Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Bryce Carlson, Ed Dukeshire, Vanessa R. Del Rey. Niko Guardia

Drenching Scenes Of Brutal Violence – Hit: 1957 Arrives At Last

By Patrick McAleer

Making a welcome return to the shelves this week is Hit: 1957 – a follow up to the Harvey Award nominated series Hit (or Hit: 1955 as the collected edition is called) which for my money was the best miniseries of 2013. This is hard-boiled, hard-bitten noir at it's best. Written by Bryce Carlson, with art by Vanessa R. Del Rey, this new series sees colourist Niko Guardia replace Archie Van Buren, whilst Ed Dukeshire is on letters duty. This new installment in the series picks up the pieces two years down the line as Bonnie Blair has tried to put some distance between her past and her present by hightailing it out of the City of Angels and lying low (or as low as a beautiful femme fatale can) in a little beachfront property in San Clemente. Her former lover Detective Harvey Slater is back in Los Angeles trying to stem the tide of organised crime. As we learn on the first page "…Sooner or later everything evens out and people wind up right back where they started", so it is with Bonnie whose past we witness catching up with her pretty early on in this first issue.

Carlson is yet again immersing us in the feverish 50's of LA and Vegas, the era of Mickey Cohen, when (particularly in LA) cops were often little more than criminals with shiny badges and behind every city or municipal initiative stuffed envelopes were passed over clinking whiskey glasses. The stylised, sumptuous pencils from Del Rey combine beautifully with Guardia's colours, drenching scenes of (often brutal) violence in mesmerising neons and suffocating scenes of tension are made memorable with sharp dialogue from Carlson punching through the foreboding palette of dark hues chosen by Guardia.

The book runs on two narrative threads and as they change back and forth between Bonnie's predicament and Slater's, each is introduced with one panel adorned with a location thus adding an overall cinematic feel to the story. Carlson's pacing is on the money as the scenes of violence pepper the quieter moments of exposition, until the two combine in a ferocious final scene. In his two central protagonists, Carlson goes further than most would. Bonnie, whilst ticking all the boxes of the femme fatale that is beloved in noir, is more than capable of the brutality that such a character would more commonly manipulate a man into doing for her.

So too Detective Slater, who seems to be more firmly rooted in the old testament style of delivering justice that Spillane's Mike Hammer espoused, as opposed to his famous counterparts written by Hammett or Chandler. There is an interesting juxtaposition at work between the two characters aptitude for violence with Bonnie resorting to the extremes in order to free herself from the savage world and get away, whilst Slater employs ruthlessness as a means to dig himself to the centre of that world, just so he can destroy it.

So by going that bit further and getting such a fantastic art team to bring such a sordid and gritty tale to life, one where you can almost smell the whiskey and stale cigarette smoke on your fingers after reading it, Hit 1957 should no doubt live up to it's name. It is one of those few and far between comic-books where the right setting really does reward the reading, so here's my advice – late at night, on your own and with something in a glass that warms your throat, ice optional.

Patrick McAleer lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland with his John Carpenter DVD collection and his long boxes of silver age Marvel and noir comics. He loves Gambit and thinks you should too. Catch him on Twitter @RepStones

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!