Brian K. Vaughan has created wildly successful series for the big boys at Marvel (Runaways), DC (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina) and, most recently, the not quite as big boys at Image (Saga). With his latest series, The Private Eye, Vaughan and artist Marcos Martin go into business for themselves.
The book takes place 60 years in the future in an American society where technology seems to have regressed in some respects. The "cloud" that stored everyone's information, pictures, and whatnot had exploded, making everything available to anyone. Everyone plays things closer to the vest now. People were holograms called nyms to hide their identities in plain sight. But that doesn't mean that there still aren't ways of finding things out.
The (thus far) appropriately unnamed main character is a paparazzi, a bit more evolved than our contemporary meaning but no less sleazy or opportunistic. He gets paid to uncover secrets. People go to great lengths to keep those secrets as the P.I. demonstrates. With no more digital anything, seemingly, his office is filled with vinyl records, CDs, books, and even a rotary telephone. The culture's level of paranoia only adds to his job's difficulty.
When a woman comes into his office (never a good sign in these stories), she wants him to dig up all the dirt he can on her so she knows what to expect from her background check. She leaves him an envelope of her particulars and leaves. As much as she wants whatever info is unearthed, someone else wants just as badly for it to stay buried.
The Private Eye is your classic detective story with a futuristic, sci-fi twist. It is available digitally only, at present. It is available now and exclusively at Panel Syndicate, where you can name your price.
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