The debut issue of Peril of The Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery was a true firecracker. Full of tense action, suspense, and surprisingly creepy thrills, the new Vertigo series from writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips really came out firing on all cylinders. Naturally, the pace slows a little in Peril of the Brutal Dark #2, but not so much that the book comes to a screeching halt. Instead, we get the necessary background information for both the mystery of Mrs. Meyer’s missing husband and the missing Anvil of Hephaestus, and how they are definitely more linked together than P.I. Ezra Cain may realize.
Much of the issue is Ezra Cain getting information on both cases. Mrs. Meyers, adamant that her husband was not out gallivanting about town with another woman, only has loose information on the mysterious “Brutal Dark”. Her husband attended a meeting for fellow German immigrants but ended up leaving early, upset with what was discussed there. That put him on the radar of the Brutal Dark’s enforcers, leading Mrs. Meyers to believe that her husband has been taken by them. Cain then follows up with his old college professor John Morris, who taught him all about history and different artifacts. Morris sits with Cain and uncovers everything he knows on the missing Anvil of Hephaestus, which is more than he let on initially in his classrooms, as he was there when the Anvil was discovered. After getting the clues he needs, Ezra takes it into his own hands to visit the last known location of Mr. Meyers, but someone is there waiting for him.
So yes, Peril of the Brutal Dark‘s second issue is a bit of “sit down and let me explain everything to you” kind of issue, but at no point is it boring. Like their previous work together, Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips mesh so well as writer and artist that every page leaves you rapt with anticipation of what comes next, and every new piece of the puzzle adds a thrilling and at times terrifying new reveal. We’ve seen for ourselves what the Anvil can do, and nothing Morris says seems to fully convince Cain that it’s as dangerous at it seems. That dread that Condon has created throughout the script is extremely potent, and the way the supernatural and the real is colliding here already makes for some truly great and compelling narrative momentum.
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If Condon’s script is setting up the tension, Jacob Phillips’ art increases it. It’s hard to make one scene of two people talking compelling, let alone two, but Phillips finds interesting ways to use Condon’s script to tell us the events in both character’s recollections in ways that are engaging and informative. The brief flash of a world where the Anvil of Hephaestus’ power is unleashed by the wrong people is terrifying, and Ezra Cain’s nightmares of being forced to confront it make for some of the best and unnerving panels released this year so far. With the dark moody inks and coloring, Phillips is definitely taking after dear old dad with the noir moods of his work.
One of the coolest things about Peril of the Brutal Dark is the back matter materials, and this time we get a letter to President Roosevelt from Professor Morris, and a newspaper clipping detailing some extremely important details about Ezra Cain’s life before being a private investigator. Both may seem like skippable material, but they are pretty essential to the narrative in my opinion, providing even more important character details and add a cool flair to an already great series. While Peril of the Brutal Dark #2 isn’t as impactful as the first, it’s an extremely necessary narrative slow down to add more to the growing conspiracy of both of Cain’s cases.
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