BOOM! Studios; $4.99  

The first issue of Neighborhood Watch introduced two communities. Willow Haven is a cookie-cutter upper-middle class development with a very involved HOA and block parties. Nearby, Open Arms is a self-sustaining community where everyone pitches in together to live as one big happy family.  

The first issue ended when Val from Open Arms and Bianca from Willow Haven each discovered a secret tunnel below their neighborhoods. Somewhere in the middle, they find a woman who has been shot. Their third shock comes when Bianca and Val identify her as two different women. 

Following that cliffhanger, they put the pieces together and realize that the woman Bianca knows as her neighbor Jill Collier, is the woman Val knows as Cassie Maynard. Both women want to find out what happened to Jill/Cassie and vow to keep what happened a secret until they do. Bianca goes home to take a look around Jill's house while Val learns a secret that Cassie had been hiding from her.   

Neighborhood Watch is really good. Sarah Gailey is writing a mystery story with genuinely good twists and last page surprises that makes me excited for the next issue. On top of that she is juxtaposing the lifestyles in the two communities in a way that highlights their differences and cleverly points out how those differences are really similarities. On one side is a group that monitors how often everyone's lawn is mowed, on the other is a group that argues over how to plant crops. The leadership in each community wants to assert control and maintain a certain quality of life, they just have different priorities.  

Bringing this dichotomy to life is artist Haining and colorist Rebecca Nalty. Haining has created panels and page layouts that mirror each perspective, whether that's for the whole group or for two individuals. The art has clean lines, lots of detail, a good variety in the panel view, and vivid colors that add the right amount of pop. 

–Amanda Sheriff