Actually, one may argue that it goes back to the very first novel ever written with Ishtar unleashing holy hell on Gilgamesh because he wouldn’t sleep with her. It’s a trope as old as Circe, Medea, and Morgan Le Fey. The Maltese Falcon depends on Brigid O’Shaughnessy being a lying sociopath and The Big Sleep, Lauren Bacall’s charms aside, is a story around two devious women with one being a psychopath. Mulray must be running some sort of scam on him because film noir dictates that a beautiful rich woman must somehow be evil or manipulative. Chinatown, without spoiling the plot, depends greatly on the idea that Jake Gittes can’t get it out of his head that Mrs. Cherchez la femme or “look for the woman” is such a cliche in the dark and seedy storytelling that it was ripe for parody/subversion in the Seventies.

I wasn’t a fan of the ending but I still wanted more and my friends said that not only was Fatale similar in some ways but it had my other proverbial catnip: Lovecraftian horror.įatale is a deconstruction of the classic film noir trope: the femme fatale. I’m a huge fan of film noir and it was some of the best art as well as writing I’ve found in comic books period. 1: Death Chases Me by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is a work that I picked up after the fantastic The Fade Out comic. Immortality may be a double-edged sword, but it's one the intoxicating Jo wields with a boundless grace in this addictive page-turner.Fatale Vol.

This is a universe of darkness and gray shadows, and the palette perfectly fits the angst-ridden, desolate, catch-22 world of supernatural horror the protagonists must face-off against. Colorist Dave Stewart deserves special mention for his subtle, highly evocative use of neutral tones and earthy shades.

Graced with a suspenseful plot that has more twists and turns than an alpine road, and deliberately understated artwork, Fatale boasts both intrigue and an atmosphere that feels as densely bleak as a San Francisco mist at the tip of Fisherman's Wharf at dawn. Occult forces and gut-wrenching horror collide in 1950s San Francisco, as a corrupt cop and a smitten reporter go toe-to-toe over Jo, an ageless beauty with the looks of a Vargas girl and the heart of a rattle snake, who is desperate to escape the grasp of a satanic cult and their demonic, shape-shifting leader. The minute Nicolas Lash encounters Jo, femme fatale extraordinaire with more dark secrets than Faust, things go from bad to worse in this captivating noir.

Fatale, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker