A Heist With A Difference: Reviewing ‘The Mirage’ By Owen Michael Johnson

The Mirage by Owen Michael Johnson is a classic Las Vegas heist caper but with a difference. The goal of this particular heist is to steal back the contract that keeps our hapless hero, session pianist, Sid Crystal, imprisoned in the City of Sin and on low wages. His dreams – or is it all a mirage? – are all but disappeared. Or so it would seem. Step forward new waitress, Carla Hardcastle, with a plan. And what follows is a heist with a few twists and turns along the way, all done in the most dynamic of colour schemes with Johnson opting for a warm magenta and mustard palette that only adds to the mirage-like quality of this one-shot. 

While the comic’s title refers to the infamous Vegas hotel and casino of the same name, it’s hard not to consider the alternative meaning after reading this character-driven plot. Crystal had a dream of success, hitting it big in Vegas, but like a mirage, it’s ethereal, insubstantial. It does not exist. And so we get a down-and-out lounge act who feels trapped and for whom this new lady in his life holds the hope of escape. 

There’s drama, humour and, as I said, twists too as Johnson delivers a pulsing pulp-like story with overtures of crime-noir all framed in the neon aesthetics of Vegas, baby! And out now.