From FRIDAY; illustrated by Marcos Martín, colors by Muntsa Vicente

On April 15, 2020, digital comics publisher Panel Syndicate released the debut issue of Friday, by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Marcos Martín, with colorist Muntsa Vicente. The comic features 18 year old college student Friday Fitzhugh, who once solved mysteries in the town of Kings Hill alongside her teen detective partner, Lancelot Jones. Described by Brubaker as a “post-YA” comic, Friday mixes occult horror with teen detective fiction to produce a compelling story that also provides a rare exploration of character maturation in the teen detective genre.

The comic opens with Friday returning home from college for Christmas; she and Lancelot are immediately reunited on a case, although Friday is not happy about it. Something happened between Friday and Lancelot before Friday left for college; Friday wants to talk to Lance about it, although she dreads having the conversation, while Lance, who has remained in Kings Hill, is focused on apprehending teenage villain Wilson “Weasel” Wadsworth, who has stolen an ancient stone dagger possessing apparent supernatural properties.

There is tension between Friday (who wants to have a conversation about her and Lance’s relationship and past) and Lancelot, who is focused on his crime-fighting adventure. Martín’s art reflects this tension and the emotional separation of the two characters, with Friday often depicted at a distance from Lance — she rides in the back of the car, while Lance and local law officer Sheriff Bixby are in the front seats, and she often hangs back or chases ahead relative to Lance and Bixby as they pursue Weasel in the snow-covered woods. Vicente’s contrasting bright and dark color palettes highlights this tension.

From FRIDAY; illustrated by Marcos Martín, colors by Muntsa Vicente

This tension between adult concerns and juvenile adventures highlights the thematic evolution of the “young detective” genre. Young detective fiction originated in the 1860s, with the serialized “penny dreadful” adventures of Ernest Keen, a homeless street kid who works with a police inspector to solve crimes. The first literary “girl detective” did not appear until 1915, with the debut of 17 year old Violet Strange in The Golden Slipper and Other Problems for Violet Strange. Since then, other young detectives have appeared in literature to great acclaim and longevity: Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Encyclopedia Brown, among others.

Discussing the evolution of young detective fiction from its penny dreadful origins to modern stories, author Lucy Andrew observes that while earlier child detective fiction explored the transition between childhood and adulthood, more recent “…child detectives are positioned firmly within the childhood realm and, while they may at times clash with adults, particularly criminals, there is never a clear sense that they are moving towards adult identities or the adult world. Detection is here linked with childhood adventure more explicitly than it is with the social, moral and intellectual development necessary to prepare for adulthood.”

In modern stories, kid detectives are not allowed to grow up, and Lancelot is reflective of this trend; unlike Friday, he does not appear to be moving towards an “adult identity.” He remains in town, solving cases and having adventures, chauffeured around by Bixby, with no apparent identity outside of his investigative activities, while Friday is forming new relationships and a new identity at college.

In Friday’s backmatter, Brubaker acknowledges that the comic’s intent is to explore the adult identities of kid detectives, and that he has been pondering this concept for years: “From the time I was 25 or so, I had this vague dream of writing a book like this… Something that felt gothic but grounded, like a post-YA book, where the kids that solved mysteries and confronted ghosts and monsters also grew up and had the same problems we all do, the same struggles, and bad habits.”