4 out of 5

Many years back, Greg Rucka started a series with Matthew Clark called Felon.  It wasn’t great – although it’s frustrating it was never completed – but it was competent Rucka stuff, and had his standard tough female lead with his standard cop/procedural setup.  It was the Law & Order of Greg: enjoyable, reliable, but maybe not something you’d consider the best of its type.  Greg’s writing has certainly grown in leaps and bounds since the days of Felon, but Stumptown sort of has the  similar familiarity to it: strong female lead (Dex); cop/procedural setup (she’s a PI).  Through the various minis released thus far, Greg’s developed a warm intimacy with the Portland-esque setting, and expanded the cast of characters just enough to make the world breathe but not heave.  You can tell that Stumptown is also very purposefully _not_ Lazarus or Black Magick: Dex solves really low-rent cases with fairly small stakes.  That’s definitely part of the series’ charm: its simplicity.  The charm is maintained for ‘cup of Joe,’ in which Dex is hired to protect some shipments of a prized, unique coffee bean; it’s also the first Stumptown where I finally felt like Dex actually showed us she was _good_ at her job, as previous tales had her impulsiveness and brusqueness somewhat confuse matters to the extent that she more comes across as bungling than competent.  Joe has a nice balance of all of that, though, along with plenty of plotty intrigue and a great last minute bait-and-switch that I should’ve seen coming but didn’t.  Justin Green’s art has also _immenseley_ improved: he’s not great at action still (and maybe Rucka realized this, dialing the scenes down to manageable moments), but he’s tightened up his figurework between now and then, adding a desirabley loose but consistent flavor to the visuals.