Femme Noir: A Dark Walk Into a Dark City

By Joe Hilliard

A mysterious woman draped in a trenchcoat, sporting fishnet stockings, a mean fedora and flowing blonde locks. A city enveloped in chaos. Christopher Mills and Joe Staton's Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries from Ape Entertainment explodes like the time bomb that opens the second issue of this mini-series.

Mills really pulls out the old-school hardboiled vibe with this book. Moreover, he overlays it with a 40s/50s detective comic mien. Women with alliterative double entendre or punning names. An amorphous, timelost town. Rain literally drips off the panels. Sure, it wears its Paul Cain and Will Eisner roots on its sleeve. What it doesn't do, however, is simply ape those templates. Mills and Staton take their work that one step further. Like Rick Veitch's Greyshirt, what could easily become pastiche is instead rendered as something unique that can stand on its own. Port Nocturne is indeed a city enveloped in darkness. Crime does run rampant. The cops are on the take, or inept. It rains. A lot. Women like Laurel Lye and Dahlia Blue inhabit it. But in Mills hands, it's not simply a façade; this is a lived-in city with some real backbone to it.

Mills creates this by building up a large set of characters, developing them deeply over the first issue. That first issue is comprised of several vignettes from a somewhat omniscient observer writer, exposing different characters to the spotlight in turn. Three strong female leads dominate, each distinctive, each with their own secrets, and each with ties to our mysterious blonde heroine. Detective Riley, the seemingly only honest and hardworking cop on the force, rounds out our major players. It's an effective and satisfying introduction to the world of Port Nocturne. I definitely enjoyed the second issue more. It presents a longer tale of revenge and death, centering on a gambling ship just off the coast, just far enough out and a real hard luck gambler. Without revealing too much, Mills paints a strong, dark tale.

I have long been an admirer of Joe Staton's art. His broad stroke characterizations and thick lines mix perfectly with Mills' story – his women are bold, his men are square-jawed. Everything is so angular. Sharp and distorted. Deep dark shadows. I found myself staring at the first page of issue one, mesmerized. And, Staton really draws rain well. I know that sounds like a strange compliment, but the first two issues are peppered with some really good, really effective panel work that is offset with some striking rain effects. I liked that without compromising his own distinct and cool style, there is an Eisner influence to some of the panel work , countered by some unexpected Chester Gould influence. Detective Riley shows off a real Dick Tracy sheen on several pages, nicely undercut by the seamier aspects of the story. These little nods don't detract from the book. On the contrary, much like the street and character names, they are faint nods to the history of detective fiction. I've argued in this column before that the essential tropes of noir are timeless, it's what you do with them in context of the present that makes a piece work, or not. Staton's art goes a long ways towards subverting them, and making the work his own. Mills writing similarly brings a deeper life to these. They are a potent pair.

If you like the traditional comic book side of noir fiction, with a hint of modern flair, Femme Noir is definitely the book for you. The first issue is due this month, and the second in July. Check them out! The Femme Noir website: http://www.femme-noir.com/ that includes some earlier web comics with the character. I like them; they have a real Sunday comic strip feel to them. Christopher Mills' website: http://www.atomicpulp.com/ is stocked to the gills with good stuff. And Ape Entertainment can be found at: http://www.ape-entertainment.com/.

And coming next, a review of the Borderland movie tie-in comic from Viper Comics.

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