REVIEW: 'Black Cloak' #1 by Kelly Thompson, Meredith McClaren, and Becca Carey

 

Black Cloak #1

Writer: Kelly Thompson

Artist: Meredith McClaren

Letters by Becca Carey

 Edits by Charles Beacham 

Cover Design by Rian Hughes.

Kelly Thompson Substack

Score:

★★★★★ (5/5)

In checking out the latest rush of Substack comics to come out this week, like this one for free, comic book veterans Kelly Thompson, Meredith McClaren, and Becca Carey present a wonderful new murder mystery set in the world of fantasy with 'Black Cloak.'

The first issue is offered for free on Thompson's Substack newsletter and despite being a few pages shorter than your average comic, it is every bit the top-notch entertainment you'd expect from a title with this talent attached. The way crime noir, fantasy, detective procedural, and the murder mystery are so easily interwoven is a testament to expert storytelling and design. In a place where elves, mermaids, and centaurs exist it could very well be the mean streets of New York as this shocking murder mystery unfolds. 

Phaedra Essex is a hard-boiled detective with a no-nonsense approach and when a royal she has some history with is found murdered, she and her partner turn the seedy Narrows upside down looking for answers. It's quick-paced with a rhythm of a pulp detective novel right down to the dialogue. The usual cop procedural tropes are there like an angry police captain, a literal goat, who warns Essex to "walk softly." But it doesn't matter because the execution is so good the reader is fully invested in this crime drama from the very beginning. It's kind of like 'Seven' meets 'The Chronicles of Narnia.'

The art is beautiful and not the dark, brooding, shadows you'd normally find in a story like this. The colors have a limited palette, more earthy than menacing.  A lot of brown, yellow, blue, and gray with an endearing cartoonish design by McClaren. There's a juxtaposition between the subject matter and the art that makes what happens all the more shocking and dramatic. There may be some cute goats, elves, and mermaids but this is 'Sin City' in essence so it's not the fun and games you're used to. 

'Black Cloak' is another newsletter-only comic so good that some skeptics will have to admit that Substack is a viable vehicle for great comics. It's made all the more convincing when such talented people like Thompson, McClaren, and Carey are behind the stories. This hard-boiled crime drama set in a world of fantasy is supremely entertaining and addictive. It is totally worth a subscription.