Bookhunter

Wow, Jason Shiga's Bookhunter is totally enthralling.

I mean, this is a book about a library cop, and Shiga plays the plot totally straight. There's no sort of intentional jokiness, no quippy banter, no slapstick physical comedy. But it's hilarious. The humor's in the bizarre juxtaposition of stone cold Agent Bay and his unflappable commitment, and the fact that he's, you know, a fucking library cop (Seinfeld fans are immediately picturing Mr. Bookman). Depicted in cutesy indy art. And he rides a bookmobile.

Shiga brings a mathematical precision to his page and panel layouts, but at the same time achieves an overwhelming kinetic energy in his sepia renderings. Maybe I'm just imagining it, but as the action reaches its climax, I swear the pencils and letters get just slightly chaotic, like Shiga is almost struggling to contain the crackling energy in his lines. He's such a strong visual storyteller, maintains such a thrilling pace, it almost doesn't matter about the actual script.

But the actual script is so so good.

Shiga writes with what seems to be a shockingly astute command of 70's surveillance, book construction, and library management. It's got the kind of verisimilitude every cop show out there would kill for (is it verisimilitude if it's actually real?). The dialogue is almost entirely limited to technical exchanges between specialists, but it's pretty mesmerizing. Agent Bay's detective work would dazzle Batman and his grit would wither Popeye Doyle.

If you have any doubts about just how serious this shit is, they should die with the book thief Bay gut shoots through the anus eleven pages and one panel deep.