Into the Brutal Dark: Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips Bring The Peril to Vertigo’s Return
A private eye with a past leads the dark charge into the unknown
Hard Case detective books have always lived in the shadows. Mystery books featuring trouble brewing waiting at the end of a rain-slick street. These are the tales of pulp noir, mysterious and delightful, showcasing the dark sides of human nature. A period piece for post world-war in eras rife with crime and a changing world. So it feels only right that The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery happens to be a kickoff Vertigo book arriving with that same type of voltage.
Written by Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine) and illustrated by Jacob Phillips (Everything Dead and Dying), The Peril of the Brutal Dark blends hardboiled detective fiction with mysticism, anti-fascist undercurrents, and a stolen artifact of unimaginable power, Indiana Jones style. It’s a story that understands the genre’s roots, with trench coats and moral compromise, but isn’t afraid to drag them somewhere darker and more politically charged.
Here’s the description:
New York City, 1941. Ezra Cain is a private investigator with a reputation for taking it on the chin if it means solving a case. But it’s his former life as an archaeology student that makes him the only man to track down an artifact that’s gone missing from the Museum of Natural History... an ancient anvil said to hold the power of the Greek god Hephaestus. If someone could harness that power, they could bend nations to their will. Science fiction quickly becomes Cain’s reality when a shadowy sect calling themselves the Brutal Dark appears in the city wielding resources that defy human logic. Now Ezra is the only thing that stands between them and their plot to overthrow America!
Writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips, creators of the hit series That Texas Blood and The Enfield Gang Massacre, introduce us to a private eye whose business is exposing our deepest secrets... but on this job, he’ll learn that some mysteries are better off buried!
As part of the prestigious return of Vertigo to comics publishing, this Ezra Cain mystery feels like both a throwback and a warning flare. The book hits stores this Wednesday, February 20th, so we spoke with Chris Condon about what it’s like launching a new detective pulp mystery fable and why now is the perfect time for a story that stares directly into the brutal dark.
Can you tell us about The Peril of the Brutal Dark? From what I understand, it’s an adventure noir mystery.
CHRIS CONDON: Yes, that’s exactly what it is. PERIL is a noirish adventure story. It’s got all of the mystery and attitude of a Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe story mixed with the high-concept thrills of an Indiana Jones-style adventure. In this first story, we see Ezra take on several cases that may be connected to a larger conspiracy to attack New York City and cripple America.
Who is Ezra Cain? What makes him tick, and what kind of hero are you crafting here?
CHRIS CONDON: Ezra is a hard case. He’s someone who jumps into the fray when he has to protect and help people, though not without a quippy attitude. He was trained as an academic in his early years but gave it up to join the army, enlisting to fight in WWI. When he returned, he joined the police force in NYC. Some of their ‘methods’ didn’t sit right with Ezra, so he turned to becoming a sleuth–a private eye. He’s fierce, confident, and loyal.
You started this project in high school, initially drawing it before releasing pages on Patreon. It’s been years. What’s evolved in Peril compared to your original vision?
CHRIS CONDON: Ezra, for one thing. He was always a bit of a Philip Marlow, Sam Spade figure but as the years went by, I added a bit more back story here, a bit more there, and he’s now a fully-fleshed character. The overall story has remained, though that has also morphed here and there. More fine-tuning than anything. Streamlining.
Jacob Phillips brings such a distinct visual style. Meanwhile, Ezra Cain looks like someone straight out of that era. Very Clark Gable. How’d you collaborate to develop the look and feel this time around?
CHRIS CONDON: Ezra’s look hasn’t changed too much from the Patreon book we began, but what we tried to do with him was to make him feel like a classic character. We wanted him to feel a part of that Marlow or Spade tradition.
The book has this 1940s noir aesthetic that’s very Dick Tracy to me. It’s set after WWII and is a tale about a world in the midst of change. What were some of your key influences in creating this world?
