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By Mike W Barr, Adam Hughes & Rick Magyar (IDW)
ISBN: 1-9332-3906-9
Once upon a time there was a TV show called Moonlighting. It featured the antics of a detective agency and mostly dwelt on the travails of a vivacious blonde lady who owned the place and her relationship with the chief crime-solver, a streetwise good looking guy with oodles of charm.
And that really is the sum total of the similarities between that show and one of the best little comics of the late 1980s. Writer Barr has a wonderful touch with a fair-play mystery story and the characterisation and interplay of ultra-cool sleuth Jennifer Mays with part time consultant, and nerdy true-crime writer Gabriel Webb as they race to solve crimes before you do is a delight of understatement in an era well-known for over-blown pomposity. The art by soon to be super-star artists Adam Hughes and Rick Magyar was fresh and engaging then, and still is now.
The volume at hand was pretty rare for decades but thanks to the perspicacious people at IDW, the series is once again available, in a series of trade paperback collections. If any series was crying out for rediscovery and reprinting, especially in this time of successful and popular crime comics, this was it. You might want to start your investigations immediately.
© 1990, 2006 Mike W Barr. All Rights Reserved.