Snapshot #1 Review

rating: 4

From Image Comics comes the first of four issues in a new unknown mini-series from a well known team. Snapshot is a new thriller about a young comic-book store employee who, after finding a phone in the park, discovers pictures of a murder victim. Originally published in Judge Dredd Magazine in ten page chunks, Snapshot is now being published in a monthly format by Image. This is the first creator-owned series from the critically acclaimed duo of writer Andrew Diggle and artist Jock. The comic starts out fairly light-hearted, dropping some (very) in-jokes about comics; there is one reference in particular that will leave most readers scrambling for Wikipedia. Admittedly, some of the dialogue really straddles the line between witty and cheesy, but those moments are paired with some truly laugh-out-loud ones. Much like it does for the protagonist Jake however, the comic quickly takes a serious turn. At this point, the composition takes a back seat and the art takes over the primary story-telling duties. The art is minimalistic, in a stylized way, drawn only in stark black and white. The hard-line style of the illustration is well suited for this kind of noir story, and the use of shadows is excellent. In some cases a small amount more detail would be helpful in explaining what is happening on the page, that being said however the art is overall very solid. Perhaps the best thing to be said of this comic is that, as is very important in a thriller, it is genuinely surprising. Not wanting to give too much away, there are twists in this inceptive issue that even a jaded veteran reader of thriller comics may not see coming, and it ends on a tantalizing cliff-anger. This writer for one awaits the next issue with bated breath.