Whether it’s in film, novels or in comic books, physical setting is a supremely important consideration for any story. In some cases, the setting is the most important character, elevating a narrative and turning it into something heightened. Something absolutely exceptional. Something with staying power.
This is especially true of the crime fiction genre.
Whether it’s the mid-twentieth century Hollywood glamour and sleaze found in a James Ellroy novel like L.A. Confidential or the sprawling poverty-stricken Louisiana landscape throughout the first season of Nic Pizzolatto’s HBO series, True Detective, orthe sweaty gutter-grime of Frank Miller’s acclaimed series of comic books that fall under the Sin City banner, setting can make for an ominous and compelling story-driving character.
Today sees the release of a new, neo-noir crime series where the physical landscape makes the table setting for a deliciously murderous and affecting crime tale in Blow Away #1.
Published by Boom! Studios and written by Zac Thompson (Hunt For The Skinwalker, Cemetery Kids Don’t Die) and wonderfully illustrated by Nicola Izzo (Buffy: The Last Vampire Slayer), Blow Away tells the story of wildlife photographer, Brynne Brautigan, who captures more on her camera than just migratory birds, Arctic fox and lumbering caribou in the remote cold of Baffin Island.
Far-flung Baffin Island, if you didn’t know, is found in Canada’s northernmost region, and is acclaimed as the country’s largest island (fifth largest in the world) and part of the territory of Nunavut. It’s a big and sprawling landmass just north of Hudson’s Bay with a severely cold climate that delivers long winters and foggy-chilled summers. Its rambling coastline is one that, since I was a child, seemed shaped like some kind of hybrid and ancient oversized dinosaur – a Brontosaurus with a T-Rex head, tilted slightly and staring hungrily at the Arctic Circle! With only one city, Iqaluit, that houses a population of just over 7,000 inhabitants and a small number of towns and outposts, rocky Baffin Island is a setting that is fertile for the suspicious imagination – if not food crops.
In Blow Away, through her camera lens, Brynne sees something that she can’t unsee during one of her wildlife expeditions: violence between two climbers and, perhaps, a murder. Her photo-documentary interests turn to investigation. And, in her search for the truth, Brynne finds more than what she’s looking for. And, in the detached and foreboding landscape of Baffin Island, more than just wilderness decides to keep her company.
Make the run to your local comic book shop and pick up the paranoia-filled, murder-mystery of Blow Away #1 today!
You can catch a sneak preview of Blow Away in the comic book’s trailer, found directly below.
