Provenance of Secrets #1: An Eerie Atmospheric Delight

Following on from Provenance of Madness, Provenance of Secrets is a story told in Lovecraftian first person narrative meets Noir crime. As a huge fan of the master of horror myself I fell in love with this book immediately.

Scout Comics are a great way to break away from the “same faces” published not only in the big 2 but other bigger independent publishers (Image, Boom and the likes) and give you a completely fresh take on stories that may have been told in one way or another across the time and new, fresh and intriguing ideas and let me tell you this, the team behind Provenance of Secrets are an immensely talented bunch.

The first person narrative works extremely well. It helps to not give away too much of the mystery as it is unfolding right before the eyes of the stories only protagonist and allows us to establish a connection with the brooding, loner detective quite quickly and has you crying out “No! Don’t go in there!” by the end of it all.

The gradual atmospheric build up of crime noir to horror is superbly constructed. As what begins as your typical “whodunnit” slowly evolves into a spine tingling supernatural thriller, the sense of dread surrounding the director of the mysterious play can be cut with a knife.

The art is a perfectly suited for the genre. With crisp dark lines combined with sketchy detail and grainy color which gives an old school vibe perfect for the post-war time period of the book and captures both the grittiness of the crime element and darkness of the horror.

Issue 1 ends on a perfect note, leaving us with what is almost the comics equivalent of a cinematic jump scare and plenty of unanswered questions that leave you hankering for issue 2.