Neighborhood Watch #1: The Collective and the Burbs

Neighborhood Watch #1 opens with a dead body and two people, mostly unseen, standing above the body in shock. “What did you do to her?” they shout. Following that mysterious first page, Neighborhood Watch #1 is an exercise in fun juxtaposition. There is a housing development with a home owner’s association and a voluntary collective. Gailey tells the story of both on alternating pages.

Gailey doesn’t play either side of the story too seriously. She slips subtle and good natured humorous moments into both (though the home owner’s association neighborhood gets a little bit more ribbing ). But in both cases, it’s enjoyable reading that drops a little character development along the way.

Haining’s attention to detail on all the characters contributes significantly to this experience. The characters are all very expressive. There are many moments of playfulness. In most cases the fun in these characters is the result of slightly exaggerated eye and mouth shape. Haining doesn’t use a lot of lines on characters’ faces, and when they do it’s usually to further exaggerate a character’s expression such as when cheeks are made a little fuller to emphasize a wide smile.

The good natured, easy reading quality that both Gailey and Haining deliver makes it somehow easy to forget that Neighborhood Watch #1 starts with a splash page that looks down on a dead body. This is because Gailey doesn’t play the whole story as a lead in to that page. Instead, she plays the normal activity of what’s going on in the subdivision and collective. Even as an expectation grows that somehow these two groups are going to meet. Finally, when it gets there, the murder mystery ending sets up a lot of questions.

Haining and Nalty’s work combines to deliver an overall pleasant environment, both in the subdivision and the collective. Haining provides just the right amount of detail, creating backgrounds that her moderately detailed characters feel at home in. Nalty’s vivid color palette is a good complement to Haining’s art style. Adjustments to imply shadow and light sources are somewhat broad, usually only a two tone contrast as opposed to more color tones for nuanced adjustments. The overall visuals are a good match for Neighborhood Watch #1’s narrative playfulness.

Troutman does a good job keeping dialogue bubbles organized and out of the way of the characters in any given panel. Haining’s work with regard to characters’ expressiveness is a big reason that the issue reads easily with a nice level of fun, so it’s good that that stays front and center.