A SDRUM Art Production

Welcome to
Ocean City

Noir-style illustration of detectives in a rainy 1940s city street lined with vintage neon signs and storefronts

A noir graphic novel universe where real musicians & artists become characters — promoting their music between the panels of our story. Detective Ocean leads the case, and every page pulls you deeper into a city built on sound and shadow.

27

Cases

810+

Panels

8

Characters

Case File #001

The City That Never Lets Go.

Man in cap and jacket smoking at desk with gun, maps, and Black Coffee mug in moody room

Pier 4 — Back Office

Detective Ocean runs this city from a back office above a jazz club on Pier 4. Nobody's seen his real face. For three years now he's back chasing one question: who runs the other half of Ocean City? Every case he closes opens two more. He hasn't slept well in months.

His only confidant is Daisy Flamingo, a singer at The Velvet Ditch who knows every secret this city whispers after midnight — because most of them were whispered to her first. She keeps the city's rhythm and its secrets, and she's never missed a note of either.

Steampunk woman with burgundy hair and fedora studying maps at desk in industrial city setting

The Velvet Ditch

Mechanic with tattoos and glasses working in a garage, holding a wrench with classic cars visible in background

Vinny's Auto Body

Daisy's bodyguard and the man she trusts with everything — Vinny runs an auto repair shop on the south side, a front for the real work. He doesn't ask questions. He ends them. Ocean's files mention him 47 times. Zero charges. By night he's Daisy's shadow; by day he's under a chassis with a cigarette dangling from his lip. Love and loyalty don't come separate — not in this city.

The money flows through Hank Cheddar, an accountant on Market Street who keeps two sets of books — one for Ocean, one for whoever sits on the other side of the table. