Top of the Pile - 10/23/2013

Velvet #1
by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
Image Comics

Ed Brubaker, with his new book Velvet, is writing spy fiction now. Like his hugely successful noir book, Fatale, Velvet is his attempt to tell a tale of espionage from the heyday of the cold war, the early 1970s. Velvet is the name of the main character, Velvet Templeton, who is the secretary to the head of the most elite spy group, ARC-7.  But as the book starts, one of the most experienced agents gets murdered while on assignment in Paris and as  the investigation into how such a thing happened to a highly trained agent, Velvet gets a little too close to the truth and ends up in a very touchy situation.

I’ve liked Brubaker’s work for years. Initially with his run on Daredevil and Iron Fist, and later his crime/noir books, he is one writer I always look for. He is able to adapt his style to whichever genre he is writing. With Velvet, we hear the inner monologues of Velvet as she pieces evidence together. The dialog isn’t anachronistic to the time period he is writing. And the pacing is at a good clip here we are introduced to all the characters.

The artwork by Steve Epting is also very fine. And as it turns out, I’ve been enjoying his work for a while also. Most recently from the Fantastic Four and FF books. His take on the spy story is interesting. There are many great novels and movies with spies, but some of them from the 70s could be really campy and silly (think Matt Helm meets Modest Blaise). But instead of going all pop-art and platform shoes, he and Brubaker go for a more realistic, darker tone. Almost every page is full of shadows. Dark offices and rain filled streets are where most of the action in this book takes place. And with Velvet’s streak of white hair on an otherwise raven do, she comes across as a super femme fatale. Really cool.

I really like this book so far and will definitely continue picking it up. As for the library, I would certainly consider purchasing the trade paperbacks. If the story continues to maintain its quality, I would recommend it highly to our patrons who like our spy books.