Image Comics; $15.99

NYPD detectives Sam Burke and Maximilian “Twitch” Williams first appeared in Todd McFarlane’s Spawn #1 from Image Comics and immediately became central supporting players in the title character’s world. When McFarlane had the idea to turn Goldfish, Jinx, and Torso writer-artist Brian Michael Bendis loose as the writer of Sam and Twitch’s own adventures, the decision added layers and layers of depth to the duo.

Their first series, Sam and Twitch (1999), ran 26 issues. After the two arcs by Bendis, McFarlane himself took over the writing duties. The stories firmly established the characters on their own as put-upon cops who will see a case through to the end, no matter the obstacles. It also cemented the duo’s ability to push through truly weird circumstances, often against the wishes of superiors who would much rather the case at hand would simply just go away.

That was followed by Case Files: Sam & Twtich (2003), which ran 25 issues. It continued the deep dive into the characters and their world. That series is remembered particularly for the incredible first arc by writer Marc Andreyko and artist Scott Morse.

It was followed in by a four-issue mini-series, Sam and Twitch: The Writer (2010) and various hardcover and trade paperback editions before the current series, Sam and Twitch: Case Files (2024) kicked off.

Sam and Twitch: Case Files Volume 1 collects the first eight issues of the current series. It’s written by McFarlane, who also provided the cover, and illustrated by Szymon Kudranski. A moody, noir atmosphere permeates the tale that pulls first Twitch and then Sam into another truly weird case. It’s tightly plotted and very nicely paced. While it was very enjoyable as individual issues, the story’s even better in one volume.

Conspiracies, weird crime, and the dedicated friendship of Sam and Twitch make this a great read.

– J.C. Vaughn