The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is coming out this Wednesday, August 20. The creators are well-known for telling some of the best crime comics the medium has ever seen — Fatale, Criminal, Incognito — so expectations are high for their latest effort, which explores the seedy underbelly of Hollywood in 1948 via a murder mystery.

We conducted an email interview with Brubaker. Click through our slideshow gallery to check out a preview of The Fade Out #1, hear what Brubaker had to say, and then let us know your thoughts in the comments!

IGN Comics: For readers who don’t yet know, what’s your quick pitch for The Fade Out?

Ed Brubaker: Sex and murder and fame and secrets in post-WW2 Hollywood. The dark side of the dream factory. But I hate quick pitches, really. I look at The Fade Out as an epic noir set in a fascinating time and place, where everything about human nature and desire will drive a dark murder mystery.

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