The Fade Out Volume 2

Charlie and Gil, a pair of tormented and tortured writers in Hollywood, 1948 each deal with the fallout from the death of an actress, caught up in the ensuing cover-up by a ruthless mogul and his security chief. Charlie wants to laet it all go, but can't. Gil knows he should let it all go, but wants to to kick the hornet's nest. Mysteries and secrets from the past raise their ugly heads, and violence, corruption and sleaze are never far from the glitzy movie surface. Dark and twisted and passionate, this is classic noir brilliantly updated.

Act Two continued this polished noir mystery. We are given a real inside look at how the studio system worked. This volume stressed character development and although the murder story is advanced, at this point there are more questions than answers. I am looking forward to Act Three to see how it all comes together.

I love how the author has sprinkled real Hollywood personalities into the story. In this volume we have Dashiell Hammett playing a major role, with glimpses of Desi Arnez and Humphrey Bogart. The fictional characters are interesting and the dialogue is spot on. The artwork by Sean Phillips certainly gives these books their noir style.

I am a huge fan already and I can hardly wait till I get my hands on Act Three!

This is a really good second installment of The fade Out. I liked it almost as much as volume 1. I was bothered that it has two nearly identical female characters (important to the plot) and that I often confused them.

Some seriously beautiful art in this book, the colouring is breath taking in places.

We don't really learn that much more about what's really going on, but it never felt slow, and there are some great character moments, with bit side players getting some depth added to them.

Charlie is still being the front man for the blacklisted Gil, who has a drinking problem. Charlie and the actress who replaced Valeria, Maya are having an affair. The studio owner Al is becoming less and less predictable and no-one is sure what's going to happen next.

Dottie knows more than she's letting on and I'm even more interested in what's going to happen next.

My blog post about this book is at this link.