Espresso Detective #2 is a comic created by Eric Erdek. The first issue had two main stories, but only one of them had an ending. The unfinished one is continued here. The key storytelling element is our detective himself, as he relays the tales of his expeditions to an unknown person. As evidenced by a few interjections throughout the story our narrator is a tad bit unreliable, but he’s close enough. Our story hops between Los Angeles and Mexico with enough frequency that you might lose your place. This being a noir comic means the story probably won’t make you smile and this one specifically has some pretty dark subject matter. This issue introduces some new characters that have auras of mystery about them, some much less than others. At some points in this comic there are a lot of words on the page. And it’s not like a bunch of filler text or anything, but it might have been better if had been spread across more pages. On those pages it may start to feel like you are reading a book. But the dialogue is very sharp, witty, and realistic so it isn’t a drag. There is a bonus comic at the end entitled True Noir Tales, and it is very intriguing.
This comic is drawn very gloomily with faded colors. This fits the tone of the story as it probably wouldn’t hit this hard if it had been drawn more brightly. Aside from a few instances of wonkiness the bodies are drawn well and realistic. I hate to say it, but the faces are hit-or-miss. They are full of expression and add a decent amount of personality to the story but dagnabbit they be looking rough sometimes. I do appreciate the way the different locations are presented as they stand out and contribute an additional layer of depth to each scene.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
This comic is clearly written for noir fans but if you like a good mystery with drama you should give this a try.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
PG-13. Might be R because of the subject matter(human trafficking).
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Hi Rojo. First I’m going to hurt ya for a bit.”
Comic Site: https://espressodetective.com/
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/espressodetective/espresso-detective-comic-no3-plus-no1-and-no-2-relaunch/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 32
Violent Pages: 12, for 38% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 2, for 6% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 3
“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 – 3
“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 – 2
“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.”
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