10 Comic Books Where Evil Won
7. The Fade Out
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are absolutely terrific together. The duo have forged a compelling partnership over at Image Comics since the early 2010s, with a heavy focus on film noir. (Brubaker also made a return to the espionage genre with Image in 2013 with Velvet, having done so to great acclaim initially during his highly influential run on Captain America alongside artist Steve Epting in the mid-aughts.)
Now, if there's anything consistent with the film noir genre it's that most stories within it tend to end on a bit of a bummer. They're atmospheric, moody, morally complex and almost always seductive, but the running theme tends to be that the protagonist rarely comes out on top by journey's end.
Case in point, The Fade Out - one of Brubaker and Phillips' most superb collaborations yet situated in Hollywood during the second Red Scare of the 1940s and fifties.
The Fade Out tells the story of Charlie and Gil, the former a successful screenwriter left with writer's block after returning from the Second World War, and the latter an equally skilled victim of the Hollywood blacklist due to his own politics.
The series dives deep into the seedy underbelly of the Hollywood studios during the era, with Charlie unearthing a horrifying cover-up after he wakes up next to a dead star after a particularly heavy party. I dare not spoil the particulars of the ending - because the comic really must be read - but it's as devastating as it is brilliant.