Source: nothingbutcomics.com
6. The Fade Out
Hey, look, it’s an Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips comic book. I’m sure there’ll be at least one more of those on this list, because they’re absolute magic together.
The Fade Out captures a type of story that you don’t often see. It’s a novelistic murder mystery that takes place in Golden Age Hollywood. If that isn’t everything you’ve ever wanted, I don’t know how to help you.
Charlie Parish, a Hollywood screenwriter in 1948, has returned from the war deeply broken by the events he’s witnessed. He helps his friend Gil get pseudonymous work after Gil’s blacklisted for Communist leanings.
But Charlie is in a deep downward spiral that culminates in waking up from a night of blackout drinking to find himself face to face with a dead movie starlet. His investigation into just what happened will lead him through the back alleys and ranch houses of late forties Hollywood.
From the Red Scare to the studio system to prevalent racism and sexism, this book is the perfect picture of an era filtered through a noir lens.
