by Mike Favila, Senior Editor
The story of Profane #1 has a familiar enough start. Will Profane is a detective with gaps in his memory. He doesn’t remember parts of his past, but he knows he’s got a case to solve. He breaks into a house to find the answer. As Will gets closer, ever closer to the secret hidden in the back of the house… BAM!
Official Description:
Will Profane is a seasoned private eye, and solving murders in the sunbaked streets of Los Angeles is his daily bread. But something is strange about his latest case. Every clue leads him back to a world-famous crime novelist lying at the center of this mystery–and dangerous truths about Profane’s own life.
Creative Team:
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Raül Fernandez
Colorist: Giada Marchisio
Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
All of sudden, Will finds himself sitting at a packed bar, nursing a drink. What happened?!?! And that’s only page 2. The rest is a doozy. I devoured the rest of the book in 10 minutes, and read it immediately after, trying to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.
Full disclosure: I’ve been a Peter Milligan fan for a bit now. Any true comics reader would be hard pressed to argue that Shade, the Changing Man was an essential pillar of the mighty DC/Vertigo in the 90s. X-Statix (with Mike Allred) was terrifyingly prescient, predicting a world where celebrities and influencers would absorb the world’s attention.
To most people that would be enough. But Milligan is clearly not content to sit on his laurels here. Profane really swings for the fences, just smushing together genres (noir, sci-fi, whodonnit, horror), either expertly or haphazardly. Either way, it just works seamlessly.
Raül Fernandez (Detective Comics, Justice League Dark)’s work here is a visual buffet, mixing the surreal with the grit. Colorist Giada Marchisio splashes sci-fi red and orange here and there, against what could have been an obvious palette of noir greys. Together, their art makes Profane a pulpy delight. Even before I can rip it apart to analyze it, I’ve already bought into the world.
In an age where everything is considered merely ‘content’, Profane is clearly a book that demands more. If I could binge watch this book, I would. I can’t believe I have to wait until next month to get the next installment. Cruel.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Profane #1 5/5 mysterious blackouts in a dive bar!
If you want to get a peek behind the curtain, make sure to check out our interview with Peter Milligan!
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