Neighborhood Watch #1 starts with two women, Bianca and Val, finding a body in a tunnel before going back to the beginning where we follow them in their daily, completely opposite lives. Bianca is a member of the White Haven Homeowners Association, while Val is part of the Open Arms Intentional Collective. We soon find out they are connected not only by the tunnel, but by the person they found.
Sarah Gailey hooks us in immediately by starting the story with us discovering a dead body and then taking us back to a couple of days before the incident, which now has us reading in anticipation for how we got here.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Neighborhood Watch #1!
We’re quickly thrown into the White Haven HOA meeting, which Jill seems to run like a tight ship, despite Bianca’s relaxed attitude. A completely different scene to the Open Arms Intentional Collective, where Cassie runs a chaotic meeting and pushes Val to be more open minded about her strategies. Bianca’s relaxed attitude and Val’s strict plan seem to be the exact opposite of the environments they belong to.
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Gailey flips back and forth between following Bianca and Val in their lives. Bianca is your typical nosy neighbor and is a part of the Neighbor Watch, which is usually never a good sign. With her sleeping mask and sweater having eyes on them, it’s clear that she’s always on the look out for something, even if it’s gossip. Val on the other hand is comfortable where she’s at and has no desire for things to change.
Gailey seems to foreshadow a lot of things in this issue, and starts to plant the seeds for who might be the suspect responsible for Jill/Cassie’s shooting. From the comments that Jill’s husband makes about keeping the community safe, Bianca’s speculation about a fight and Aurora refusing to contact her dad about her mom’s sudden disappearance, its clear who Gailey wants us to think is at fault.
It’s worth noting that we never see Jill/Cassie’s face until we get back to the climax of the story, in which we find her body and discover that she is the same person, connecting Val and Bianca in the same tunnel that connects White Haven and Open Arms.
Haining and Rebecca Natly do an amazing job at portraying the White Haven and Open Arms as opposites of each other, yet more similar than we think. From the corresponding colors being opposites on the color wheel to the shapes of the panels, they couldn’t be more different. The pages that focus on Bianca and the HOA have a cool blue background and the panels have sharp corners mirroring the cold and rigid structure of the HOA, while the pages that focus on Val and the community center have a warm orange background and panels that have rounded corners which show an opening and welcoming environment. Even the first panel on the first narrative pages reflect the logo of the organization the story is centered around, which I find fascinating.
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Despite the HOA and Open Arms being very different, the way the panels are structured on the pages show us that they are more alike than we think. Most of the pages that follow Bianca and Val are structured in the same way, specifically the pages that revolve around Jill.
The two pages that take us with Bianca and Val walking through the tunnel are simultaneously gorgeous yet thrilling. Despite knowing what (or who) they will stumble upon, it will still leave you on the edge of your seat waiting to turn the page.
The background and outline of the panels changes to white and black once Bianca and Val discover Jill/Cassie’s body, the layout of the panels also changes. This could signify that they are no longer separated.
Neighborhood Watch #1 is a thrilling first issue that will leave you on the edge of your seat and waiting for issue #2. Gailey’s writing will leave you wanting to follow along to see who is responsible.
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