I sat down with Brubaker to talk about the origins of the series, what he and Phillips hope to accomplish, and why readers should check out The Ghost in You.

The fourth installment in the series, The Ghost in You, hit recently from Image, building on narratives and concepts established earlier in the series, but also presenting the kind of story new fans can digest on their own-not an easy feat, and one that only the best serialized crime stories can pull off. The series follows sort-of private eye Ethan Reckless, a modern synthesis of classic pulp detectives like Philip Marlowe, Easy Rawlins, and Matthew Scudder with a wholly modern and knowing twist. The end result, Reckless, has proven to be a smashing success for the creators and its publisher, indie comics company, Image Comics-in terms of sales, acclaim, and general buzz. It’s a love letter to classic private eye fiction, steeped in Brubaker’s vision of a Los Angeles that no longer exists, with a flawed and complex protagonist, all masterfully illustrated by Phillips, with colors by his son, Jacob Phillips. Complete, done-in-one stories that present a complete adventure, but also serve as part of a bigger, ongoing series. Instead of releasing their stories via monthly, comic shop-focused “floppy” comic book installments that would later be bound and collected as trade paperbacks for the book trade, the creators have pivoted to doing a series of original graphic novels. Their latest collaboration, while still firmly entrenched in the dark corners of graphic novel crime, marks a departure of sorts. Brubaker and Phillips have worked together so long they’ve become synonymous, a pair of names that complete each other, building a legendary reputation with series like Criminal, Fatale, Kill or be Killed, Incognito, Bad Weekend, and more. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are no strangers to comics and noir, blending both primal elements of story into everything they do-whether it’s mainstream superhero work or their more recent, and more personal, forays into creator-owned, character-driven crime comics.

Reckless graphic novel