The Stranger #3 is a comic written by Thomas Philipson & James Patricks with art by Devlin Baker and colors by Davi Pinheiro. Detective Sal continues his investigation as some of the suspects move around New York City. This is a noir crime superhero comic with heavy mystery, layered characters, and intriguing drama, all while taking place in the 1970’s. The main man here is Detective Sal Denaro, he is the lead investigator on the murder of Heinrich Stranski/Doc Bionic. Sal is a gruff, no-nonsense, determined man who can get quickly irritated by suspects. Though there are seven suspects in total only four of them are focused on here: The CEO of Charlton Industries Rayner Charlton, movie star Delilah Darnielle the Third, reporter George Fairbanks, and secretary Cleo Crestwood. This story begins with Sal waking up from a nightmare about finding The Stranger. He then gets dressed for work while listening to the news about the case and there are some interesting questions and opinions. Afterwards he heads to the Fawcett Building so he can question specific suspects. This takes place in 1975 New York near Christmas. There really isn’t any action here to speak of outside of some running. This moves at a slower pace as there is a lot of talking; this has the tone of a 1970’s neo-noir mystery with superhero elements. This is dramatically intense with more than a few layered moments. The dialogue can have different talking styles depending on the person speaking from elite proper English to more down-to-earth communication. There are more than a few word-heavy pages with a decent amount of thick text bubbles. This is an intriguing issue that takes a closer look at specific characters by showing shades of their true colors while suggesting new theories about The Stranger and moving the investigation forward.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed style reminiscent of comic from the 1970’s with very strong lighting and shading. This has the realistic color palette of a movie from the 70’s with heavy use of monochromatic scheme; they usually spread across the entire page. There isn’t really any natural scenery here as this takes place in the heart of the concrete jungle. Outside of the high rise Fawcett Building we’ll visit a diner, a club, an office building, and some private homes. Backgrounds here usually show the immediate and distant physical surroundings in this legendary city but on rare occasions it’ll just be a gradient color. The expression level here is around average as these characters can have realistic reactions to what transpires but Sal maintains a tough exterior. Emotions shown include annoyance irritation, happiness, confusion, shock, and anger. Faces have a high amount of detail with both overt and subtle expressions beings clear. There isn’t any real violence and the lone action scene is two panels long.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like noir whodunit mystery stories with a large cast in 1970’s New York with superhero elements and thick drama then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13. Quick lewdness.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“They’re not under arrest, Sal…”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cococomics/the-stranger-3-a-noir-superhero-murder-mystery-comic/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 20

Violent Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 5% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 1

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 1

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 1

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 2

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”