Written by Ryan K. Lindsay
Art by Sami Kivela
Published by Mad Cave Studios
I had seen a lot of promos for this book yet had no idea what it was about.
The images and the graphic design look great, and it seemed interesting. So, I decided to pop open this book and give it a read. I knew that I was in good hands right away.
Writer Ryan K. Lindsay is one of the most underrated writers in comics. His work over the years has been really strong and my hope is that this series puts him on the map some more. Maybe people would even go and track down some of his older work (hint: It’s great). Sami Kivela is a great artist as well so this book already has a good pedigree even before I cracked it open to read.
So, what is this series about?
Well, it literally is about an editor of a crime beat paper who is also a deer.
The editor’s name is Bucky and he is an anthropomorphic deer. Nobody mentions this fact, by the way. It is just accepted by all of the characters that Bucky is a deer who walks and talk. We get to see the character settle in as the story begins. We get to see the day to day of being a deer at this newspaper.
Quickly, however, things get dark. The book is definitely a noir book that is riddled with crime everywhere.
Bucky immediately stumbles across a criminal conspiracy. It is really cool to watch all of the elements come into play, if not just a little bit obvious. Still, the creative team make it all extremely compelling and I enjoyed the different ways that the story went. We are introduced to a bunch of different characters too, and they are all very well developed. But, you just know too, that any of them could be involved in evil.
There is a lot of excitement that happens fairly quickly. Bucky goes missing for awhile. Where has he gone?
That part of the story is put on hold. After that, he has a fellow news person named Dan who takes the lead on things. Dan starts to go through and takes up the case that Bucky was working on. His love life is on the skids. Dan is also not a deer, but a human ; He is the paper’s assistant editor as well. The story sort of shifts and it becomes Dan’s story for a bit. It is quite interesting to see Dan go further into exploring the case and finding new clues. Dan is a multifaceted character and he gets himself into some pretty hot water as the story progresses. Dan has something happen to him, and that is when the story shifts back to Bucky.
By the last chapter, we see that Bucky is now back in action.
He is ready to resolve things. Bucky has to speak the truth. The stakes have now gotten too large. He had figured out the case and he knows what must be done. The last chapter of the story really is the most action oriented of them all. We get to see Bucky in action and we get some real exciting scenes. There is a car chase that is especially exciting. There are also a couple of fights that Bucky finds himself in. Some of those scenes can get especially brutal, and the creative team does not hold back. The action is clear and concise and delivered well.
All of the lead up to the ending was fairly good, for the most part. There were some choices made that I didn’t care for(the switch to Dan’s story in the second chapter wasn’t my favorite) but the book is fairly strong. The ending wasn’t my favorite either, but it made sense in the story that the creative team as telling. Overall, it is very enjoyable.
Ryan K. Lindsay and Sami Kivela are talented separately for sure. But when they join forces, something magical always happens. That’s the case here. This is a well made comic, even with the parts that I didn’t like so much. They always make interesting choices that make you sit up.
You may not always agree with them, but the work and choices are always compelling. The same can be said for their work on this book.
RATING: B+
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