I should probably know better than to pick up books like Sam Noir: Samurai Detective.  After all, the title makes it abundantly obvious what they're going to do, and noir has never really been my thing.

This is a three-issue miniseries from Image (specifically, Jim Valentino's Shadowline stable) and it does exactly what it promised.  Imagine a noir story done with samurais.  Well, there you go.  That's basically it.  It's credited to Manny Trembley and Eric Anderson, who are presumably the writer and artist respectively, although the credits and their website are less than clear.

Samurai detective Sam Noir is hired to watch a girl called Jasmine, and falls in love with her.  She comes to his office and gets killed by henchmen.  Sam sets out to investigate.  It's a basic plot, played pretty much straight.  To all intents and purposes, it's a stock noir story with some martial arts trappings thrown in.  Which reads rather oddly, since the actual setting is firmly samurai.

This feels like it ought to be a lot funnier than it actually is.  It's far too derivative to be taken seriously as a story in its own right, although I have a nagging fear that the creators want it to work on that level.  Otherwise, the genre clash is deadpanned, with the humour coming mainly in Sam's voiceover.  ("Nobody ever expects a fella to jump out of his third story window.  People should expect those types of things.  I do.  That's why I jump out windows.  Cuz nobody thinks of it.")

He's incredibly wordy for a character in a story like this.  You'd almost think the creators would have been better off just writing a prose short story if they were going to approach the concept in this way.

But then the black-and-white art is the book's strongest point.  It's not funny in any way, but it's beautiful to look at, and really does show off the potential of B&W artwork for stories like this.  If anything, it's a shame they aren't just doing the concept straight and attempting a genuine hybrid of the genres, because the art would be more appropriate for that.  Instead we've got a sort of comedy style clash going on in the script, and an artist aiming for sublime beauty.  The creators seem to be pulling in different directions. 

My lingering concern is that the creators may genuinely believe that they're tying everything together here with a real story, and that the book is more than just a gimmick.  The editorial at the back of the issue describes Sam as a "great character", which depends very much on what you mean by character.  He's really a one-note gag, although it's a strong enough gag to justify three issues.

A frustrating issue.  It does raise a smile, and the art is so beautiful that I can't bear to give it low marks.  But it feels like there are two completely different, and better, comics struggling to get out - one which is much more funny, and one which takes it entirely seriously.  At the moment, the book seems unsure which one it wants to be.

Rating: B

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