While I was intrigued by the story that Blue Estate presented, it was the main character that pulled me into series. Only really appearing at the beginning and the end, Roy Devine Jr. is the lazy son of a hero detective, who may be more talented a junior detective than he looks. Narrating the story, Roy gives us the details which will undoubtedly come into play in future issues, but it's done in such a heavy noir fashion that it comes off as self aware - or in such a way that Roy sees this all as some sort of game. I assume Roy will undoubtedly bust the Russian mob's money laundering scheme wide open in the end, but given the tone of the comic, it won't be easy.
I'm not sure if it is an insult or compliment when I state that the book comes off like a pitch for a film. At its heart, Blue Estate tells a humorous noir story, and is paced like movie - think Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And while we only have Episode One, we're given enough to see the quirky nature of the book as being easy bait for studio heads. Reading through this issue, I had the same feeling that I did when going through Mark Millar's more recent series Nemesis and Superior, where reading the book almost felt like getting an early storyboard for a future film project. In fact, casting-wise, this book would be easy. As Blue Estate is already parodying real life people, it would be simple to take those actors and plug them in (i.e. Steven Seagal as Bruce Maddox), while giving the lead role to a Jonah Hill or Jesse Heiman type. While this didn't hurt the experience, it was something that was nagging me throughout the entire issue.
Blue Estate is a well told story that feels like it ends a little too early. When this book is collected in trade format, this won't be a problem. But for now I can't help but think that a story with as much detail as this one would have benefited from a full graphic novel release. I suppose this is only a problem for those that buy the issues one by one as it hits the shelves on a monthly basis, as those that wait for trades will probably find the more fulfilling experience out of this series.
For those that enjoy a good pulp-filled crime story with a healthy dose of pop culture humor, Blue Estate is well worth the three dollar cover price.