Redemption song

If only all comics debuts could be as accomplished and good-looking as this. Hannah Berry's engrossing noir tale displays remarkable assuredness - from the precision of the Chandler-esque narration to her often striking sense of visual composition. A doomed protagonist in finest noir tradition, Fernandez Britten is a 'private researcher', whose career of ruining lives leaves him constantly yearning for redemption. Unfortunately, the case of an apparent suicide makes Britten's pipe dream all the more impossible to reach. Berry’s gorgeously muted watercolour artwork reflects the overwhelming despondency of Britten's world, where colour - and life itself - seems under constant threat of draining away completely. Richly atmospheric and commanding fare.

Danny Graydon