Case Files: Sam & Twitch #19

Issue #19 of this gritty Image crime series finds the mismatched detective duo front and center beneath a massive NYPD detective badge, the city skyline looming dark behind them — the wiry, wild-haired Twitch leveling his pistol while the heavyset, cigar-chomping Sam flashes his badge with practiced authority. Marc Andreyko's "Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?" arc reaches its sixth chapter here, with E.J. Su on interior art and a cover rendered by Greg Capullo that captures the noir atmosphere perfectly. If you like your crime fiction hard-edged and your detectives refreshingly unglamorous, this is exactly the kind of street-level storytelling that made Sam & Twitch a standout in the Spawn universe.