Hotel Harbour View is set firmly in the noir world of the Fatal Woman. The two stories that make up the book read like cliches from an also-ran hard-boiled novelist - the kind of script Jim Thompson might dash off in 20 minutes in exchange for a shot, a beer, and a pack of cigarettes.

The artwork, too, is very western. I'm not faulting it for that. I quite like it. It's just that in pretty much every way - except that the story and art were provided by a couple Japanese guys - this is a western genre comic.

I'm curious about Netsuo Sekikawa, the story writer. He wasn't prolific and it appears he tended to focus on this type of noir-ish style. But on the back cover where the bios of artist and writer are shown, it says that he didn't want his profile attached with this work. Wonder why. It's not a bad work. It's just not particularly unique or interesting.