Perry Cutter (Los Monstruos)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…

So once again we’re back in the retro-1950s, with a hard-boiled private eye, PERRY CUTTER, and all the allegedly noir trimmings.

Familiar turf, especially for a comic book.

Then again, Los Montruos from Dark Horse, being a 21st century comic book, Cutter also happens to be werewolf, and the mean streets of Los Angeles (I think) is inundated with other werewolves, vampires, mummies, and assorted other monsters from the Universal Studios backlot.

The case? Track down a missing lady vampire, which should be easy-peasy, but then shifty but powerful casino owner Ramses and the Night Shift, a gang of unruly vampire cops, both take an interest.

I dunno. James Robinson is a damn good comic writer, having breathed new life (along with Tony Harris) into the long-established character of Starman back in the 1990s (his version had the son of the original 1940s character taking over the mantle) and for reviving the Justice Society of America, also in the late 1990s.

If anyone can pull this off, it’s probably Robinson. But judging from the covers and the pre-reviews I’ve uncovered, the  whole premise seems like a rerun; a miss-mash of horror and detective fiction I’ve seen way too many times before. It doesn’t help that Cutter himself seems like two done-to-death stereotypes welded together — that of the shirtless, growling but bewildered Wolfman and the fedora-and-trenchcoat private eye.

But like I said, if anyone can pull it off, it’s Robinson, and he does. Not his greatest work, but an entertaining bit of comic book cheese. Let’s see if there’s a sequel, and if he stretches out a bit…

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