Newburn vol. 2

Easton Newburn is a former police officer who now works as a private investigator for the organized crime families of New York.  In the previous volume, he picked up a protege, Emily Walker, who has the same crime/puzzle solving instincts that he does.  She also had a dark secret in her past where she killed the nephew of the head of the Albano crime family while protecting her friend, who went on to be a cop.  That secret came to light in the previous volume, and Newburn had to pull off some pretty significant manipulations in order to keep it from blowing up in their faces.

For all his hard work, however, certain parties aren’t convinced that everything is all right.  That includes the other family members that make up the Black Castle, including Albano family head Michael.  There’s also a reporter for the Tribune, Natalie Serrota, who’s looking to make Newburn her next big story.  Even as Newburn and Emily go about their business for the Black Castle, the feeling that the walls are closing in on them is inescapable.  If they’re going to survive that, it’s going to take more cleverness than they’ve ever had to show before.

“Newburn” vol. 1 had the comforting appeal of a CBS procedural in that a clear formula with Newburn always being the smartest guy in the room and showing us how he proved it to make things right by the end of each issue.  It was fine, comfortable, entertainment but not much more for the first part of the volume.  Things picked up with the last story there and its ramifications drive the entirety of vol. 2 as it feels much more like one big ongoing story.  There are stories where Newburn and Emily solve problems for the Black Castle, but even those feel tied to the overarching story of their downfall here.

If this volume has any real issue to it, it’s that the problems of its protagonists have a real “Well, That Escalated Quickly” vibe to them, but I guess that’s to be expected when you’re trying to wrap everything up after sixteen issues and two volumes.  Writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Jacob Phillips do manage to pull off a conclusion that’s as predictably satisfying as you’d expect from the series itself.  While I can’t say that I was surprised by much of what I read here, it all felt earned and that was good enough to make me feel like reading this short series was worth it.