I’ve read this book before.  Numerous times.  Troubled, sexy, female Private Investigator gets roped into a case that rapidly grows life-threatening.  There’s a young girl gone missing, a caring family member that wants her back, and a shady and powerful man who forces himself into the situation. 

The story is structured around cliches, but, that being said, this was really really good.  Rucka is just fantastic with character, which is what this kind of hard-boiled crime story desperately needs to succeed.  Rucka doesn’t just immediately present a compelling protagonist – in this case Dexedrine Parios, a hard-luck private eye seemingly raising a developmentally challenged little brother by herself and fighting a losing battle with a gambling problem- but in one issue he has already populated his world with a number of nuanced and emotionally charged characters: Sue Lynne – the stern and maternal version Red Crow that runs the casino when Dex ran up her debts, who gives Dex her assignment to locate her wayward grandchild, Charlotte. Ansel – Dex’s gamer little brother who you already can see she honestly loves and who also loves her back. Hector Marenco – the shady but powerful business man and family man who will pay double to place himself between Charlotte and Sue Lynn in Dex’s investigation. This many well executed layers shouldn’t be possible in one issue of comic book.

This is a surprising thing to say, but actually liked this even better than Rucka’s last issue of Detective.  I can’t wait for more.