Aloha, Hawaiian Dick, Issue #1 takes place in Hawaii in 1954. Danny Byrd recounts his adventures in Hawaii to a reporter as a framing device. It's the beginning of the third arc in the Hawaiian Dick series, the first two being Byrd of Paradise and The Last Resort, which I haven't read. We see Mike Byrd, Danny's younger brother, on a case in suburban Kansas City. This leads to him almost being killed after being caught trying to photograph a mob boss with his client's wife. The mob boss, Bobby Garozzo, catches him, but since Danny Byrd was friends with Garozzo, the mob boss offers Mike another case, worth $2,000.
The case, of course, takes him to Hawaii. The entire style of artwork changes, becomes much darker when he gets to Honolulu. The straight lines are gone, and the coloring is primarily purples and oranges, with black lines. Even the way the faces are drawn is different, more haphazard. It's tough to think of what Hawaii was like in 1954, before statehood, but artist Jacob Wyatt does a great job of making it look like a bleak, dark place. Wyatt also serves as the letterer.
I found myself rereading sections of this comic and understanding it better. Mike Byrd is addicted to gambling, and he goes to a house where there's some action. Mose, the owner of the house, who runs the game, tells him, "I got a couple of KC Monarchs in there," referring to the Negro League team. Mose also talks about a rumor involving the Athletics moving to Kansas City. The Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City in 1955 before finding a permanent home in Oakland in 1968. The creators really know the era.
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