Nick Hammond and Anastasia Collins are rich adventurers
devoted to getting answers to the mysterious questions that plague the
world. They investigate conspiracies, cover-ups,
and strange occurrences while exchanging witty banter and looking
fantastic. In a sense it’s a mashup of
The Thin Man, Buckaroo Banzai, & the X-Files and assorted 90s conspiracy stories.
While self-contained, the story alludes to numerous past
adventures (some of which seem to have led to a certain amount of notoriety. Unfortunately I had the sense that the
earlier adventures were significantly more compelling that the story that we
are actually told. It’s not that the
plot is bad… it’s just not that compelling.
The light tone of the dialogue cuts against the tension that Niles needs
for the plot to actually feel dangerous.
If the light tone is intended, then perhaps a clever story would have
been a better option.
The artwork by Fiona Staples is the draw here. Personally I became a fan of her art on the Saga series, & was happy to get an
opportunity to see some earlier work. She
brings the same clean lines that I expected after reading Saga. While Saga’s aesthetic allows her to be
wildly inventive, the Earth-based setting of Mystery Society forces her to experiment in a different
fashion. Here she goes more for a
retro-futurist approach (think The Avengers, The Prisoner, etc). While her work here isn’t as stunning as her
current work, it’s very effective for this type of story.
Overall, Mystery
Story was a fun read. It’s not a
game changer, or something I feel compelled to give to friends, but is a solid
read.
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