Brian K. Vaughan

Digital web comic compiled. Contains 10 issues plus a "Making of" special.

The Private Eye

Rohan Uddin

A very interesting comic, that deals with themes of privacy, security, freedom and aliases. The world building is great, and the writers and artists imagine a world without internet, where privacy is a required commodity. The concepts are strong, and at some points really made me think about the way our internet lives are going. Plus, an old school villain always adds flavour to the story right?

Maggie Gordon

Brian K Vaughan writes a lot of fantastic comics, and The Private Eye is one of my new top favourites of his (though it does not beat Saga!). The story takes place in a future where privacy is a heavily protected right. At some point in the past, the Cloud burst, revealing everyone's secret lives, and causing chaos. Now there is no internet and people wear disguises in their daily life. Enter PI, a paparazzi/private investigator/paranoid dude who people will pay a lot of money for his work at unveiling secrets. One day a femme furry hires him to dig up her own past, but she's killed shortly after. This starts a frenetic rush to figure out what happened to her before the same people that killed his client, track PI down...

The Private Eye represents an experiment in bringing the pay-what-you-can model to comics (though the fact that the print copy costs over $60 in Canada is... a bit contradictory). By working originally in digital format, this comic is oversized, with massive pages that allow for experimentation in paneling and storytelling. The pages are a delight for the eyes and filled with detail! Marcos Martin adeptly captures the motion of the story, as well as the near future setting. 

As for the story, it has the right amount of thrill, and an absolute killer ending. Readers are left pondering the fate out our main character, and while there is room for sequel work, it's perfectly satisfying as a standalone volume. The characters are complex, the ideas interesting, and the pace will leave you breathless!

Fraser Simons

Warning: mild spoilers regarding the overall premise of the comic The Private Eye. All images are from the comic and can be purchased here. 

The Private Eye is a unique experiment in many ways. A thought experiment, a unique format, hell, Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente elect to diverge from how the medium is even sold. PANELSYNDICATE has every issue and both volumes of the comic available to the masses in a pay-what-you-want format. Every single thing about this comic book from the opening pages tells you that this is no ordinary experience, or book. 

And it's right. 

In this cyberpunk future, Paparazzi are still despised and hunted...but not for the same reason we know today, there's a twist. The comic follows a young P.I who works to get at the truth behind the facade people put on, "literally". You see in this future there is no Internet, none at all. The ramifications are really interesting.

People have real-life avatars, of a sort. If you're "low brow" you'll essentially be wearing a costume; if you're rolling in dough, you might have a hologram, instead of a mask, covering your face. Everyone is obsessed with their privacy and people are not messing around. If you want to find anyone who is old enough to drink, you'll need a P.I; the paparazzi. Who chases them? The Press!

In a wonderful inversion, the people who dole out justice are the people who write and fight for inches and columns. The F.B.I? You mean the national news, of course. There is bad journalism and good, but what really matters is the statement that the truth is synonymous with reporting. Something sorely missing, here and now. Justice is something you have to see with your own eyes, electronic surveillance is a bust. It doesn't exist. People live multiple lives, present multiple avatars, appearances, and have multiple identities (in terms of government issued I.D). 

Humanity's need to define itself has spilled out onto the streets, in order words. Because the Internet is gone, this alternate future went a different way. Still filling the cracks and holes we find in our online world now, though. It makes for an extremely interesting setting. And it begs the question: what the heck happened? 

The ramifications of the cloud being globally disseminated are felt throughout the story, though not fully explained. 

We follow P.I who has a series of flashbacks from time to time, fleshing out the world some more, along with his life and his fundamental motivations. But the real effectiveness of portraying the world full of secrets by showing the avatars being lived in folks while also never having more than the broad strokes of what happened expounded upon, Is the tension. What fun are masks, avatars, and cyphers when the fear of being unmasked isn't online anymore; it's present. And from time to time people mention the event that changed everything, simply referred to as "The Flood." Things aren't peachy. Figures. 

