In this contemporary noir thriller written and illustrated by Shawn Martinbrough, a hardboiled debt collector confronts the ghosts from his past while contemplating his future on the streets of New York City.
In The Heavy, author and illustrator Shawn Martinbrough tells the hard-hitting story of Charles "Dukes" Duchamp, a New York based debt collector with a love for jazz and a loss that has haunted him for years. Each week, Dukes makes his rounds collecting money for Basil-Leon Panassie, an eccentric club owner with criminal ties in New York and abroad.
When Basil announces a change in business and a night's worth of collections goes missing, Dukes pursues a vicious, former colleague who escapes to Paris. Although the City of Light holds dark memories for him, Dukes has never let a debt go uncollected, and in order to set things right, he must face his fears and retrieve what has been taken.
The Heavy is an original contemporary noir-themed graphic novel about rivals, revenge, and redemption.
Praise
“Shawn Martinbrough is my favorite comic book artist working today, and The Heavy might be his boldest work. Swaggering, muscular, old-school noir, fronted by an antihero who’s hard to love but impossible to ignore: Dukes Duchamp. Here’s hoping we haven’t seen the last of him.”
—David Benioff, author of City of Thieves and co-creator of Game of Thrones for HBO
“In a black-and-white New York that feels chiseled from the very shadows themselves, Shawn Martinbrough’s The Heavy seduces you into a jazzy noir about loyalty and betrayal, pain and providence, and the rich tragedy of broken things with broken dreams.”
—Marc Bernardin, writer-producer of Marvel’s Eyes of Wakanda and Star Trek: Picard
“Shawn Martinbrough can flat-out draw. He has a real command of black-and-white and a great sense of design, and, most important, he knows how to tell a story. There’s confidence and atmosphere in every page, and a real point of view behind the work. It’s stylish without ever getting in the way of the storytelling. Every mark feels deliberate, and every image pulls you further into the world he’s creating. Shawn has a voice all his own—he knows what he wants to say and he knows how to put it on the page. That’s the real thing.”
—Denys Cowan, co-founder of Milestone Media, artist on Batman and The Question
“I have seen the future of graphic noir, and it is heavy! Shawn Martinbrough’s The Heavy. Check it out.”
—Ernest Dickerson, filmmaker
“Pitch-black noir that never pulls its punches. Shawn Martinbrough is a master of the craft and at the top of his game.”
—Andy Diggle, writer of Thief of Thieves, The Losers, and Green Arrow: Year One
“When I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, we were close enough to New York to receive the local television broadcasts. One of the stations would play black-and-white movies from the ‘40s and ‘50s, which I found mesmerizing. I learned that art is often about contrast, and there is nothing more powerful than black-and-white. Shawn Martinbrough has written and drawn a textbook example of that very same power in his remarkable and ambitious graphic novel The Heavy. Martinbrough controls the storytelling in a classic master class of decision-making that never loses its ability to be entertaining from start to finish, clocking in at over 150 pages. He brings together the quintessential American art forms of jazz and comics, mixes in characters of noir that breathe and bleed, and creates a highly readable adventure that is at turns compelling, inspiring, and fun. Shawn’s work on the The Heavy is highly recommended on every level!”
—Klaus Janson, artist of Daredevil, Batman Black and White, Batman: Gothic, and Batman: The Dark Knig
“Good and gritty with marvelous character work. The blood being a color is perfect—a shock every time, but also a way of jarring readers out of getting too comfortable with our protagonist.”
—N. K. Jemisin, author of the Hugo Award–winning Green Lantern comic Far Sector
“Easily the best work I’ve seen from Shawn’s already inimitable career . . . Impeccable storytelling with emotion-filled visuals means The Heavy packs a real punch.”
—Jock, artist of Wytches and author of Batman: One Dark Knight
“Dukes Duchamp has a bruiser’s hands and a musician’s soul. The Heavy is a sharp, stylish, jazz-soaked crime noir—and Shawn Martinbrough makes every punch, shadow, and quiet beat land like a perfectly timed drumbeat.”
