Crime comics seem to be a growing genre these days, but there's always room for another one.  Strictly, Hawaiian Dick is a noir detective story.  Its unique selling point is the setting - Honolulu in 1953.  Our hero, Byrd, has been kicked out of the Chicago police force for unspecified reasons, and come to Honolulu to make a living as a private investigator.

Creators Clay Moore and Steve Griffin have put some effort into researching their setting, judging from the materials at the back of the issue.  There's some interesting comments in there about the state of Hawaiian culture in those days, how tiki was nothing more than an Americanised distortion of real Hawaii, and details about the Outrigger nightclubs and Night Marchers.  None of this is really essential to the story, but it's the sort of background material that really does complement the story.

The story itself is fairly standard crime territory - kidnapped women, stolen cars, drug dealers, that sort of thing.  It's reasonably well done, and the setting does give it a degree of distinctiveness.  Given that this is the first issue, Byrd isn't as established as well as he could be - though police officer Mo Kalama is meant to be his "sidekick", in fact Mo drives most of the plot.  Byrd doesn't really achieve a great deal for himself.  He tags along after Mo too much to really work as a protagonist.

Steven Griffin's art is excellent - he captures the setting convincingly, and uses some highly effective contrasts between bright primary colours and darkness, in what seems to be some sort of painted colouring.  And you have to pity any artist who's set himself the task of drawing a lead character in a hawaiian shirt consistently for an issue.  (Actually, he fudges it, but not very obviously.)

Should go down well with the crime audience.

Rating: B+

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