THE FIRST ISSUE OF FEMME NOIR: THE DARK CITY DIARIES IS ON SALE NOW!

THE FOURTH ISSUE OF FEMME NOIR: THE DARK CITY DIARIES IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW IN THE CURRENT (JULY, 2008) EDITION OF DIAMOND COMICS' PREVIEWS CATALOG. IT CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 198 UNDER "APE ENTERTAINMENT," AND THE DIAMOND ITEM CODES ARE: JUL083648 FOR COVER "A" AND JUL083649 FOR COVER "B" BY MIKE WIERINGO!

THE THIRD ISSUE OF FEMME NOIR: THE DARK CITY DIARIES IS STILL AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER. THE DIAMOND ITEM CODES ARE: JUN083647 FOR COVER "A" AND JUN083648 FOR COVER "B" BY PHIL HESTER!

THE SECOND ISSUE OF FEMME NOIR: THE DARK CITY DIARIES IS STILL AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER. THE DIAMOND ITEM CODES ARE: MAY083591 FOR COVER "A" AND MAY083592 FOR COVER "B" BY MATT HALEY!




FEMME NOIR: THE DARK CITY DIARIES is a four-issue, full-color miniseries featuring the popular webcomics mystery woman from the Supernatural Crime online comics site.

Written by Christopher Mills, with art by Joe Staton, inks by Horacio Ottolini and Mark Stegbauer, and colors by Melissa Kaercher and Matt Webb, THE DARK CITY DIARIES will be published in late 2007-early 2008 by Ape Entertainment. Keep checking this page for updates.

FEMME NOIR is about a nameless female vigilante/detective who stalks the mean streets of Port Nocturne, the Dark City of every film noir and hardboiled crime pulp; a city of cold, gray fog, unrelenting rain, and deep, ominous shadows.

It’s a town populated by duplicitous dames and grim gunmen, ruthless racketeers and greedy gangsters, corrupt cops and parasitic politicians. It has more than its share of hardboiled private eyes and enemy spies, plucky girl reporters and pug-nosed ex-boxers, mad scientists and crackpot inventors, cunning cat burglars, slick grifters, stone-cold hitmen, killer robots, vengeful jungle girls, walking corpses and even a talking gorilla or two.

Port Nocturne: where each night seems to last forever, the sharp scent of gunpowder lingers in the air like cheap perfume, every black alley comes to a dead end... and justice is blonde.

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Recommended for fans of The Spirit, The Goon, Batman, Frankenstein Mobster, Will Eisner's John Law, Athena Voltaire, Ms. Tree, Catwoman and Birds of Prey.

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Critical Acclaim for FEMME NOIR:
"It hits you like a kick to the solar plexus, or a pistol shot hours into your worst hangover."
– USA Today

"For those who love old movies, radio shows, pulps, or simply crime & detective dramas ... A city on the edge of darkness has an angel of hard justice."
– Tonya Crawford
Broken Frontier

"...a serious comic, but serious fun, of a kind you don’t see anymore on the shelves... giving the reader dark mysteries and action with a feminist and contemporary twist on a retro backdrop."
– Andrea Speed
Comixtreme

"...a hard hittin', tough talkin' dame who's nobody's sweetheart. If you like your thrills hardboiled and your action neat, then check this out..."
– Chuck Dixon
Writer: Nightwing, Birds of Prey, El Cazador, Iron Ghost

"Are you a fan of hard boiled action, organized crime, street level vigilantes, tons of mystery, justice given with a gloved fist, high heels, and .45? Then you should be reading FEMME NOIR. Christopher Mills and Joe Stanton have created a world that jumps right out of a 1936 radio or a dime store pulp novel. As I was reading the first two issues, I was enthralled with the story and completely wrapped in the art. Grade: A"
– Greg Streuly
The Pullbox

"There’s no shortage of noir crime in comics these days, but fun, pulpy crime books like FEMME NOIR are less common. Mills serves up three potential origin stories (each serving as a self-contained pulp adventure to boot) for his mysterious blonde avenger, and even if a two-gun toting, trenchcoat-wearing tough dame is not the newest concept in the book, Mills captures exactly what’s fun and alluring about this type of character.... Even better, it features some of the best art I’ve ever seen from longtime comic book artist Joe Staton, paired with relative newbie inker Ottolini and colorist Melissa Kaercher to paint a detailed, shadowy picture that reminds me in style of Will Eisner’s work."
– Randy Lander
Comics Pants

"It was a dark and stormy night in the naked city...Visually that is how this story opens. It has an intrepid reporter trying to break the story of a lifetime: The identity of Blonde Justice, a vigilante hero who has been taking down some of the worst criminals in the city of Port Nocturne. This is a fun book. It runs the gamut of every hard-boiled pulp cliche imaginable. Even the names of the three suspects the reporter has for Blonde Justice are priceless. There's the ex-mob Princess, Vanessa DeMilo, the sultry chanteuse, Dahlia Blue and my personal favorite the ace reporter, Laurel Lye. Okay things are laid on pretty thick, but darn it all, its fun. Even the art is perfect for the story; the lines are clear but rugged and exaggerated, it also has an almost Will Eisner feel to it. So if you like your dames armed to the teeth, togged to the bricks and dirty as all outdoors then this here book is for you, buddy ghee.
Rating: 4/5"
– Terry Verticchio
Comixtreme Done-In-One Reviews

