Steve Niles | Hero Spy

City of Dust's Climactic Conclusion

Mar 052009

City of Dust hits its climactic conclusion this month with issue number five. Is it really over? I guess only time will tell.

Steve Niles did a fantastic job. The mix of vampires, robots, crime drama and SiFi could have easily become a jumbled mess of ridiculous, but somehow it didn’t. Somehow Steve pulls all this craziness together, and bundles it into a neat little package that is surprisingly satisfying.

To be honest, this wasn’t my favorite issue in the series, but I liked the twist. You know, you never get everything in one book…well, maybe I should say that it’s rare to get everything in one book. There will always be the tales like Watchmen that perfectly nail it. I wouldn’t say City of dust reaches that level of perfection, but it does find an original voice, which is equally important in my book. There are a million comics dumping into the system from one direction or another, and to create a comic that deserves to be read is a challenge. I truly believe that Steve Niles and Radical Publishing have done a fine job producing a comic that deserves to be read. City of Dust hands down beats 90% of the uninspired mush coming from Marvel these days.

So the verdict is this: If you love SiFi and fantasy, if you’re a big fan of Blade Runner or just want to read a new book with great concepts and stellar artwork, than City of Dust will be your new favorite comic.

Just in case you have missed all my past reviews of City of Dust here’s the dust cover version of the story.

From the dark mind of legendary horror writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) comes a story set in the aftermath of our world’s collapse. Records show the Earth once known was consumed by religious wars, spurred by the suppression of free thought and where creative expression is now viewed as the rot and infestation of the mind. This chilling vision of the future unveils a world where the police now patrol for crimes of the imagination or Mind Crimes as their called. These beliefs, along with any tales of false heroes, idols or gods, are illegal. Special detective Philip Khrome doesn’t enforce Imagination, instead he works in homicide; that’s where the action is, and he has seen it all before. But criminals evolve and the world is forever changing. When a killing spree hits his department, Khrome finds himself face-to-face with a perpetrator who has merged reality with superstition, something is not what it seems. This enemy of folklore will require old-fashioned detective techniques to bring to justice, but the only problem is it will take one’s imagination to find the source of this new evil.

CITY OF DUST: A PHILIP KHROME STORY #5
Writer STEVE NILES
Artist ZID, GARRIE GASTONNY and BRANDON CHNG
Colorist BUDDY JIANG, LEOS NG ‘OKITA’ and SIXTH CREATION
Letterer CHRIS ELIOPOULOS
28 pages, FC, March, $2.99
3 Covers

City of Dust #5 Cover A – Michal Ivan Diamond Code: DEC084198
City of Dust #5 Cover B – Clint Langley Diamond Code: DEC084199
City of Dust #5 Cover C – Nick Percival Diamond Code: DEC084200

City of Dust: A Philip Khrome Story #3 Review

Reviews

Dec 172008

In true Steve Niles style, City of Dust: A Philip Khrome Story #3 begins with a decapitated human head. If the fantastical writing of Steve Niles doesn’t grab you, maybe the blood thirsty Werewolves will, or how about the ten foot tall humanoid robot. Did I mention this comic is straight up awesome?

Just in case you have missed the first two books let me catch you up on the premise. Set in the aftermath of our world’s collapse. Records show the Earth once known was consumed by religious wars spurred by the suppression of free thought and where creative expression is now viewed as the rot and infestation of the mind. This chilling vision of the future unveils a world where the police now patrol for crimes of the imagination, or Mind Crimes as their called. Those beliefs, along with any tales of false heroes, idols or gods, are illegal. The world is anew and so the enemy adapts. Special detective Philip Khrome doesn’t enforce Imagination, instead he works in homicide; that’s where the action is, and he has seen it all before. But criminals evolve and the world is forever changing. When a killing spree hits his department, Khrome finds himself face to face with a perpetrator who has merged reality with superstition. The world everyone is accustomed to is flipped upside down and everything is no longer what it seems.

In Philip Krome’s world there isn’t a need for real detective work, or I should say that there hasn’t been any need for true detective work. The machines have taken over that chore, leaving us to wonder, what use is a detective with no detective skills and that’s what makes this so interesting. But what happens if the machines stop working properly? There is the question that can drive a story. When the Machines stop doing their job Detective Chrome is forced to test his metal; solveing this case using only intellect and instinct. I like the man over machine aspect of this story.

I can’t recommend this comic enough. The art is dark and kind of reminds me of Blade Runner. The writing is stellar. The quality of this book…in fact all of the books recently published by Radical Comics are outstanding. City of Dust: A Philip Khrome Story #3 was a pleasure to read.

City of Dust proves without a doubt that Steve Niles is “The Man”. Two thumbs way up!

If you would like to get a copy of this comic am posting all the technical information below.

CITY OF DUST
A PHILIP KHROME STORY #3
Writer STEVE NILES
Artist ZID, GARRIE GASTONNY and BRANDON CHNG
Colorist BUDDY JIANG, LEOS NG ‘OKITA’ and SIXTH CREATION
Letterer CHRIS ELIOPOULOS
28 pages, FC, December, $2.99

City of Dust #3 Cover A – Clint Langley Diamond Code: OCT084325
City of Dust #3 Cover B – Lucio Parrillo Diamond Code: OCT084326
City of Dust #3 Cover C – Michal Ivan Diamond Code: OCT084327