The Damned Vol. 1

BOOKLIST -- Eddie, a gun-for-hire, has been brought back from the dead to help settle a dispute between two warring demon families. The broker of the peace has gone missing, and it's up to Eddie to track him down and find out who is playing who before blood spills in the street. Set against a backdrop of Prohibition-era set pieces, this noir mystery hits several classic tropes of the genre, and although that occasionally makes it a touch cliché, the well-crafted story is engaging, and the inclusion of immortality curses and demons dressed in pinstripes brandishing tommy guns is an interesting hook. The main draw for the rerelease of this series is the addition of color; though the old black-and-white format suited the noir style of the original, the colorist brought in for the new volume dazzles and gives the story a whole new dimension. This new feature makes the drab scenery even more grungy and grim, which in turns makes the slick, dynamic characters pop against that background. Definitely a series worth rediscovering in this updated package.