21 2004 |
I was poking around the internet, looking for nothing in particular, and ran across a comic flashback from the 1980s...
Of course, anything with the words "North" and "Dakota" in them catches the eye of a resident of the state, so when I was an early teen and I saw a series of comic books called "Dakota North Investigations," I had to buy them. It only ran for a few issues, I think I still have the first 4 or 5, but it impressed me nonetheless. The art is sharp and non-superheroy, and the design leans towards fashion sketches and art doodles. The storylines were average, not still fast enough to keep a reader's interest. As always, I'm impressed with background action (things in the panel, but not 'in' the panel), of which there's liberal use. Without scans or actually showing the comic, it's hard to describe...at the time, I was living off New Mutants and GI Joe comics, so this was a spark of something unique for the time. A female detective, with no superpowers or supervillians, it was quaint in a low-grade TV drama way. I can see why it didn't survive in the 80s 'rippling supermuscles/war drama' comic book environment -- but that makes it ahead of it's time.
Little did I know, others remember the comic as well. Dakota North Investigations even has it's own homepage, complete with character listings, casebooks, and other in-character information. If you'd like a more critique-like review, check out what Back Issue Bin Bonanza had to say.