CHRIS CONDON: Sure, there’s some Dick Tracy in there. There were a ton of influences, as there always are. The Fleischer Superman shorts, Batman: The Animated Series, Indiana Jones, Hellboy, the books of Dashiell Hammett, and the works of Raymond Chandler. Those were our primary influences, but I also love the old serials that influenced a lot of these influences, so there were a lot of pulpy ingredients being thrown into the stew. If you go back and watch movies like China, Secret of the Incas, or even the title Nevada Smith and their influences on Indiana Jones, you start to see how these things were built. That’s all we did. We looked at what we liked and we built our own series like our influences did.
How did history play into The Peril of The Brutal Dark?
CHRIS CONDON: It’s set in a very fraught time in the world. November 1941. One month before Pearl Harbor draws America into WWII. It was always important for me to set it here because of the importance of the date and a simple question (which has a lot of truth in it): what if December 6th, 1941 hadn’t been the first attack on America?
I have to ask: Are we going to see Ezra beat up some Nazis?
CHRIS CONDON: I think you can safely bet on that.
I love the Greek mythology elements woven throughout; things like Hephaestus’ Anvil remind me of Indiana Jones. Gotta ask, why mix classical mythology with noir/sci-fi?
CHRIS CONDON: That was always my story, really. I think it was more drawn from my love of Hellboy than Indiana Jones initially (though it was always in the DNA) but then when Chris Conroy asked us for a pitch, he specifically asked for “Indiana Jones-style adventure, but your own thing.” So we were also delivering what we were asked to. The sci-fi or fantasy elements are an engine that takes this thing beyond just being a Noir detective story. It brings us into a world on the cusp of great and terrible change through the use of nuclear weapons. So the idea that the world has always had these threats present by misusing the powers of the gods–especially in this period–was pretty interesting, I think.
Those news clippings at the end add layers to Ezra’s story and hint at what’s to come. Why did you choose this Backmatter device, and how do you creatively utilize it moving forward?
CHRIS CONDON: I always do this! I like to build larger worlds and histories through the back matter. We will continue to build on the world and its characters through back matter, whether in articles or in other pieces. We are really fortunate to have a gifted designer on these, my old pal Michael Tivey. He makes them feel absolutely authentic.
Who or what is the Brutal Dark? Without spoiling too much, can you give us any hints? As that cliffhanger is incredibly intriguing.
CHRIS CONDON: Oh, I don’t want to spoil it. But let’s just say it is a terrible threat to New York City and the world.
You and Jacob are taking a six-issue volume approach to this one. What can readers expect in the future of this series?
CHRIS CONDON: Different locales, different mysteries, more of Ezra’s past. But yeah, we are approaching this as we approach That Texas Blood. Each arc is its own thing, but it builds on a larger series. I like it because it’s like how the old detective novels were–each book is its own story where this character reappears, not a sequel.
Where does Ezra’s journey go?
CHRIS CONDON: I can’t tell you that yet. But it’s exciting, I think.
This book is part of the first wave of the return of DC’s Vertigo. How’s it feel to be launching alongside the legendary brand’s return?
CHRIS CONDON: It feels pretty cool, you know. Jacob and I are very fortunate to be a part of this terrific lineup alongside great teams like Kyle Starks & Steve Pugh and Deniz Camp & Stipan Morian. I loved the idea of this rebel label within DC Comics when I was growing up. I’m so proud to be a part of it now for its return.
Fave Vertigo books? Mine were Sandman, Swamp Thing, and Fables.
CHRIS CONDON: Preacher, Y: The Last Man, American Vampire. Just in terms of what was specifically influential to me. V for Vendetta would be up there, too, but it wasn’t originally a Vertigo book, so I’m pulling that one and sending it to the bench.
Finally, you signed an exclusive contract with Marvel. From what I understand, that doesn’t interfere with the launch of this book. Is that correct? What is the long-term hope for this series?
CHRIS CONDON: Nope. They knew I was doing this as an ongoing series when I signed. Long term? We want to keep doing the book. That’s all. We hope people like it and buy it so we can do so.
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The Peril of the Brutal Dark is in stores on February 25th, 2026, wherever comics are sold.
Christian Angeles is a writer and entertainment journalist with nearly a decade of experience covering comics, video games, and digital media. He was senior editor at The Beat during its Eisner Award–winning year and also served as managing editor of The Workprint. Outside of journalism, he writes comics and books.
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