The Deviant

This uneven Christmas-killer whodunit from Eisner winner Tynion (the Something Is Killing the Children series) and Hixson (the Children of the Woods series) centers on Michael, a gay comic writer burnt out on superheroes,who finally decides to tackle a self-publishing project featuring his true passion: serial killers. He meets with Randall Olsen—a gay man imprisoned more than 50 years ago for killings committed by a masked Santa known as the Deviant Killer. Randall hopes he’ll be portrayed as wrongly imprisoned, but Michael doesn’t pick up on his hints. Instead, they talk about queer life in the 1970s versus today, and Michael finds himself seen and understood by Randall in a way that unsettles those around him—especially the detective with the scars to prove that the Deviant Killer was real. The detective’s suspicions grow as a copycat killer begins to wreak havoc. Tynion again proves his chops at scripting authentic queer characters, but while themes of homophobia, trauma, and LGBTQ intergenerational community adorn the plot, the conceit still lands as less than original. Still, Hixson’s a fantastic artist, and his page design and frantic lines set this apart from other Christmas-killer fare. Readers will hope the next volume better lives up to the series’ potential. (Oct.)