In Profane #1, the creative team (writer Peter Milligan, artist Raül Fernandez, and colorist Giada Marchisio) hatched a truly inspired plan: what if you could tell a meta-tinged story that was both fun and insightful? While that was a promising but slightly stymied debut, Profane #2 was a proper success, and evidence that this series was truly up to something important in uplifting and dissecting comics, noir, and fiction in general.
But could they keep up the pace with Profane #3, or was their grand experiment ultimately doomed to failure? I’m happy to report that Profane is now this mighty but totally thoughtful display of truly great and important storytelling.
I consider issues #1 and #2 of Profane as practice pitches, or configuring the machines in some science experiment. Because Profane #3 really achieves what I think is the baseline for this entire project. Namely, Will Profane continues to try and catch Red Glove before he finds Spud Coltrane’s notebook and finishes his last novel with a less than happy ending for our plucky lead.
Toss in some other noir trademarks — a lovable but vulnerable sidekick in Egbert, a “will they/won’t they” love interest in Lili, and a badass assassin like Honor De’ath — and we have the makings of a really great crime story. One that’s dripping with the same delightfully cheesy dialogue, seedy vibes, and endless tension of an Elmore Leonard novel.
And Profane is more than happy just to be this really solid slice of noir — until you remember what it really is at its core. The book certainly reminds you of Will Profane’s fictional nature (and how he’s totally cool with it), but it never bashes you over the head. The meta bits are engrained and contextualized in a way that you can enjoy this tale via direct engagement with or total ignorance of these meta “functions.”
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
And so then Profane elevates beyond some of its “competition” (Bang!, Subgenre, etc.), becoming this intriguing construct that engages readers where they are and lets them foster so much of this experience on our individual end. We’re not being overwhelmed by this device; rather, it’s being used to tinge and inform the story in the very same way that we’d want to read a proper crime story: with a sense of excitement and uncertainty.
It’s basically like Profane added a few steps to get us where some other stories might have been able to without, but that’s not a knock at all. Rather, all of this meta stuff should be in service of fostering an actual storytelling experience — something that makes us feel really excited and care deeply for these characters. It ought to be this sustained function that brings us in with its charm and humanity to give people comfort, let them connect with another person, and/or help them simply pass an afternoon.
Profane is one of the first stories to really “crack the code,” and it feels like these meta bits are wielded less as proof of some intellectual prowess and more as ways to bring in an audience that’s increasingly savvy and/or jaded to celebrate the sheer power of just a simple whodunnit. Sure, the meta bits come into play especially toward this issue’s ending, but it just feels extra deserved. As if you have to have that deeply human core and then we can get a little wild with it. Profane is exhibit A in the true promise of this meta-tinged surge.
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
But if you really want to engage and occupy Profane’s world, then you need the visuals to be there just as much as the narrative is deceptively simple and endlessly rich. The art team have delivered across Profane #2 and #3 with some really impactful visuals that feel ripped right out of the standard noir playbook. And that continues in Profane #3, albeit with something a little more to the formula/approach.
The displays of emotion remain top-notch across #3. There’s all sorts of longing looks and scarred faces and whatnot that you want from an especially juicy story like this. There’s a couple fight scenes, especially, that blend some sensuality with this unwavering humanity, and that combination feels especially satisfying as this story clearly uses every tool to bring us in through the meta wilderness into an increasingly vivid narrative.
It’s really these simple moments — there’s so many layers and context when Profane drinks with a loose-tongued bouncer — that feel the most packed with power and meaning. They are a direct representation of this book’s efforts to use meta in a meaningful way, and to give us something that’s actually satisfying once we’re actually fully at the table. If things weren’t this sleek and sexy but also gritty and exciting, the book would feel like a failure despite its spunk and inventive streak.
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
However, it also feels like as direct as the visuals may be — which is vitally important in balancing the obviously experimental bent of the narrative — they art has some extra layers. In some parts, it’s the way letterer Jeff Eckleberry’s work, which feels like it’s from Mr. Profane’s own notebook, pokes us with this story’s meta energies and intentions. Or, how the world outside — especially a literary office adorned with book covers — does much of the same and gets us thinking about who’s real, who’s fake, and what that might ultimately means. Even just something simple as how they depict Profane’s scrying — all of it is meant to remind our lizard brain that this is no ordinary case.
We are meant to feel some kind of tinge of incongruity or unfamiliarity, and it’s that achievement that wholly empowers our unease and apprehension in this case. Sure, the narrative’s approach may be more sleek and subtle, but the visuals do it in a way that really draws out the unevenness of the experience, and it lands in such an oddly satisfying manner.
Profane #3 ends with a really solid cliffhanger that could see this book’s meta “formula” evolve or introduce even more threads. Do I think those could be satisfying? Heck yes. Do I also think it might negatively impact the scope and tone of this story? Also heck yes.
But that’s a risk we’re going to have to take with Profane, as this series has already earned our faith and trust as it moves through its intriguing mission. If it can keep up the overt humanity and playfulness as it executes those goals, then Profane could be the heist of the century.
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