PORTLAND, Ore. 04/15/2026 — The Eisner Award winning cyberpunk sensation The Private Eye, by critically acclaimed co-creators Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Pride of Baghdad, Spectators) and artist Marcos Martín (Friday, Barrier), is available now from Image Comics in a gorgeous paperback edition.
Set in an inevitable future of where everyone has a secret identity, The Private Eye is an eerily prescient sci-fi mystery about an unlicensed private investigator who stumbles onto the most important case of his life.
The series is set in 2076, a time after "the cloud has burst," a massive data breach that doxed identities and leaked society’s deepest secrets. As a result, people have abandoned the Internet in favor of excessively guarded lives hidden behind masks and curated identities. All efforts in a desperate attempt to retain some semblance of privacy in a world where relative anonymity has become the greatest of luxuries.
The Private Eye envisions a dark future shaped by mounting fears of AI-driven truth manipulation, the fallout of influencer and cancel culture, eroding trust in data security and decentralized tech, and the spread of pervasive surveillance.
The Private Eye trade paperback (ISBN: 9781534331648, Lunar Code 1025IM0462) will be available now at local comic book shops, independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones.
Select praise for The Private Eye:
"With stunning artwork, propulsive sequential-art storytelling, and a thought-provoking premise, this is truly one of a kind." —Booklist (Starred Review)
“Vaughan is a master world-builder and Martín has a remarkable talent for creating detailed, living worlds, so it’s no surprise that this is such an engrossing read.” ―The A.V. Club
“Vaughan and Martín aren’t just tapping into paranoid fears of the present for The Private Eye’s subtext. They’re also mining the ephemeral, ever-eroding collective memory of the past, too.” ―Kotaku
"Blends two irresistible genres—sci-fi and detective stories—and offers some of the most eye-catching images I saw in comics this year.” ―USA Today
"The Private Eye offers the pulpy thrills of the best comics—secret identities, private investigators, and a villain with a rocket—while taking a serious look at the fear that our digital shenanigans will ultimately doom us.” ―Slate Magazine
"Vaughan and Martín’s vision of the future is chilling in its realism, but fascinating in its hyperbole." ―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"A cool, satirical, thought-provoking futuristic noir for adults." ―Library Journal
"I read this for the first time on my train trip home, and nearly missed my stop. I was so engrossed." ―AIPT
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