to the taradiddle by have many of the characters in the present day recount the events of the past , making the Good Book palpate like a docudrama or honest crime podcast . By taking this approach , Brubaker and Phillips spotlight the interconnectivity of type as they weave in and out of each other ’s sprightliness , the repercussion of their actions motivated by the characters ’ loneliness , alienation and grief .
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Like a good novel , Where The Body Wasclosely examines each character reference chapter by chapter , as the story slow arrive together when their life set out to intersect in interesting and surprising ways . Most surprising of all is how Brubaker and Phillips land the characters to the climactic confrontation that winds up unite them all , a moment of fierceness that is quickly wrap up up so that the floor can take a more melancholy timbre as the story guide to its denouement . The final moments ofWhere The Body Wasare some of the most emotional pages Brubaker and Phillips have delivered thus far , as lector discover what happens to each case in the decennary since that disastrous summer .
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Still , if the only real literary criticism one can regain with any given piece of work is that they are get out wanting more upon reaching the decision , that only talk to the overall excellent quality of the work in question . There is no uncertainty thatWhere The torso Wasis the work of masters operating at the height of their slyness , surrender an original graphic novel that is irregular , excited and thoroughly gripping throughout . From the opening map setting the microscope stage for the story to add up to the final reveal of what happened to the “ body ” in the title , the creators have taken the murder mystery format and delivered a sly and unique take on a well - worn genre . Where The Body WasfromImage Comicscontinues the impressive winning streak of creatorsEd BrubakerandSean Phillips , and solidifies the pair ’s bequest as the finest names out there in crime / noir comedian .
Where The Body Wasis useable now from Image Comics
Where The Body Was
Release Date :
December 13th , 2023
Writer :
Ed Brubaker
Artist :
Sean Phillips
Colorist :
Jacob Phillips
Letterer :
