Mad Cave Studios Reveals First Look at Noir Detective Adventure TECTIV Vol. 1 (Exclusive)

Get your exclusive first look at Richard Ashley Hamilton's Maverick graphic novel TECTIV

By Matthew Aguilar - June 20, 2024 12:12 pm EDT

Does a detective story in the midst of post-apocalyptic Los Angeles sound cool? Well, you're in luck then, as Mad Cave Studios' YA imprint Maverick has just the world for you. Later this year Maverick will release the new graphic novel TECTIV from the team of writer Richard Ashley Hamilton and illustrator Marco Matrone this December, and we've got your exclusive first look in a full preview on the next slide. TECTIV puts you in the shoes of Bingo Finder, who has to become the first detective in centuries after her best friend vanishes without a trace.

"TECTIV is all about finding things – finding secrets at the heart of a mystery, finding justice for someone lost in an unjust land, finding your true self in the pages of an old P.I. potboiler," said Hamilton, an award-winning Cuban-American (no, really) screenwriter and author best known for his storytelling across many DreamWorks Animation franchises including How To Train Your Dragon and Guillermo Del Toro's Tales of Arcadia.

TECTIV derives its name from ancient books of this world's past, which Bingo has discovered along her journeys and collected. Some of her favorite books in that collection are from the TECTIV series, which followed deceives looking for answers in LA. Fiction mirrors the present, and Bingo will need to get all the answers she can if she wants to get to the bottom of the real mystery at hand. You can find the official description below.

What Is TECTIV About?

"When her best friend vanishes, Bingo Finder – the only literate person in a post-apocalyptic L.A. – turns to her beloved, ancient books for inspiration, becoming the first detective in centuries. But to solve this mystery, Bingo must fight for her own life and uncover a conspiracy within this fragile civilization.

Bingo and every other teen in the sprawling farming village of Ellay knows the tales of the old days – of how their great-great-great-grandparents rebuilt what was left of society after some apocalypse or whatever. But that's ancient history. Boring.

Nah, for Bingo's generation, today is about staying busy – distracted, even – while tilling the reclaimed City of Industry fields or unloading barges at the seedy port of Bel Air. Or in Bingo's case, scavenging ruins for artifacts to upcycle and trade at the bartering bazaars – including Bingo's favorite leftovers, these old things called "books." Ever heard of 'em?

Her favorites are the TECTIV books, the ones about men who walked rain-slicked streets at night in hats and trench coats. They searched for answers in a city called L.A., just like Bingo. It was their job. And after her best friend, Fenn, goes missing, Bingo decides that's what she's gonna have to be if she wants to get answers – a new kind of TECTIV for a new world. Because everyone may believe Fenn's disappearance was the first crime in a long time. But Bingo's about to learn that it wasn't. And it sure won't be the last..."

TECTIV is available now for pre-order for $14.99 and will go on sale wherever books are sold on December 10th, 2024.

What do you think of TECTIV? You can talk all things graphic novels and comics with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!