"I can't tell you how many comics I've read in the past ten years that have tried and failed to achieve the sort of storytelling and atmosphere that FEMME NOIR gets just right. It's about as good as crime comics get these days, fine competition for my other favourite crime comic Criminal, with the added bonus that its tone and style are completely different. The Spirit may provide a bit of the inspiration for this series, but Mills and Staton take that inspiration and make something both new and familiar, something gorgeous to look at and wildly entertaining to read.'
– Alan David Doane
Comic Galaxy

"FEMME NOIR: THE DARK CITY DIARIES is a .45 caliber fueled ride into the dark heart of the city in the arms of a nightmare blonde who'd just as soon kill you as boink you. Christopher Mills and Joe Staton have given us a stunning new take on the noir landscape. Femme Noir is as hard hitting as a psycho wielding a baseball bat."
– Paul Bishop
Author of the Fey Croaker LAPD novels

"Christopher Mills and Joe Staton's FEMME NOIR is a tasty stir fry of pop culture touchstones: The Spirit, Batman, The Shadow, Black Mask, Dime Detective, Raymond Chandler and about a zillion RKO B-films; the perfect meal for those of you not getting enough good old high-fiber pulp in your diet. You want it? They got it: mean streets, treacherous back alleys, cold-blooded bad guys, slimy gang lords, killer robots, big city corruption, and a mysterious crime-fighting avenger who definitely knows how to fill out a pair of fishnets, and isn't above serving up her own kind of justice. Blonde justice."
– Kevin Burton Smith
Thrilling Detective website

"That’s what I’ve come to expect from Mills though. He’s always figuring out ways to liven up traditional concepts by looking at them from a different way or exploring corners that we haven’t been into before. Even that first issue of FEMME NOIR: I don’t want to call it a set-up issue, because – like “pulp” – I have a knee-jerk, negative reaction to that term. Mills certainly sets up his series, but he does it in an exciting way that works as a complete, stand-alone story and doesn’t make you sorry that you didn’t just wait for the trade.

I’ve neglected to mention Joe Staton’s illustrations before now and that’s as criminal as anything FEMME NOIR’s characters are up to. Staton is a legendary artist who’s clearly still in the game and is very comfortable with the series’ noir setting. Staton is too “Staton” to suffer comparison with any other artist, but damn if I wasn’t constantly reminded of The Spirit the whole time. In fact, if you’re at all enjoying DC’s current Spirit series and would enjoy reading more like it, you really need to give FEMME NOIR a try."
– Michael May
"Fringe Benefits," Newsarama Blog

"FEMME NOIR, as the name would imply, is solid gumshoe-goodness filled genre entertainment. The book and style clearly pay homage to Will Eisner, but it doesn't get lost in that feel. Writer Christopher Mills has clearly found his own back beat as the characters rampage through witty dialogue, fun action and the occasional elements of suspense. Here, there are loads of atmosphere and I found myself enjoying the hard boiled storytelling panel after panel."
– Chuck Moore
Comic Related

"Mills really pulls out the old-school hardboiled vibe with this book. Moreover, he overlays it with a 40s/50s detective comic mien. Women with alliterative double entendre or punning names. An amorphous, timelost town. Rain literally drips off the panels. Sure, it wears its Paul Cain and Will Eisner roots on its sleeve. What it doesn't do, however, is simply ape those templates. Mills and Staton take their work that one step further. Like Rick Veitch's Greyshirt, what could easily become pastiche is instead rendered as something unique that can stand on its own."
– Joe Hilliard
PopThought

"This book has it all: mobsters, tough guys, tougher gals, no nonsense cops, and lots of gunplay! Everything you'd expect from a book titled FEMME NOIR. Christopher Mills' story has a great feel for the time period, and is very engaging. Each of the three sub-stories leaves you saying, "It's gotta be her!!!" until you read the next one, which is exactly the way it should be. The art is expertly executed (what you'd expect from and Eisner award winner) and compliments the story perfectly. Staton hits the mark of bridging everything you love about old crime/noir stories and gives it a slight modern sheen. It's safe to say that everything really comes together, and the noir vibe is in full effect!"
– Mistah Z
Project Fanboy

"Overall, FEMME NOIR: THE DARK CITY DIARIES #1 takes a relatively underutilized genre in comics and makes it a viable one. The action is fast and the women look even faster. And while the story concludes without the big reveal of the title character, it does whet the appetite for the next issue, which is what any good introductory issue should do."
– Britt Schramm

"There is more than one tip of the hat to Will Eisner’s work on The Spirit but there is also a wittiness and sneaky satire that Raymond Chandler would have appreciated and slam bang action that Dashiell Hammett would have loved. Mills makes no bones about his sources of inspiration but the way his stories are told, his setting, and his tough, no nonsense heroine all make it seem fresh and new and most of all thrilling."
– Tonya Crawford
Broken Frontier

"This plays a bit like a distaff Spirit, with a proto-feminist spin on a typical hard boiled pulp style mystery/thriller, and it’s a slick, entertaining read."
– Andrea Speed
Comixtreme

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Check out the official FEMME NOIR website or visit FEMME NOIR on MySpace!