Super Cool Cyberpunk Cop Comic ‘Old City Blues’ Now Available For Free Online
Most ComicsAlliance readers familiar with the work of Giannis Milonogiannis have probably read his stuff in Prophet, the Brandon Graham-written sci-fi saga from Image Comics that spotlights the work of several great artists who practice a distinctly European style of comic bookery. What you may not know is that before Milonogiannis impressed you with his frequently awe-inspiring Prophet visuals, he authored one of the coolest new cyberpunk comics to come out in a long time. Published by Archaia, Old City Blues is a straight up sci-fi murder mystery set in a world inspired by the work of Ridley Scott and Katsuhiro Otomo. With Milogiannis hard at work on the next volume, he’s released the first run of Old City Blues as well as the gorgeous and “silent” short story “Intermission” for free online.
Subtitled “The Hayashi File,” the first volume of Old City Blues follows Detective Solano as he attempts to solve the murder of an eccentric robotics CEO in New Athens, a cyberpunky version of the Greek capital. The plot offers plenty of conspiracy twists and thrilling action to keep you blazing through the 90-page Old City Blues in one sitting, but the real draw for me is Milonogiannis’ excellent artwork. Like Blade Runner and Akira before it, Old City Blues creates a truly immersive world that feels definitely familiar to fans of those works, but with a gritty, youthful flare that’s all Milonogiannis’ own. There isn’t a throwaway page, panel or even line in this work; everything serves the tone, pacing and style that’s made this kind of story so seductive to readers like CA’s David Brothers, who wrote back in January:
Old City Blues is the sort of science fiction that’s right in my lane. It isn’t concerned with proving its bonafides by overdosing on obscure world-building facts or explaining the science of whatever technology is central to the story. Milonogiannis just gets down to the business of telling a story about cops in the near future. He expects you to trust him and follow along, and you won’t be disappointed by the experience.
That’s me and Brothers throwing our support for this thing — but don’t take our word for it, read Milonogiannis’ “silent” story, Old City Blues: Intermission 1, which he’s made available for free using the embedded reader below. This will completely suck you in, at which point you can graduate to the graphic novel-length Old City Blues: The Hayashi File, which is also a free online read. The hardcover edition from Archaia can be bought or ordered at finer comics shops and bookstores, and comes with a bonus short story not available anywhere else, as well as a comic about the making of the comic.
And since we’re reading comics on the computer anyway, hit play on this Daft Punk track from TRON: Legacy, which syncs up pretty well with the pacing of this Old City Blues short (yes, I have several playlists designed for different comic book genres you have no right to judge me).