I decided to take a gamble on a new comic book this week and the one I chose is Dynamite’s new release called Control; part one of six. The cover boasts that it is for mature readers and depicts a ball gag, sexy panties and a gun; so naturally I was all over this one. That’s right, that is all it takes to get my attention: No, i’m just kidding I also like a good story and some solid art work and this book has both of those things as well.

*Written by Andy Diggle and Angela Cruickshank* artist Andrea Mutti* colorist Vladimir Popov*

*Caution: I will be spoiling the book*

The book starts out very dark and stormy and immediately the mood is set just right for whats about to go down. There is a man who has been hung and is being questioned and tortured, not sure if he is the bad guy or the guy with the gun is. Meanwhile at a neighborhood Irish pub two cops are having drinks when they get the call about a man down. They take off down the street and the crime scene is the same scene I described above. There are two cops shot, a fleeing suspect and the mysterious hanging man. The entire book revolves around this scene, as it becomes clear this isn’t your average run of the mill case. I’m hoping all six books in this series revolve around this same case, because as we follow the clues along with Sergeant Burnham it only gets more mysterious. They find a burner phone at the crime scene and just as all the other leads seem to have run dry; it receives an incoming text message. This mysterious message leads Sgt Burnham and her new partner to somewhere very unexpected and something much bigger and darker than they could have ever imagined.

Control part one at its core is a detective mystery. I love a good “who done it” murder mystery and this book has that in spades. They set up the plot very well and the art work supports the tone of the book; then they throw in a side of kink and BDSM. This is the only part where I am having a little trouble. Are they going to fully commit to this, or is it just a ploy to bring in readers? I’m looking forward to see where they are going with this angle and hoping they are not just “throwing chum in the water” so to speak. That is why I’m only going to give this book an 8, because I really want to see them follow through with this story line and not drop the ball (gag). Was it a good read, yes. Will I continue to read it, you betcha. Please keep in mind, as advertised this book is definitely for mature eyes only