aburchard's review against another edition
3.0
I think that I expected too much from this. So, despite it being written by Vaughan, it was only just okay. But it had its moments I guess. It's just that once the big plot is revealed, it really lost me. At least there's still Saga though, ameyeright?
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
A day or two later, and I am still mulling over this work. On the one hand, it's a standard private investigator story with the usual unorthodox protagonist, a femme fatale, and a mystery that leads to much more that anyone expected. On the other hand, it's set in a future Los Angeles where everyone takes on secret identities (or "nyms") due to privacy fears related to the internet bursting open decades earlier and revealing everyone's secrets.
It's that setting that makes the work. Martin takes the concept of everyone having a secret identity and runs wild with it. You have crowd scenes that contain everything from people with simple domino masks to full-body alien outfits. It helps as well that Martin uses the strange page size (is it a 16:9 ratio like a flat screen TV?) to full effect, mixing in insert panels, full page closeups and action scenes, and many dynamic changes in perspective. It's a wholly consistent and provocative piece of art --- bright and futuristic, while still providing the touches of noir you need for the genre.
The story, however, left me on the fence. I loved all the scenes, but sometimes had trouble putting all the pieces together (possibly because I never quite bought how society would change the way Vaughan is depicting). In many ways, the graphic novel works better as an allegory on our current views of privacy than as a work of science fiction. None the less, I have to give props to world building where the press, and not the police, carry out the law. ("I'm fourth estate. Please keep your hands where I can see them.") If you like Vaughan's work or are interested in some fascinatingly gonzo artwork that's still grounded, take a look at this.
It's that setting that makes the work. Martin takes the concept of everyone having a secret identity and runs wild with it. You have crowd scenes that contain everything from people with simple domino masks to full-body alien outfits. It helps as well that Martin uses the strange page size (is it a 16:9 ratio like a flat screen TV?) to full effect, mixing in insert panels, full page closeups and action scenes, and many dynamic changes in perspective. It's a wholly consistent and provocative piece of art --- bright and futuristic, while still providing the touches of noir you need for the genre.
The story, however, left me on the fence. I loved all the scenes, but sometimes had trouble putting all the pieces together (possibly because I never quite bought how society would change the way Vaughan is depicting). In many ways, the graphic novel works better as an allegory on our current views of privacy than as a work of science fiction. None the less, I have to give props to world building where the press, and not the police, carry out the law. ("I'm fourth estate. Please keep your hands where I can see them.") If you like Vaughan's work or are interested in some fascinatingly gonzo artwork that's still grounded, take a look at this.
shibosan's review against another edition
4.0
Вполне себе увлекательный футуристичный нео-нуар, увлекательный именно как история с приключениями, а не как "размышление на тему частной жизни", чтобы не рассказывали блёрбы на обложке. Страницы (в довольно необычном формате) листаются, главы проглатываются стремительно и это хорошо, потому что стоит чуть притормозить и задуматься, как на части начинает разваливаться и мир, в котором все происходит, и история. К лору вообще много вопросов, на которые отчасти находятся ответы в дополнительных материалах, в изначальной заявке комикса. Впрочем, и это сильно не помогает, мир все равно совершенно нелогичный и нежизнеспособный и существует лишь по магии "а почему бы и нет?": "А давайте все будут скрываться под масками, а роль полиции будут исполнять журналисты? А почему бы и нет?".
Чего хотел добиться в итоге антагонист тоже неясно - не помешал бы старый добрый злодейский монолог, но вместо этого читателю достается лишь несколько раскиданных там и сям намеков, о том что "кашу заварил" не главгад, но ему ее расхлебывать, и о изоляционизме американцев, которые понятия не имеют что за ад творится за пределами их уютного дистопичного мирка с забавными масками. И тут можно было бы все перевернуть с ног на голову, с злодеем оказывающимся совсем не злодеем, но увы.
И тем не менее, все равно 4 звезды, потому что 4 звезды - это really liked it. Потому что бодрый экшен и page turner. Потому что что харизматичный частный детектив и к нему в кабинет входит роковая красотка. И потому, что сеттинг, несмотря на свою картонность, все равно интересный и оригинальный.
Чего хотел добиться в итоге антагонист тоже неясно - не помешал бы старый добрый злодейский монолог, но вместо этого читателю достается лишь несколько раскиданных там и сям намеков, о том что "кашу заварил" не главгад, но ему ее расхлебывать, и о изоляционизме американцев, которые понятия не имеют что за ад творится за пределами их уютного дистопичного мирка с забавными масками. И тут можно было бы все перевернуть с ног на голову, с злодеем оказывающимся совсем не злодеем, но увы.
