INDIE SPOTLIGHT: Hank Howard, Pizza Detective: A Slice of Life #1: How The Slice Falls

Robert Venditti is an author I know from his crisp, sleek, corporate comics that are often way better than they ever get credit for. I never would have pegged him as an underground comics writer, but the man has been a mainstay at independent publisher Bad Idea, producing a plethora of diverse stories that have garnered critical and reader acclaim.

Hank Howard, Pizza Detective: A Slice of Life #1 is his latest release from the publisher, with him and David Lapham teaming up on a tale of pizza crimes and heartbreak. Going into this, one would assume the book would be geared toward comedy, given the concept’s goofiness. However, this was a much sadder, more emotional story than its title and cover would let on.

There are some hijinks and murders in a pizza shop that did get a laugh out of me, but the crux of this story is Howard reeling from the death of his grandmother, the family she’s left him with, and the return of an old flame as he stares into a void of loneliness. He has his job and his reputation, but he doesn’t have much in the way of a social life. Vendetti takes his time building these ideas out with clever character quirks, flashbacks, and a diversity of tonal reflections that keep its parody of noir narrative tropes from undercutting its thematic aspirations.

David Lapham’s style is a perfect fit for this book. With it being printed on classic comics newsprint, his hard black inks and focus on figure work back up Vendetti’s approach to this story quite well. It doesn’t shine with a particular sense of auteurism, but it is the perfect kind of bedrock for a story that ever so slightly twists the private investigator concept into something meant to be both heartfelt and humorous.