4 out of 5

Substantially stronger than the opening arc thanks to a more likeable cast of characters and a shift to a more palatable vision of the occult for Brube’s style of writing.  The Devil’s Business take the same prologue / epilog modern day structure while the chunk of the take continues in the past, though flashing forward a generation to the 70s for another chapter of Jo’s dealings with her powers and the evil forces after her.

We didn’t really get much about Nick Lash before he was wrapped up in confusing conspiracies in Book 1, the quickness of the occurrence of which undermined whatever weirdness Brubaker was trying to add to the story.  The epilog of Lash’s story from that arc ended on a preferably haunting note since it was based more on the unknown than physical bogeymen; picking up with Lash trying to follow the story – Jo’s story – but still solo, we get a nice sketch of a man driven by hazy goals, a common noir trope and one that Ed writes well when he’s not directly tossing male / female dumb dating dynamics at us.  It allows Lash to feel more human; perhaps still driven by lust or sex on some level, but we can get on our protagonist’s side instead of just having to relate on the one-note sex obsession pursuit.  When we get to ‘Devil’s’ 70s focus, the same humanity can be found in B-Movie actor Miles, surprisingly enough.  Miles seems to recognize his drug habit and inherent selfishness are not good qualities, and not even in the tossed off narrative voice Brubaker normally uses for such descriptions (i.e. ‘Miles knew blah blah was bad but he did it anyway’) – he doesn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, per se, but his judgments get immediately mixed up when he gets mixed up rescuing another actor – Suzy – from some strange cult shit at a Hollywood party at which Miles was going to make another bid at catching the right director’s attention…  So things are diverted from sinking into Miles bad habits.  And before Brubaker can write him into a ‘Criminal’-esque corner, Miles and Suzy have stumbled into the backyard of the home of Josephine – who has spent the last decade as a recluse in order to avoid her curse’s tendrils extending – and she recognizes Miles, and against her better judgment, takes the couple in.

Of course, the cult ends up being related to the demon from Book 1.  But there’s a pleasant give and take: Josephine also recognizes Miles’ understanding of his own flaws and so doesn’t feel as horrible as usual with her manipulations, and Miles – as an actor – susses out that something is screwed up about the whole situation.  So our principles get to act more responsible and intelligent than the majority of characters in Ed’s noir work.  Things will still go South, it’s just an effective ride because we can care about the leads, flawed as they are.

There’s still some MacGuffin’ing – a snuff film of some type plays a central role and we get some reaction shots indicating the shock value of the film… but whatever’s actually on there doesn’t seem to really matter – and filler characters who, when they meet their fates, are that much more evident as padding (compare the relative richness and importance of Rat’s involvement later in the story with the meaningless part the smack-addicted Suzy plays except to transport Miles from A to B).  And most frustratingly – the ‘wildcard’ element of the Fatale series, that of the supernatural, is just totally irrelevant and ineffectively spooky.  The Lovecraft villain is a joke (though that’s partly on Sean Phillips being the wrong artist to bring something larger-than-life like that into his pseudo-realism style) and the bald underlings are completely lacking the creepiness I think they’re supposed to have, seeming more like dime-a-dozen HYDRA agents or something.  If Ed had left this all in shadow, it would’ve worked.  But whenever it crosses the line into tentacles and blood, the mash-up somewhat fails.

Dave Stewart’s colors are the perfect blend this time around though.  They capture the smoky 70s Hollywood vibe with ease, a much better fit than when trying to grit up a 60s crooked cop story.

So its a precarious balance with these tales, but as with Criminal and Incognito, it all comes down to – for me – how much we can side with our leads, and ‘Devil’s Business’ does a great job of opening up those doors for all the main characters.