BOOM! Studios; $4.99  

Neighborhood Watch started out by introducing two very different communities that were linked by an underground tunnel. That's were Val from the Open Arms Intentional Collective and Bianca from the Willow Haven development found a woman who had been shot. To make things even more shocking, both women know the one who got shot – except that they each know her as a different woman and member of their respective communities.  

What started out as a whodunit in which Val and Bianca tried to find out what happened to Jill, aka Cassie, is turning into a bigger, more dangerous story. Bianca found a file in Jill/Cassie's home at Willow Haven that was filled with details and suspicions about Open Arms. Bianca and Jill/Cassie are having an affair, the wounded woman started living at Open Arms to be with her child, Aurora, who had left for college and never returned, and it's pretty clear that Jill/Cassie's husband is abusive. There's also something strange about Shed Five. 

Neighborhood Watch #4 starts with Aurora learning that her mother was shot and is at Open Arms. As she deals with that, Val and Bianca talk about the police raid and how badly Jill/Cassie responded the first time it happened at Open Arms. Then while Val does some exploring in her community, Bianca is cornered by Jill/Cassie's police officer husband.  

This book written by Sarah Gailey, illustrated by Haining, and colored by Rebecca Nalty is really good. The story is complex, but easy to follow, and there are enough breadcrumbs left in each issue to keep building the mystery. The creative team have astutely drawn comparisons between the cookie cutter development and artistic community in a way that also demonstrates their similarities. This issue also explores the dark side of law enforcement and ways that bad cops can be abusive.  

–Amanda Sheriff