Profane

by Peter Milligan, Raül Fernández (Artist), Giada Marchisio (Colorist)

It’s the most important case of private detective Will Profane’s life–solve the murder of Spud Coltrane. But this isn’t just any murder case; Coltrane is an author. The author famous for creating the fictional character… Will Profane! With the death of his author being all-too-real, where does that leave his unwritten destiny? The main Spud’s professional rival, Ken Kane, Lili Macbeth–the beautiful nightclub singer who desires eternal youth through fiction–and Red Glove, Profane’s bonafide nemesis who is determined to escape his tormented existence of losing to Will again and again. However, even if each suspect gets crossed off the list, a wildcard connected to Coltrane from the world of Non-Fiction could end up as the fly in Profane’s ointment if he’s not careful… Discover the reality-shattering mystery thriller from legendary writer Peter Milligan (Hellblazer, Venom VS. Carnage), and veteran artist Raül Fernandez (Detective Comics, Justice League Dark), walking the thin line between reality and fiction. Collects Profane #1-5.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

Published April 29, 2025

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.

He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.

His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.

Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).

Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix

Reviews

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "Profane" a fictional detective ventures into the "real" world to pursue his creator's killer and preserve his own existence. Although, the course of the book is fairly predictable, there are some creatively developed characters and enough twists to keep most readers guessing about the exact outcome. The protagonist, who consistently tries to steer his own path, even though he was written to be a hard drinking, borderline alcoholic womanizer, is an interesting character who deserves the reader's attention.

Expect a completely shattered fourth wall, lots of hopping back and forth between fictional and "real" worlds and an intelligently conceptualized resolution that mostly works. This book is recommended for anyone who wants an well written and creative alternative to classic hard boiled noir fiction and characters.

[Mariano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Capaz es un 3, pero Milligan viene con vara más alta. Una idea poco original con el problema de que está mal ejecutada.

Da muchas vueltas sobre lo mismo todo el tiempo, cosas que aparecen de la nada, diferencias entre ficción y no ficción inexistentes, para mí faltó más tiempo de cocción hoy alguien editando mejor.

Vayan a leer The Unwritten.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I am teaching a detective fictin course this fall, 2025, I picked this up, Profane, a meta-fictional comics series volume one about a comic book detective named Will Profane who seeks to solve the murder of Spud Coltrane, his own comic book creator. Who are the key suspects? Ken Kane, Coltrane's creator rivial. Lilli Macbeth, a comics nightclub singer who wants to live forever through comics. Red Glove, Profane’s comics nemesis who is sick of being defeated by Profane issue after issue.

Lots of goofy comics tributes such as The Big Sleep Bar, lots of comics tropes highlighted and lampooned throughout. You would think, since I like metafiction, that I would love this. But it's really just being silly, mostly. Not great, not surprising, but okay, with okay art.

PS: One not sufficiently explored aspect of dtection in this volume is something I had to look up:

From The WitchandWand.com: "Scrying, the practice of looking into a suitable medium with the hope of detecting significant messages or visions, has a rich history spanning many cultures and centuries. The origins of scrying are difficult to pinpoint precisely, but it is known to have been practiced by ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans."

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Milligans take on crime noire, with fictional characters entering the real world was an entertaining one. Milligan is less out there than he was 20 years ago but he’s still got a distinctive voice and is still a thoughtful writer.

Thankfully he sticks the landing perfectly with this final issue. It’s a pity this has gone so under the radar, drowned out by the sheer volume of (often crap) comics out there, because it deserves an audience.

I’d like to see more but I doubt we’ll get it.

Buy better comics people. Support the good creators.

[Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I get it. He's a fictional character in the real world. Please stop putting that in the dialogue and narration every two or three pages. I couldn't handle that aspect anymore. Dropped the book during the third issue.

It plays with tropes and cloches of detective and crime noir. Feels like it thinks it is smarter than what it is. Art is fine.

[Bardiya Ghasemzadeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the single issues digitally and,
It’s basically the most Peter Milligan comic to ever Peter Milligan. Other than that, a pretty enjoyable read.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Milligan doing his Milligan thing. A fictional P.I. comes to life to investigate the murder of his author. Things get half baked from there like a lot of Milligan's comics do. It's alright.