However BE #12 also features something entirely new to the series: disappointment. Not in the issue as a whole but in one scene that I will discuss after this review for those who wish to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say for now that it's this scene alone that keeps Blue Estate #12 from achieving the 10/10 score that the series regularly earns.

If you've been reading Buffy but not Angel & Faith, or even if you're an Angel fan who hasn't sampled the comics yet, this is as good a jumping-on point as you'll get.

There's really not a lot more to say without getting into spoilers so I'll just say this: be it in trades or individual issues, if you haven't gotten into Blue Estate yet, you're making a mistake.

This series will be sorely missed once it ends. Fingers crossed we won't have too long to wait for Season Two.

If you like crime comics, you'll love Blue Estate. If you hate crime comics, you'll love Blue Estate.

Another triumph from EZD. Seriously, you have no excuse not to be reading Blue Estate.

I've said it before and it bears repetition: if you're not reading Blue Estate, you're making a mistake. True brilliance.

Too much goes on in this particular issue to talk at any length without risking spoilers but suffice it to say issue #6 is at least as strong as any issue that's preceded it, packed with wonderfully fleshed-out and consistent characters that drive the story to exciting and never-predictable places. Frequently funny without being overtly silly, often dark but never dour, ridiculously entertaining from beginning to end. One thing that's absolutely safe to say about this issue is that it ends on absolutely the most exciting cliffhanger the series has had yet.

Overall this a very exciting series to be following, and a fresh take on two fantastic, complex characters that's been a long time coming. More of this sort of thing please.

Blue Estate continues to shine as an example of sophisticated comic book storytelling. If you're not reading it, you're wrong.

Oh! The art! I can talk about how the art is gorgeous! But"yeah, similar sort of problem. The art's amazing, as it has been for the series as a whole. Dynamic, characterful and able to seamlessly switch from goofball comedy to dark, dark drama. Again. Assisted by moody, expressionistic colouring. Like I said before. Like always. It's almost as though EZD are deliberately keeping the standard high to make things difficult for me.

Undying Love is to be commended for making the love story make sense and making it intrinsic to the plot, developing the characters in the quiet moments instead of loading them with exposition while still moving the plot along briskly.

It's a world composed entirely of moral grey area, where even the most vicious criminals give us glimpses into their mundanities of their lives outside of criminality. This seemingly effortless display of character depth combines with an increasingly complex web of interconnecting storylines and some of the finest collaborative artwork around makes Blue Estate one of the best comics on the racks today, not to mention one of the best crime comics ever.

Also, one million billion karma points to the writers for the Charlie Sheen reference to (please God hopefully) end all Charlie Sheen references by pointing out how dumb and annoying Charlie Sheen references are.

If there's a criticism to be made it's that the character of Mei so far seems to be cast from the Acme Damsel in Distress mould, though this could be just a consequence of her being essentially an invalid. Hopefully she'll be fleshed out a bit in the future so that we can see what it is about her that makes Sargent so willing to risk his life and even perhaps his soul to be with her. This issue's cliffhanger hints that this may be the case so hopefully issue #3 can follow through the way #2 does.

Art duties are shared in a fascinating jam/mashup style, with each of the four artists switching off to denote a change in location, mood or timeframe. Something similar has of course been done many times before to for stories-within-stories or to create framing devices for flashbacks (recent issues of Avengers, for example). However while the effect can often be quite jarring in this case it makes for smooth transitions, even pulling off a seamless flashback-within-a-flashback. It helps that the collaboration between the artists is close enough that they can switch off between panels on a single page, allowing the different styles to flow organically into one another.

Green Wake #1 looks to be the beginning of something special. Get involved.

Coker and Freedman have put together something special here, an action-horror-romance that should satisfy fans of all three genres. It remains to be seen whether the quality and pace of this first issue can be sustained over the series as a whole, but if it can then Undying Love will be able to take it's place as one of the top comics of 2011.

There's plenty of character development alongside the romance, intrigue, shifting loyalties and bears fighting giant cobras. A personal favourite: treacherous Percy's hypocritical rage at another character's betrayal, giving us another glimpse at the occasionally-sympathetic coward's malicious side and perhaps more subtly a peek at how he sees himself. It's this kind of attention to character development that will keep the reader coming back for more, even when there aren't any bears fighting giant cobras. I can't remember the last time I felt so invested in the fates of comic book characters

All in all, a wasted opportunity. Had it been a miniseries or a full arc in the regular Witchblade comic this could have been memorable study of guilt and innocence, instead it's a mess, albeit an occasionally lovely one.