—Geoff Johns, writer, producer, and co-founder of Ghost Machine
“There is violence in the darkness, and music, and codes that govern lives hidden from our view. Shawn Martinbrough provides an emotional tour through these worlds, through the eyes of The Heavy. Prepare to be unnerved.”
—Paul Levitz, former president and publisher, DC Comics
“Crisp, bold, and graphic—beautiful sense of time and place—lovely storytelling. This is Martinbrough at his very best, and if you have followed his work that is saying something.”
—Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy
“Shawn Martinbrough truly levels up with The Heavy. His artwork, bolder and more vivid than ever here, is specific and beautifully observed—lending an epic cinematic sweep and mood to his tale of lost souls, music, and revenge.”
—Peter Ramsey, director of Rise of the Guardians, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Lost Ollie
“The Heavy is a tour-de-force fueled by writer/artist Shawn Martinbrough’s passions—for noir, for jazz, and maybe most of all for New York City. A vibrant, evocative work, it is a book that hits with the visceral, powerful precision that its protagonist, Dukes, brings to his violent vocation. This is one where you’ll pore over every page, relish every detail, celebrate every nuance, and understand why Martinbrough is one of the finest storytellers working in the medium today.”
—Greg Rucka, writer of Whiteout, Queen & Country, Detective Comics, and Wonder Woman
“Shawn, who literally wrote the book on how to draw noir comics, shows why he’s second to none at bringing inky wet scenes to life on the page. Paired with his own punchy, pulpy dialogue, this may just be my favorite thing he’s done—and that’s saying a lot, as I’m a huge fan from way back.”
—Chris Samnee, artist of Batman & Robin: Year One and Daredevil
“Shawn Martinbrough’s The Heavy is a gorgeous piece of work, a hard-hitting, beautifully illustrated film noir graphic novel; heavy on the ‘graphic.’ Shadows absolutely drip with danger, atmosphere, and mystery. Martinbrough once again proves a master of the form, pushing the narrative potential of the medium into the future. I say this with zero irony: I literally could not put The Heavy down.”
—Bill Sienkiewicz, artist, author, and “That Polish Guy”
“Shawn Martinbrough has fashioned a brilliant story set in a vision of a contemporary New York City where the India ink practically drips off the page. His ability to create memorably visual characters occupying a stunningly realized city in line and black is a revelation. If you’ve ever wanted to know what a beautifully drawn and disturbing portrait of the city and its inhabitants would look like, The Heavy is the book for you.”
—Louise Simonson, writer of The New Mutants, X-Factor, and Steel
“Truth in advertising—Shawn Martinbrough was one of my students back in the days when I taught comics or graphic novels or whatever the hell I was doing back at NYC’s School of Visual Arts in the 1990s. He was good then; he’s a lot better now. The Heavy is an exceptional graphic novel. Set in the dark side of New York City, it is a master class of film noir storytelling, draftsmanship, and graphic design. I’ll be stealing from this work for years to come!”
—Walter Simonson, artist/writer of Thor, Fantastic Four, and Ragnarök
“Beautifully drawn, beautifully told, and an evening well spent—I couldn’t put it down.”
—Mark Waid, writer, Kingdom Come and Batman and Robin: Year One
“Get this book away from me! Shawn Martinbrough doesn’t just draw noir. He understands how it unsettles us—the lingering shadows, the danger in every corner, the horrible choices, and that feeling that something dark is clenched tight waiting just outside the panel. The Heavy still gives me nightmares, and I’ll never forgive Shawn, John Workman, and Chris Sotomayor. I loved it!”
—Stephen Wacker, editor-in-chief, Marvel Comics
“The Heavy is a noir masterpiece: a brutal, beautiful, deeply human story populated by unforgettable characters and rendered with lush darkness and detail. Dukes Duchamp belongs in the company of the great tragic figures of crime fiction—a man who knows exactly what he is, and is forced to confront what he might become.”
—Terence Winter, creator and executive producer, Boardwalk Empire
