Exclusive Vertigo preview: A murder mystery gets complicated in Sheriff Of Babylon #3

Of the 12 Vertigo debuts last fall, The Sheriff Of Babylon immediately established itself as the strongest of the bunch, offering a thrilling crime story rooted in writer Tom King’s real-life experience as a CIA counterterrorism officer living in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. (Read an in-depth review of the first issue here.) With rich, atmospheric artwork from Mitch Gerads and sleek, evocative lettering from Travis Lanham, the book has a lot of craft behind it, and this preview of next week’s Sheriff Of Babylon #3 highlights the myriad talents of this creative team. The tight structure—a constant across all of King’s work—condenses and expands to set different paces for each scene, and Gerads gets to show off his skill for facial expressions with a 16-panel page of close-ups and his versatility with a nine-panel page that features considerably softer linework and coloring. It’s a visually striking book with an equally engaging story, channeling the spirit of classic Vertigo while still delivering something fresh and exciting.