One of my favorite comic book series in recent years is Viktor Kalvachev's Blue Estate, a hardboiled crime series that takes place in modern day Los Angeles. It's got a sleazy action hero actor with a passing resemblance to Steven Seagal, the Russian Mafia, the Italian Mafia, a geeky fanboy private eye in his 40s, a B-movie actress, drugs, alcohol, strippers, hookers, and seedy establishments.
It's dirty and gritty and a lot of fun, in an LA Confidential way. The series has been anthologized into a fat hardbound book that includes bonus material, such as photos of the little clay heads of the main characters that Kalvachev made to serve as reference for the artists who worked on the videogame version of Blue Estate. If you missed the comics the first time they came around, this Anthology is a great way to catch up on what Comicbuzz.com called "one of the best comics on the racks today, not to mention one of the best crime comics ever."
