By d. emerson eddy — When I was in university, I tried my hand at a bit of stand-up. During high school, I was part of the improv troupe and had written what was kind of a comedic play, inspired by both George Carlin and Spalding Gray to try working out a few things through comedic monologues. I wasn't very good. I had a habit of leaning towards dark humor, but it was the sort of thing that people didn't want to hear from some twenty-year-old university kid. Not enough life experience to be credible, with subject material that was too dark. Even if they were real life experiences. I learned early on that there was a fine line between looking at horrible events through the mirror of comedy and just being depressing or crass. And dying at the mic was easy.

Dying Is Easy #1, meanwhile, enters that world of stand-up comedy, from the perspective of a former homicide detective, Syd Homes, with an ample amount of baggage. Joe Hill gives us a kind of humor here that's a bit of a throwback to some of the '80s seediness. Some would probably consider some of the jokes offensive, especially in light of current sensitivities, but I get the impression that this is partially the point. The tastelessness is meant to enhance the overall atmosphere of the comedy club and reveal just how dark and depressing this end of the life is for many of these comedians. It also becomes clear that the ex-cop is using comedy as a defense mechanism. It's a shield against the horror that he used to see on a regular basis and at some of the skeletons in his closet. Also, it gives us one of the funniest lines in the book when Homes is confronted by the family of a suspect in one of his old cases.

Martin Simmonds' artwork here is a bit of a revelation. His painted style is in roughly the same wheelhouse as Bill Sienkiewicz and Rod Reis, maybe even a little David Mack and Barron Storey. He did some wonderful work on both criminally-underrated volumes of Punks Not Dead with David Barnett, but this is a different animal. As stand-up, the visuals result in a fair amount of talking heads, something you might think would be boring, but this art is anything but. The range of emotion and shift of mannerisms through the monologues are incredibly compelling. It brings to mind some of the visual delivery of Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz's Brought to Light and it just works perfectly for the story. The mix of brighter pinks and purples with darker blues from Simmonds and Dee Cunniffe help establish that somewhat off-putting, slightly unnerving feel of seediness consistent with the subject matter. It also oddly works for the noir beats of the story, when everything takes a dramatic turn.

With a book as focused on dialogue delivery as this, Shawn Lee takes an interesting approach to the word balloons. For the most part, the lettering is fairly straightforward, unobtrusive stuff, but then you look at the balloons and they're kind of shaky. The borders blend and overlap a bit with the backgrounds and it gives it a feel as part of the overall artwork. That the dialogue is as integral to the story as everything else.

Whether you find the dark humor in Dying Is Easy #1 funny or just disturbing will be up to individual taste. What it does do regardless is set up a unique setting, a seedy bunch of characters, and a compelling mystery. Hill, Simmonds, Cunniffe, and Lee have the start of something interesting here that will have you waiting to find out the punchline.

Dying Is Easy #1
Writer: Joe Hill
Artist: Martin Simmonds
Colour Assist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Publisher: IDW
Price: $4.99

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.