COMIC BOOK WEDNESDAY

02/25/26

Publisher: DC / Vertigo

Release Date: February 25, 2026

Writer: Chris Condon

Artist: Jacob Phillips

Cover Artist: Jacob Phillips (Main) / Tula Lotay (Cover B Variant)

Score: 9.5/10

Hardboiled Noir Collides With Mythic Horror in a Gritty 1940s Masterpiece

The creative duo of Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips has already proven they know how to craft a phenomenal crime story. Still, with their latest debut, they are helping to spearhead the revival of the Vertigo imprint by dragging the detective genre into terrifying new territory. 

Set against the smoky, rain-slicked backdrop of New York City in 1941, this first issue introduces us to Ezra Cain, a private investigator who operates in the murky gray areas of the law. He is exactly the kind of weary, cynical gumshoe you want narrating a mystery, but the case that lands on his desk is anything but standard.

Condon’s script brilliantly lulls you into a false sense of security. At first glance, the narrative feels like a classic, grounded pulp fiction tale about a missing item and a dangerous client. However, the stolen artifact at the center of the mystery, the legendary anvil of Hephaestus, acts as a gateway into something far more sinister. 

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It is a visual manifesto for a generation that has realized the "math of modern democracy" is rigged, proving that in a world of infinite digital noise, a single private dinner still outweighs a billion likes.

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