Written by: Ed Brubaker
Art by: Sean Phillips & Elizabeth Breitweiser
Publisher: Image
The mystery in the city of stars continued in this second issue of the intriguing story by creators Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips, and colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser.
When we last left Charlie, he was dealing with the aftermath of the death of Valeria Sommers, a Hollywood starlet. He’s seeing coworkers and colleagues and how the beast that is the Hollywood system responds to controversy. The center of this issue is the relationship between Charlie and his partner Gil. Brubaker further explores the history of Hollywood with Gil and his past with being investigated for communism, and his downward spiral into alcoholism. In addition to that we see what makes the pair friends and how the strain of working together puts them at odds. Charlie just writes down what Gil speaks through his drinking and so without him, Charlie is nothing and could lose everything. The one problem with this chapter is that it doesn’t really stand up as it’s own issue. It feels as if it would have benefitted from being attached to the first issue in a double-sized premiere.
In the review for last issue, I noted that any time Charlie was on his own, everything was green, this remains for this issue too but something else drew my attention. While most of the flashbacks shown are always tinted with a certain color, an exchange between Charlie and Valeria don’t follow the trend. It’s unclear whether this is a flashback or a fantasy on Charlie’s part, but it really makes you pay attention to what’s going on. There relationship could have been more important than we’ve seen already. It does seem like that might not really be the case, but it shows the importance of color in this series, and storytelling in general.
The Fade Out #2 continues to draw you in with the insight to the history of Hollywood.
