Scene of the Crime #1

Vertigo's mature-readers noir miniseries kicks off in May 1999 with this moody opener from writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark. The cover — rendered by Lark in shadowy purples and deep blacks — shows a tense figure peering through venetian blinds, revolver in hand, while a silhouetted hat-wearing figure looms in the background, the whole image drenched in the atmosphere of classic hard-boiled surveillance. "A Little Piece of Goodnight" promises exactly the kind of rain-soaked, shadowy crime fiction that Vertigo did so well in 1999, and this first chapter of four is a compelling place to start.