Trista and Holt #8

By Andrez Bergen

“So you’re the one Sol spoke of. ‘E said you would come. I was ‘oping you would be more ‘andsome.”

Fancy people talk funny.

Writer and artist Andrez Bergen brings us into his story of crime and murder once again with issue #8 of Trista and Holt. This story, along with Bergen’s Bullet Gal, is heavily influenced by the noir genre of film and comics – we even see some familiar faces from such representations through his use of real actors in his panels (Is that Gary Oldman?!). Something Bergen does well in this issue is tell two separate stories in a fluid manner. The first part of the issue focusing more on the identification of a certain someone’s body – and what people really thought of him, while the second part brings us into a whole new scenario entirely (as discussed below).

A piece following the quote from above shows some of Bergen’s ability to play with the noir setting of his story through the phrasing used by his characters.

“I had to deal with a fading french beauty with attitude problems and an outrageous french accent, but that was fine. I’d had my fill of fading such people over the years.”

Bits like this are quite prevalent throughout the story, often times containing the same tone in regards to the quips about certain characters.

We’re introduced to Sol Brodsky through a similar bit of noir-esque monologue as he’s approached by Isidor Holt. He’s the someone the woman with the “outrageous french accent” was trying to protect – he also has a good hold on money and authority in this world. The scene where we first see him shows some of Bergen’s play with the lighting in his scenes (the panels mainly shown in black and white) as Sol sits alone in his wheelchair. Behind him the thin sheets for blinds are open just enough to let a beam of bright sunlight pour into the room, it hits only the right side of Sol’s body, and casts the rest in shadow as we walk in alongside Holt – creating a beautiful scene and introduction.

Andrez Bergen opens up the doors into new scenarios and plots in the world of Trista and Holt. This issue takes it a bit slower in terms of the big time action, but keeps its pace with witty remarks and plenty of hard-boiled scenery. Now we sit in wait for issue #9…wondering if we’ll get a whole issue written in that “outrageous french accent”.