Review: Past Lies

The recently published Past Lies graphic novel (see the Amazon page) is an entertaining gay-inclusive detective story which I’ve really enjoyed reading, and the way the gay characters are embedded in the plot is, in my opinion, the right way to go.

Timothy and his lover Michael

In 1980, Trevor Schalk, a not very nice but very rich man, is killed in his own home. His wife, having an affair with their lawyer, the maid, with whom the victim was having an affair, their young daugther, who understood what was going on, all of these people are there when the murder takes place, but nobody is convinced. Fast forward to 2006, when Timothy Gilbraight, a young closeted actor, finds himself beset by weird dreams of having been Schalk in his previous life–both men have the same psychologist, who had been conducting past lives therapy with Schalk. That doesn’t go well with his lover Michael.
Enters Amy Devlin, a young woman recently established as a P.I., whom Gilbraight contacts to ask her to find out who killed him, or more precisely, his previous self.
The plot is cleverly played throughout the book, with clues and revelations judiciously spread. But the more engaging aspect is the way the characters are rounded, from Devlin herself, who’s neither as honest as she seems nor as incompetent as people think she is, to the members of the Schalk family, who obviously have secrets to hide. Timothy and Michael’s relationship is presented matter-of-factly: the first time we see them, they’re in bed, Timothy waking up from his nightmare. One could think that the gayness of Timothy is a plot point among others, since the personality of Schalk, a womanizer jerk, seems to take control of the young man more and more as the story advances and the contrast between the two men couldn’t be more pronounced. But to the credit of writers Christina Weir and Nunzio Defilippis, Timothy and Michael are treated exactly like any other character, and their relationship suffers from the pressure of the events like any other relationship would suffer.

Timothy meets Amy Devlin

Artist Christopher Mitten has a spare, solid style, and he’s quite good at expressions and body language. His storytelling is also effective, and it seems to me he never descends to melodramatic gestures. There’s no posturing from the characters, in art or in words, and the gayness of the two characters is never shown by anything else than affection between the men (I don’t think earrings count anymore…). As for the fantasy elements, the way they are resolved was a great idea.
At 160 pages, Past Lies feels like a good tv pilot, and like a lot of good tv these days, its inclusion of gay characters is one of its qualities.