The One Hand #1: This issue is interesting and, despite my backlog, I'll hang in there a while. The best and worst parts about this issue wind up being the same thing, namely that the futuristic setting feels like an afterthought.
Ari Nassar is a hard-boiled detective who cancels his retirement after a case from his past returns on his last day. ("You've just eaten the frosting.") The case involves a killer who uses their victim's blood to create intricate geometric symbols on the wall; Ari notes to his partner, Mac, that they never released photos of the symbols. Ram V leads you to believe the problem is that Ari hasn't caught the One Hand Killer; in a great twist, though, the problem is that he's caught them...twice.
The killer first emerged 23 years ago. Ari tells Mac that the killer randomly selected all his 32 victims; the police never established any connection between them. Mac explains to a cop on the scene that Ari caught the perp for the first time three years and 12 murders into his spree: a man named Martin Tillman, who later died from injuries sustained in a prison attack. However, someone started the murders again, and Ari eventually put away Odell Watts. This time, Ari notices a slightly different symbol at the end of the sequence of symbols.
The futuristic setting — "Neo Novena. November 5th, 2873." — reveals itself when Ari steps into the street after his mandatory session with a therapist due to his retirement. Later, Ari has sex and converses with Nemone, an android hooker, at a brothel. When Nem freezes mid-conversation, Ari finds the madam, whose technician is working on the "unicon." Ari clearly cares for Nem, and he asks the madam to make sure Nem doesn't get cold (given she froze standing up naked).
The brothel plays a role in Ari finding a clue to the killer's identity as he stops a kid using a discarded android hand to create graffiti. The kid mentions that the dumpster behind the brothel has all sorts of android body parts, and Ari lets him go. In looking at the handprint the kid spray-painted on the wall, Ari notices a smudge that makes it look like there's a sixth finger jutting opposite the right-hand thumb.
Ari rushes back to the crime scene and calls Mac after he realizes that the palm print the killer left has a smudge on the right hand that might also be a sixth finger. Mac confirms none of the other handprints have that smudge. Dun-dun-DUN!
Again, the futuristic setting is cool, particularly given the "Blade Runner" feel it gives to the issue. But it also feels like it's distracting from the pretty gripping mystery Ram V is weaving here. As I said, I'd normally pass given my backlog, but the issue is sufficiently gripping to keep me hanging in there.
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