The story always starts with a dame. Or so it does in Alex Carter's imaginary noir-world.

When Naomi Price walks into Alex's Comics Clubhouse one day asking for help cataloging thousands of rare, inherited comicbooks, Alex is sure he's hit the comics jackpot. Along with his two best friends and a ready supply of Mountain Dew, Alex embarks on a search for the elusive Action Comics #1, potentially worth millions. But when Alex meets Richard, Naomi's overbearing fiancé, he knows something's amiss.

As he slips back and forth between personas-affable retailer by day, hardboiled detective by night-Alex has trouble keeping his conspiracy theories in check. Torn between the reality of completing the job and the fantasy of rescuing the damsel in distress, Alex finds himself in trouble with everyone. With his fedora perched askance, cold Mountain Dew in hand, Alex presses on. He sets out to be the hero of his own story-even if it means losing the dame.