[Criticism] Private Eye by Brian K. Vaughan at Urban Comics

Private Eye was first published in 2013 when its two authors, screenwriter Brian K. Vaughan and cartoonist Marcos Martin decided to create an online comic book where readers could freely download the chapters for the amount of their choices. Punished until now by paper version by this bold publication format, Private Eye finally arrives in bookstores on October 6, published by Urban Comics in the Urban Strips collection! 

The Cloud has imploded, and with it all the most precious secrets of humanity, from the most illicit trafficking to the travel photos of the average citizen, have found themselves within everyone's reach. From now on, we evolve masked, the only way to protect what remains of our privacy. Welcome to a post-Internet society.

Private Eye: Big brother is watching you

Initially intended to be read digitally, the first thing that strikes with The Private Eye is its publication format particularly adapted to the screen of a tablet or a 16/9 screen. Far from the usual format of an American comic strip, the drawings of the Spanish cartoonist Marcos Martin are spread over large pages in landscape format, allowing the passage of beautiful fantasies at the level of the cutting of the boxes, but especially to realize full pages with finesse (where a classic format would have undergone a "break" to make a double-page). This very special publication is thus transposed into a bookstore by a setting in an Italian comic book format, completely adapted to the particularity of this story. This gives us a beautiful book of about 300 pages, with the 10 chapters composing the story and accompanied by a multitude of bonuses passing as much preparatory drawings of Marcos Martin, as exchange of emails between the two authors retracing the genesis of the project with their hopes and their galleys. Bonuses that are also in line with the words of the history of Private Eye and the leak of personal data. If the edition is based on that of the publisher Image Comics released across the Atlantic last year, Urban Comics offers us as always a very beautiful version in France. 

On the script side, Brian K. Vaughan is true to himself by giving us a story halfway between entertainment and societal questioning. This passer-by in a dystopian future caused by the loss of individual freedoms following a crash of the Cloud, Private Eye, is an opportunity for the author to react on our own use of the Internet and the potential dangers that are linked to it. In our present case, that of the leakage of our personal data, which can be seen by all, but also our modern addiction to digital. Treated with Intelligence, Brian K. Vaughan never falls into the easy sermon, but makes his voice widely heard by his various characters. Sarcastic characters who easily navigate between seriousness and second degree in the midst of the cynicism of this new world while being heavily stuffed with references to our present. Unfortunately, some points characterizing the universe remain unresolved. For example, how did the press become the law enforcement entity? The universe is so enticing, that we would like to know more beyond the obvious awareness serving as a coating for the story. In the midst of all this, the screenwriter gives us a story borrowing largely from the noir novel. Our main character, PI (for paparazzi) is tasked with conducting a background check on a young woman before slowly becoming involved in a much bigger plot.Without being revolutionary, the story is carried out effectively from beginning to end, but above all allows to highlight the universe and the visual discoveries of the cartoonist and the colorist Muntsa Vicente. 

If as a thriller Private Eye is a rather classic noir narrative, Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin have done a tremendous job building their dystopian worlds. A beautiful story in a beautiful book, for a favorite comic strip of the editorial staff of Just Focus!