И тем не менее, все равно 4 звезды, потому что 4 звезды - это really liked it. Потому что бодрый экшен и page turner. Потому что что харизматичный частный детектив и к нему в кабинет входит роковая красотка. И потому, что сеттинг, несмотря на свою картонность, все равно интересный и оригинальный.
nomefriegues's review against another edition
4.0
Loved it! I'm too sick/tired to think of more right now...but this is a good thing to read.
mattgoldberg's review against another edition
3.0
I usually go ga-ga for Vaughan’s stuff, but this didn’t work that well for me. He’s obviously a master of plotting and can write snappy dialogue, but I think his setting of a society obsessed with privacy kind of gets away from him. It’s an intriguing book—a world where all secrets were exposed would swing the pendulum into an obsession with privacy—but it doesn’t translate into anything beyond its futuristic noir. The setup simply lacks payoff beyond its narrative, which is unfortunate when so much of the story is about privacy and information.
dessa's review against another edition
5.0
The Private Eye / The Private I: seriously sobering / soberingly serious look at what it means to have privacy, and what that's worth. It's a combination of the mos eisley cantina and a noir detective novel, which is to say it's fucking great and I'm desperate for everyone I know to read it. Thank you.
sizrobe's review against another edition
4.0
A neo-noir detective story about a conspiracy to restart the internet, which was abandoned sixty years in the past. Apparently this was only available online for a while, but I read a physical copy.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! That was amazing. And loudly colorful. And bizarrely cool. I wanted to re-read it the moment I finished it. And study every page for easter-eggs. The story was odd and interesting as were the characters. The format itself and its origin made me think that perhaps this would actually read better digitally, though I bought my copy in physical form before I realized that. It has a noir Bladerunner kind of vibe but with sunlight instead of rain. Glad I bought it, hope to remember to try to re-read it in a year and see if my opinion changed much.
itacuz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Everyone’s got their secrets. For most people, a bulk of those secrets have taken place online. More than likely you’re safe. As long as you hide behind the right screen names, or never rise to a level of importance that would interest someone capable of digging. What happens when not just your general activity, but every keystroke you’ve ever made is released with your name attached to it? You adopt a secret identity of course.
In a world without the internet, where privacy is prized above all, journalists are law enforcement and paparazzi are the most vile criminals in the all-seeing eye of their law. Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin, with coloring by Muntsa Vicente, The Private Eye is a once only-digital, now hardcover-bound, horizontal masterpiece that examines the questionable ethics of our constant voyeuristic culture from a post-internet perspective. The average citizen’s use of masking and superhero-like costumes both mocks and celebrates the comics Martin copies for the characters of this graphic novel. It is rife with social commentary and meta examination in equal measure, telling a good story over preaching some moralistic nonsense about why we should or should not entrust all of our identities into an unsecure cloud of information. It’s hard to say what it would be like if this were written any earlier or later than it had been, when every passing day creates a new and horrifying dilemma for the human race to pretend doesn’t exist.
Enough cannot be said about the fascination and beauty of The Private Eye’s art. Every character is unique, down to the background nobodies that fill street corners behind the main characters. Every costume begs to be explained, further unraveling questions about identity and defining the strangers around you just going about their day. Of course there’s a hierarchy to the quality of alternate identities too. People with money can afford high-tech masks that turn on with the push of a button, while lower caste citizens have to rely on makeup-like latex masks that you can smell up close. Some object to any mask at all and others use a brushstroke of makeup across their eyes. The entire point to masking was to conceal identity, yet these false identities become assumed by the people interacting with them, and those assumptions can be leveraged. Every part of this book’s base construction was well thought out and played upon, it could only be the work of artists working with artists, tired of making comics for corporate monoliths.
The Private Eye’s actual story asks a lot of questions, but is uninterested in answering with some moral lecture about anything. Instead it tells a really remarkable story featuring a wide array of characters who have personal beliefs only ever glimpsed at. The cult of personality forming a revolution gets as much play as is necessary for you to understand their part in the plot. The private investigator unraveling the mystery of the book is just as mysterious himself, breaking off breadcrumbs of himself as the story progresses. Not because he wants to, but because it is forced of him, or revealed by someone else he has lost control of. The colorful pages of this book will play against my eyes any time I look through the superhero section of a library or bookstore and the last panel will pop into the back of my mind just as vividly every time.