We don't even learn the actual name of P.I for some time in the comic. But we do know he's subversive. It's depicted In his choices of what he imbibes, his reading list, his choice of profession; everything, really. He won't even get a drivers license. And in this freedom for himself and his identity, comes his weakness: the reliance upon others who are integrated into the system. He needs a wheel-woman to get around. He needs his clients to survive. He needs them happy, too. 

He's just out there trying to earn a living, unmasking folks by word-of-mouth business practices and keeping the lights on.

So when a client that hires him to dig up dirt on them in order to be vetted for a high ranking position ends up dead, P.I is forced to go on the run and try to uncover the mystery himself, lest he be charged with the crime himself. 

The world isn't that different, either. The largest changes from our society are shown right away but as we read more, society really seems fairly similar. This is effective at creating an ever-present sense of the uncanny in the book, leaning into the noir roots.

The commentary on technology is nothing new for cyberpunk but the presentation, along with the reshuffling of certain aspects of society, is perhaps the most elegant way to be provocative. The hunger of humanity to take and never be satiated did not come from the Internet it was inserted into it because we created it. And that hunger merely takes a different form without it present. The fact that your kink can be your mask still does not make it OK, in the eyes of society. The need to connect with others, desperately, as the technology that makes our lives easier stands in for the real work we ought to be doing, results in an untenable situation; always. The Internet was never the problem. And of course, we already know this.

In addition to these cyberpunk themes, ever present. We also get to enjoy a noir tale, a coming-of-age story, and some solarpunk ideological stances—all mixed into one. It lays bare some fundamental questions and extends questions about our relationship to the Internet in some fairly terrifyingly effective ways while remaining morally grey; ultimately tasking us with providing answers. This book tells you what it's about when it shows you, before it tells you, that what P.I consumes, he is. From then on you'll find no comfort in these pages—and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Nat Welch

I'm a total BKV fanboy, so take this all with a grain of salt, but this book got me to reread the comics, which I originally read as they came. Great art, an interesting take on the future, and a great story. I wish a few characters were more flushed out, but overall would recommend.

Aleena Korell

4 1/2. Vaughan knows how to write graphic novels. Dialogue on point as always, compelling characters, unique plot. The best part was seeing what millennials will be like as seniors: tattooed, tech-savvy, video-game-playing, meme-referencing grumps. Can't wait til that's me.

b.andherbooks

Imagine a future where everyone values their privacy, and live multiple secret lives complete with masks. Facebook, smart phones, social media, and the internet are relics of the past, and people are no longer interested in erecting digital monuments to their selves.

Revolving around a P.I. and a murder case, I thoroughly enjoyed this take on future society. BKV's writing sparkles as per usual, and I really enjoyed the art. The physical format of the book was a bit unwieldy, but since this was meant to be a digital comic, I can forgive that easily.

Matthew Xu

Even if 2018 was the year of *everyone* in media (fairly) slamming questions of data privacy over our heads, this delightfully pulpy graphic novel manages to feel fresh and take full advantage of the comic format. While the plot itself was fairly predictable (lmao what if the internet... was bad), the worldbuilding is fantastic and I wish we had spent more time exploring the ways the universe's "reversal" of internal vs. external privacy would alter the fundamental ways people interact in public. 

As contemporaneous as "The Private Eye" feels (how was 2013 six years ago now), I do wonder how some of the themes would have played out if it was written just 3-4 years later. With everything we know about Zuck and Russian botnets and QAnon, the cloud bursting and publicly leaking everyone's information seems less terrifying and more... relieving. If Google and Facebook and Twitter already see and know (and make money off) everything I care about, what difference does it make if everyone else does too? 

Even though the graphic novel ultimately uses these questions of privacy and technology more as backdrop than true thematic content (the implications of being able to race/gender/insert social identity-bend at will itself could fill a whole other book) the plot clips along at a quick enough pace to remain interesting and not overstay its welcome. Short, fun read that was maybe a little less meaty than I wanted, but easily would recommend again.

The Private Eye

Reviews