Ryder on the Storm #1 – Advance Review

By: David Hine (writer), Wayne Nichols (art), Feigian Chong (colors) & Richard Starkings (letters)

The Story: What starts as a prototypical noir-themed, PI story takes a supernatural twist towards the end.

What’s Good: This comic starts out by strongly establishing its noir chops: sexy femme fatale calling in to report her lover’s dead body.  Then the stereotype continues by bringing in the main character: Mr. Ryder, the hard-boiled Private Investigator who has an antagonistic relationship with the police despite the fact that his dad was a cop.  Within the first ~10 pages, Hine has established that he gets how to lay out a noir story.

Revealing too much would be in appropriate in an advance review, but suffice it to say that this comic does not remain a stereotypical noir story.  About 2/3 of the way through there is a supernatural twist that continues to build toward the end such that the reader is left with something pretty unique.  If you enjoy supernatural-themed noir, this should be your cup of tea.