THINGS BETTER LEFT "UNKNOWN"

I read the first volume of THE UNKNOWN by Mark Waid and Minck Oosterveer yesterday. Originally published in 2009 by Boom! Studios, I came to this one late. The title was, you'll pardon the expression, unknown to me but the comic book writing of Mark Waid was not. He's one of my favorite contemporary comic book writers. I was also unfamiliar with the artwork of Minck Oosterveer but I know it now and it's very good. I acquired this volume in a recent trade with a fellow comic book collector and I figured, what the hell, I'll read it before I put it up for sale on eBay. I'm glad I did.

Private detective Catherine Allingham may be the smartest person alive. She's a female Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century. She can solve any mystery in a matter of seconds and always insists on the facts, logic and the cold, hard light of reason. She's aided in her cases by James Doyle, a gargantuan former night-club bouncer who's very adept at "reading" people. But there's one mystery Cat has never solved: what happens to us after we die? And she's determined to get an answer to that question soon because she has only six months to live.

THE UNKNOWN is a cracker-jack page-turner. Part detective novel, part horror story, part action movie, part science fiction thriller, Waid deftly mixes all of those genres (and a few more) into a terrific first story arc that introduces us to Cat and Doyle and leaves us on the threshold of more adventures.

Waid's storytelling is first rate but it's his character development that really shines here. Cat is very likable and we're pulling for her to not only solve the eternal riddle but somehow cheat death in the process. The artwork by Oosterveer is also first-rate and is always, always, always in service to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this first volume of THE UNKNOWN and will definitely keep an eye out for the other volumes in this highly entertaining series. Thumbs up.