Actor Nathan Fillion is getting into comics this week with Witness Point, a new four-issue series from Dark Horse Comics. Written by Fillon and Heath Corson with art by Soo Lee, the series blends crime and noir with a Midwestern setting and an incredible hook. That hook: What if the head of the Witness Protection Program got a bit lazy and decided to put many protected criminals all in the same town? In a story that feels as noir as The Maltese Falcon and as colorfully filled with characters as Boogie Nights, this might be your next crime comic fix.
Right off the jump, Witness Point #1 opens with a strong narrator who speaks through captions. A mysterious death in 2019 got the sheriff’s attention, but he thought nothing of it until the present, when a body with its head and hands cut off was found on a sidewalk. He works in a very small town with no crime to speak of, yet the body speaks volumes: someone in town knows what they’re doing.
Before the focus shifts to the body, the story shifts back a bit, where we meet the sheriff, local kids obsessed with true crime who run the town’s only source of news, and an outsider deputy US Marshal. In just the first few pages, we get three different confrontations to juggle, while also being steeped in the sheriff’s day-to-day and casual point of view.
These kids are instantly interesting.
Credit: Dark Horse
As the story progresses, we learn a bit about the town’s roots in clowns and carnivals, and get a sense of the locals who fight and those who keep things calm. Soo Lee’s art does a lot to flesh out the characters, with the sheriff’s deputy giving off a youthful, optimistic vibe, and the three true-crime kids filled with rebellion and suspicion. Throw in an additional US Marshal who arrives in town more flustered than she should be, and there’s a great cast of characters here to ping the sheriff off of. Plus, like any good crime comic, there are a few suspicious types to consider as the murderer.
All this, and it’s a rather densely packed and well-paced first issue. Thankfully, the character writing and plotting, with a tiger attack thrown in, are strong enough that the narrative doesn’t lean too hard on an already great premise. While the main character could easily be a stand-in for Fillion if this were ever adapted, that element never feels overt or forced either.
If there was a gripe, it’s the minor weirdness of clowns popping up, which don’t quite jive with the small-town vibe and more realistic tone. It does have a purpose to mix things up for this strange little town, though.
Witness Point #1 succeeds because it understands that a great crime story needs more than a clever premise. Nathan Fillon and Heath Corson build a small town full of personalities, grudges, secrets, and simmering tension, while artist Soo Lee gives every character enough individuality to make them feel like a suspect, a victim, or both. The witness protection angle provides an irresistible foundation, but the issue never relies solely on its elevator pitch. Instead, it carefully constructs a mystery populated by colorful characters, sharp dialogue, and just enough chaos, including a tiger attack, to keep readers on their toes. If the series can maintain this level of plotting and characterization, Witness Point has all the ingredients to become one of the year’s standout crime comics.
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