Hard-boiled noir is mixed with the bright, alien-filled worlds in Weird Work #1. Following months of gang shootings, Detective Ovra Sawce is paired with a new partner on a triple homicide. But what were a billionaire’s assistant, a hood-turned-cult leader and Sawce’s former partner doing in that warehouse?

Written by Jordan Thomas, Weird Work #1 is an interesting start to the series. At its heart, the debut is a very typical crime/noir story. There’s a strange murder. There’s a likely corrupt cop. There’s the two detectives dragged in to solve the case, each with a troubled past. The DNA is there of so many stories we’ve seen before with little new or different. The story’s core sticks to the basics.

Where the comic attempts to do something different is with the visuals. With art by Shaky Kane, Weird Work #1 is definitely weird taking place in an alien world where beings with faces that look like buttholes are completely normal as three eyed beings. At times the comic feels like weird for weird sake. So far, beyond some joke comments, the strange world doesn’t add much to the story. It’s just your average noir story with sci-fi visuals. The plot, so far, doesn’t play with or to its alien setting and characters.

And that’s what’s a bit frustrating about Weird Work #1. The comic is entertaining and the art is cool, but it doesn’t deliver anything different. It doesn’t use its alien setting enough, or really much at all, in the narrative. It’s a typical story with atypical visuals for the genre.

Weird Work #1 isn’t a bad debut and those who enjoy the genre should check it out. But, we’ve seen this genre with an alien setting before. It isn’t new and it isn’t different. Hopefully the rest of the series might deliver something a little bit different but for a debut it’s good, but doesn’t stand out.

Story: Jordan Thomas Art: Shaky Kane
Letterer: Letter Squids Design: Daniel Gruitt
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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