While the hard-boiled film noir genre is a little hackneyed, when it’s it’s good it works. And Fatale works.

With a small cast of characters Brubaker is crafting a tight, well written book peppered with enough mystery & intrigue to do the genre justice & keep readers guessing. The supernatural element which seemed a little jarring in #1 is tempered here, giving the book a horror undertone — which is welcomed flavour.

The dual timeline of issue 1 is missing here, which is a shame. Admittedly it’s by no means a new literary device, but it added an extra layer to the tale that I would like to have seen continued here. Maybe after the initial set up Brubaker will hit us with alternate current/past issues. Time will tell on that one.

Bringing the writing to life, Phillips’ art complements Brubaker’s genre work-out with ink-pot shadows filling panels — the gaps as equally important as the details. The blue/grey pallet with flashes of colour only strengthens this. Again, it’s a trope of the genre but, when your doing a genre book, you’ve got to tick the boxes.