Writer: Scott Beatty
Artists: Butch Guice(p), Mike Perkins(i), Laura Martin(c)
Publisher: Crossgen
Last issue of Ruse ended with a locked room mystery, but new readers do not need to know that since the murder which series detective Simon Archard witnessed gets a brief recap that mingles with his characterization.
This issue deals with the ramifications of the locked room mystery. The subgenre follows Doyle's Law. "When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains however improbable must be the truth."
The victim died before the startled eyes of Simon Archard in a locked room. It should come to nobody's surprise that Simon would become the prime suspect, and he is treated as such.
With Simon locked away in Partington's House of Corrections, it's now up to Emma Bishop to solve the mystery and free Simon from the misery. Certain things become apparent as you read Ruse. It's not Oz, so do not expect Simon's torture to be so brutal. Instead, Scott Beatty lightens the mood with strategic interventions courtesy of the series' hilarious archfiends The Consortium of Aggrieved Manservants.
When the camera turns to Emma Bishop's attempts to solve the mystery, Mr. Beatty displays the character's sharp intellect. Emma while often the pin-cushion of Simon's barbs and brunt of the supporting cast's jokes and insults is radiant in the spotlight. It's also nice to see Simon having faith in Emma to solve the mystery.
The burgeoning membership of Simon's operatives grows with the addition of smart female support, recruited by Emma, to lend valuable assistance to Simon's defense. The mystery itself while not fairplay in any sense of the word still exhibits a cleverness and reality based solution. So, anybody who attempts to solve the crime will not feel cheated.
When watching Jeremy Brett's early Sherlock Holmes mysteries there's a certain point in which the violin music crescendos and the static display on the television becomes a staccato of scenes in which Holmes re-enacts or susses out the culprit. Butch Guice, who yes with Mike Perkins and Laura Martin still provides the gorgeous artwork of which we've grown accustomed, mimics this type of cinematic feeling with a widescreen display of unusually uniform panels that are not read in clockwise but from left to right across two pages. It's a technique that broadens the scope of the book's narrative and heightens the tension. The idea is that each panel is a sliver of time that's unfolding before your eyes, and time is running out for Simon Archard.
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