Brian K. Vaughan. The Private Eye. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics, December 17th, 2015. 300 pp.
Warning: Spoiler alert. This is a clever story about the issue of freedom, privacy, the government, technology and the internet. The story takes place in a futuristic Los Angeles after the electronic “cloudburst” in which everyone’s online activity such as internet searches has somehow become public for all to know and see. The world after “cloudburst” has become hyper-vigilant about privacy, where internet has ceased to exist and people walk around in masks and disguises called “nyms” (etymologically related to “anonymous?”) and people use fake names and nicknames in public. This alternative world also give rise to the “Private Eye,” which is now an illegal occupation but the black market for them continues to exist since people still want to find out information about others. It’s in this world that we have our protagonist, a Private Eye who was asked by a client to search up dirt on herself but then was mysteriously murdered. While reluctant to be involved with the investigation after the client’s death, he is pressured by the client’s sister and also by his paid getaway driver (whom later we find out is just a high school student) but also as the story unfolds because of the parallel to his own mother’s death. They soon discover that the dead client was involved with something far more complex: a conspiracy to resurrect the internet with the leader being someone who is very powerful and affluent.
The Domain for Truth 
