The Truth Fades to Black in The Fade Out by Brubaker and Phillips

As McCarthyism terrorizes Hollywood, screenwriter Charlie Parish finds an up and coming starlet murdered in a studio bungalow. He flees the scene, and discovers the next day that someone is revising the facts of her death to make it a suicide. Soon after, the studio insists on completing her film by scheduling re-shoots. The Fade Out is the story of Charlie, and how he’s beset by the terrible secret of the murder and his memories of the war. In Charlie’s text box narration, he writes, “…something in the air made it easier to believe lies.”

In an interview at Complex magazine, writer Ed Brubaker explains the allure of post-war Hollywood: “The glitz and glamor, the fact so much of that world was all lies and masks and fake names, and it really feels like post-World War II Hollywood was almost a gold rush…So many people rushing to L.A. dreaming of fame and fortune, and willing to do anything to make it happen.” Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips capture the atmosphere with a pulp-styled script, bold blacks, and lots of Hollywood haute couture draped on leggy women and chiseled men. Preview pages from the graphic novel appear below.

This is the first title produced under Brubaker and Phillips’ exclusive five year deal with Image.

The Fade Out is currently available for pre-order, and arrives in comic shops on February 25th and bookstores on March 10th.

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