COVER STORY: Scene of the Crime #1
What makes the best comic book covers? It’s a great topic for debate. For us as individuals there is no wrong answer, of course. It’s purely subjective. But with a little thought it is frequently possible to explain what it is about a particular image that grabs you. The best ones are the ones that make you stop and check out something you weren’t previously going to purchase – and in some cases, you even end up picking up a title you’ve never even heard of before.
For me, it’s always been about that cover you could see from across two or three rows at your local comic shop on Wednesday. Or on top of your friend’s stack of comics from his or her trip to the comic shop. Or across a crowded aisle at a comic book convention.
The best ones are the ones that make you stop and check out something you weren’t previously going to purchase – and in some cases, you even end up picking up a title you’ve never even heard of before.
That was definitely the case with Scene of the Crime #1, originally published by Vertigo, cover dated May 1999. I didn’t know a whole lot about the series, and I didn’t yet know much about the creators, writer Ed Brubaker, pencil artist Michael Lark, and inker Sean Phillips. Like a lot of comic fans, over the next few years I would get to know plenty about them, but at this point, I knew what I read in PREVIEWS and what my friends at DC Comics told me. That’s it.
And then I saw this cover. With private investigator Jack Herriman peering through the venetian blinds, pistol in his other hand, shadowy figure (who turned out to be his revered crime photographer uncle) in the back, and a reel of 35mm black and white shots going down the issue’s spine… Sold!
It was a smokey image steeped in almost everything I found compelling about noir storytelling, except of course the female lead, who would meet her demise at the end of the issue and then be featured on the second issue’s cover.
As it turns out, the whole miniseries was as compelling as that first cover, and the work has stood up well over time. There’s a great Image Comics hardcover collection of the Scene of the Crime. It includes the four issues of the miniseries and a one-shot tale as well. There’s also trade paperback collection available.
And this great cover’s in there as well.
– J.C. Vaughn
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COVER STORY: Scene of the Crime #1
What makes the best comic book covers? It’s a great topic for debate. For us as individuals there is no wrong answer, of course. It’s purely subjective. But with a little thought it is frequently possible to explain what it is about a particular image that grabs you. The best ones are the ones that make you stop and check out something you weren’t previously going to purchase – and in some cases, you even end up picking up a title you’ve never even heard of before.
For me, it’s always been about that cover you could see from across two or three rows at your local comic shop on Wednesday. Or on top of your friend’s stack of comics from his or her trip to the comic shop. Or across a crowded aisle at a comic book convention.
The best ones are the ones that make you stop and check out something you weren’t previously going to purchase – and in some cases, you even end up picking up a title you’ve never even heard of before.
That was definitely the case with Scene of the Crime #1, originally published by Vertigo, cover dated May 1999. I didn’t know a whole lot about the series, and I didn’t yet know much about the creators, writer Ed Brubaker, pencil artist Michael Lark, and inker Sean Phillips. Like a lot of comic fans, over the next few years I would get to know plenty about them, but at this point, I knew what I read in PREVIEWS and what my friends at DC Comics told me. That’s it.
And then I saw this cover. With private investigator Jack Herriman peering through the venetian blinds, pistol in his other hand, shadowy figure (who turned out to be his revered crime photographer uncle) in the back, and a reel of 35mm black and white shots going down the issue’s spine… Sold!
It was a smokey image steeped in almost everything I found compelling about noir storytelling, except of course the female lead, who would meet her demise at the end of the issue and then be featured on the second issue’s cover.
As it turns out, the whole miniseries was as compelling as that first cover, and the work has stood up well over time. There’s a great Image Comics hardcover collection of the Scene of the Crime. It includes the four issues of the miniseries and a one-shot tale as well. There’s also trade paperback collection available.
And this great cover’s in there as well.
– J.C. Vaughn
Popular Topics
Overstreet Access Quick Links
