Comic Pants on Alibi

Comic Pants » Short Pants Reviews 7/1/08

Well, I guess after Genius, I know my vote for the other series I want to see out of Top Cow’s Pilot Season. Alibi is a slick little spy thriller about an assassin and his (twin?) brother who work a clever scheme that lets them be both assassin and alibi at the same time. Half of the story is an interrogation and intrigue bit, as we see the inner workings of the job on the logistics end, and the other half is the action piece, as Rick does the assassinate and escape thing. It works out well, partly because Fialkov’s dialogue-driven storytelling has a nice patter to it that hits just the right balance of verisimilitude and cinematic (erring on the cinematic side) and partly because Haun is an exceptional artist who just needs the right project to shine, and this might be it. Haun is perfectly suited to a modern military/espionage type book, and he does some great work here, particularly on the bit with Rick dodging the satellite oversight, which looks just as cool as it sounds. There’s also a lot of great work on distinctive characters, realistic costuming and technology and some great use of silhouettes. Given the success of shows like Alias, Burn Notice and 24, I’ve always been a bit boggled that comics can’t come up with an action-heavy spy series in that vein, and it looks like Alibi might fill that niche, if it “goes to series” after Pilot Season is over.