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Reviews
The Vinyl Underground, Volume 1: Watching the Detectives by Simon Gane, Si Spencer, Cameron Stewart
hellsfire's review
3.0
Listen to my review on V for Vertigo, Episode 105 at http://vforvertigo.blogspot.com or on iTunes.
shelleyanderson4127's review
2.0
I liked the premise and the art work is good, but too violent (and sexist) for me.
ladydewinter's review
2.0
Eh. That one didn't grab me at all. The characters all felt like the writer was trying too hard to be - funny, edgy? I don't know, I didn't connect to them at all (and even though this is the first issue, there should be some level of connection? I don't know). So I don't think I'll be reading more of that.
ehawk's review
4.0
Very much in the line of other fun Vertigo titles, though I find magic and crime fighting pretty interesting. I like the backstory built into this, and that the thug in the group is not who you expect. It's a nice twist. This isn't the most earth shattering comic I've ever read, but it's highly enjoyable and sexy, which is something I can definitely look forward to.
rosseroo's review
4.0
I like the crime genre, and I like graphic storytelling, so this series about a unlikely trio of amateur detectives working out of a closed Tube station in central London seemed right up my alley. Their leader is "Moz", a sharp-dressing D-list celebrity whose claim to fame is being the son of a beloved footballer and then having his wild sex and drugs antics fully documented in the tabloids (although he prefers rare Northern Soul to rock and roll). Supporting him are Callum, a semi-autistic bloke who's also a psychic, and a dishy sexpot who splits her time between being a morgue attendant and an online porn star.
I didn't realize that they specialized in occult crimes, but whatever, crime is still crime, right? Here, the story involves the apparent ritual killing of an African immigrant child, for which a respected elder in the African immigrant community is arrested. In an example of relying on really bad coincidences, it just so happens that the elder's daughter is an ex-girlfriend of Moz, compelling him to look into the matter. As he trades jibes with the police detective assigned to the case, the team goes undercover to try and suss out what really happened. Unfortunately, it turns out that the plot ties into Moz's personal life in other ways as well. That's really the main weakness in the book -- too many connections to Moz's life and too many coincidences.
Otherwise, there's plenty of flash to enjoy -- from club scenes to alleyway fights with neo-Nazis to backroom poker with London gangsters to supernatural spirits, with plenty of insider music and comics winks for them that care to look for them. (For example, in one scene, a girl sitting in a pub has a shopping bag sitting by her side with the name "Blake & Mortimer" on it, referencing the classic long-running Belgian spy comics series). The artwork and coloring is realistic and vivid, never straying into cartoonishness. If you're a fan of crime comics and don't mind the supernatural element, this is probably worth checking out, especially if you are interested in the London style of it all (which, as others have pointed out, has antecedents in series like Phonogram, The Originals, etc.)
Note: This is definitely not for little kids (under 12 or so), there are naked ladies, plenty of references to sex acts, drugs, etc.
I didn't realize that they specialized in occult crimes, but whatever, crime is still crime, right? Here, the story involves the apparent ritual killing of an African immigrant child, for which a respected elder in the African immigrant community is arrested. In an example of relying on really bad coincidences, it just so happens that the elder's daughter is an ex-girlfriend of Moz, compelling him to look into the matter. As he trades jibes with the police detective assigned to the case, the team goes undercover to try and suss out what really happened. Unfortunately, it turns out that the plot ties into Moz's personal life in other ways as well. That's really the main weakness in the book -- too many connections to Moz's life and too many coincidences.
Otherwise, there's plenty of flash to enjoy -- from club scenes to alleyway fights with neo-Nazis to backroom poker with London gangsters to supernatural spirits, with plenty of insider music and comics winks for them that care to look for them. (For example, in one scene, a girl sitting in a pub has a shopping bag sitting by her side with the name "Blake & Mortimer" on it, referencing the classic long-running Belgian spy comics series). The artwork and coloring is realistic and vivid, never straying into cartoonishness. If you're a fan of crime comics and don't mind the supernatural element, this is probably worth checking out, especially if you are interested in the London style of it all (which, as others have pointed out, has antecedents in series like Phonogram, The Originals, etc.)
Note: This is definitely not for little kids (under 12 or so), there are naked ladies, plenty of references to sex acts, drugs, etc.
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