The detective strategy game Clue is making another comeback. Today IDW Publishing is releasing the first issue of a three-issue comic book miniseries called Clue: Candlestick. Writer-artist Dash Shaw is also serving as series letterer, bringing his stylized look to the usual suspects: Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Mrs. White, and Miss Scarlet. Hasbro’s game turns 70 this year, so Shaw has compiled a new crime wrapped in secrets, lies, and puzzles, including a maze and coded message. The puzzles can be unraveled by readers as they make their way through the mystery.
The best feature is Shaw’s incorporation of all the elements of the board game, including the familiar map of the house with connecting floor tiles, stone game pieces that serve as useful art on the grounds of Mr. Boddy’s estate, and, of course, the familiar weapons of choice. To find out who is searching what rooms and when, you’ll need to solve a logic puzzle. As with the expanded Master Detective version of the game, you may have more than you bargain for in the story’s first issue, including a focus on Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, and Mrs. White. It turns out those weapons might have had some history.
In addition to Shaw’s main cover art, variant editions of each issue will form a triptych of the classic Clue suspects and their legendary weapons of choice. Illustrator Jed McGowan (Time in Nature) designed a third variant cover for the first issue. Each issue features additional story content and will feature new, removable Clue game cards on the back cover, based on the comic art in the series.
Here’s a preview of the first issue of Clue: Candlestick, courtesy of IDW Publishing:
