Britten and Brulightly (Hannah Berry) 5

Truth transcends the darkest of human deceits in Berry's graphic noir, Britten and Brulightly. Illustrated with dark washes of sepia, blue and grey, PI Fernandez Britten slogs through the storm-washed streets of London in pursuit of answers. Shadowed by an acerbic, wise-cracking Brulightly (a presence noted by a tea bag: indeed, Brulightly is a tea bag), Britten has grown weary of exposing the tawdry infidelities of his clients. Taking to his bed under a cloud of disillusion, Britten refuses to consider any but the most extreme case: "I don't get out of bed for less than a murder. I don't get out of bed much." But when a grief-stricken client, Charlotte Maughton, daughter of a wealthy London publisher, enlists his help regarding her fiancé's suicide, Britten hopes to turn the table on despair and deliver a more positive resolution to the death of Berni Kudos.

In the noir tradition, handwritten dialog reveals the questionable facts of Berni's suicide, a convoluted series of events that expose years of betrayal, blackmail and finally murder. Along the way, Britten- in constant conversation with Brulightly- plods through the lies and purposeful diversions of those involved, including a proselytizing fundamentalist, a pornographic publishing network and years of family lies. It's not a pretty picture, Britten doggedly following where the trail leads, awash in the end with no less than the usual detritus of human deception. Hiding in a sodden forest from his kidnappers, waking up in the hospital with a bump on his head and minus his little finger, and intervening too late to save a misguided woman, Britten faces once more the brutal reality of his business, even the witty Brulightly unable to lift his spirits.

In a frantic mix of shadowy images and revealing text, the mystery unravels, Britten's dour mien unlikely to be brightened by what he discovers. This twisted tale is full of surprises, menacing individuals and deceitful women, a noir romp of love, death and betrayal. Berry's artwork is the perfect foil to the eccentric story, an Ecuadorian investigator often accused of being French, nicknamed Heartbreaker, tracking the obfuscations of the powerful and the desperate. One cannot but sympathize with a disconsolate Britten at the end of the story, minus a finger as a gloomy city skyline descends into night. Luan Gaines/2009.