I love a good story that is not far off from what possibly could happen, like in The Big Shakedown. Catastrophic earthquakes hitting Los Angeles with a government who opts not to help rebuild, yeah these days that doesn’t sound far fetched. All-star writing duo of Tim Seeley & Jordan Blum, along with artist Scott Koblish, craft a fresh take on a post-apocalyptic style tale, where those left behind have to fend for themselves and have more questions than answers.
The Big One, the earthquake to end all earthquakes, has finally struck Los Angeles. The government decides not to rebuild and the city becomes a no man’s land for those that refuse to leave it. But hey, you can’t beat the weather.
Five years later Ester Blanco, a down on her luck former P.I., is willing to do anything to escape the City of Angels. She believes she’s found her ticket out when a desperate father hires her to solve a missing person’s case in a city where a third of the population is already missing. Instead, the trail of this lost girl leads Ester to uncover a dark web of cults, conspiracy and corruption that threatens every Angeleno that stayed behind.
Post-apocalyptic, well more so just post-natural disaster in this case, stories are not groundbreaking (see what I did there), but Seeley and Blum carve their own path with The Big Shakedown. A major city, one of the United States most-major cities, basically crumbles to nothing and the government opts to just abandon and move on with life, letting those left behind to attempt to survive without aid is not only a great take on this concept, but also terrifying in of itself. Thinking no one is there to support you after tragedy is sad and horrible, yet as I mentioned at the top not far fetched these days.
Seeley and Blum put forth a strong female lead that doesn’t take shit for anyone. One that is holding on by a thread in this desolate and frightening aftermath, while trying to escape and move on with life, only for shit to continue to pile on. Now, having a chance to make a few extra dollars to help with said escape, goes back to her roots of investigation to solve a mystery. Something that is all the more difficult now, find a missing person in a city of missing people. While, the aftermath of the earthquake to end all quakes was intriguing premise, its the character-driven story that had me connected to the pages.
The Big Shakedown is an LA noir with that gritty edge you’d expect. As the first issue moves along you get a sense of Ester as our protagonist and her fight for survival in a destroyed city, but also there are more questions that answers, even as she works toward solving the mystery of the missing person. The debut issue ends on a cliffhanger that had me eagerly wondering what will happen next?
Koblish brings this gritty, yet playful artwork style that fits well in the decimated City of Angels. You can truly feel each characters individual personalities jump from the page and the vibe of the destroyed city is evident in the imagery. A rough terrain and even rougher experience for these characters is well visualized and perfectly matches up with Seeley and Blum’s story.
The Big Shakedown‘s premiere issue is a gritty post-natural disaster mystery with more unanswered questions and mystery than those answered. Tim Seeley. Jordan Blum, and Scott Koblish deliver a fresh tale with an edge and mystery that pulls you into a dark and frightening Los Angeles that is even hard for the reader to escape. The Big Shakedown is a vivid, character-driven mystery that turns a shattered Los Angeles into an intriguing and frightening noir setting.
The Big Shakedown #1 hits local comic shops on September 16, 2026 from Dark Horse.
The Big Shakedown #1 Preview
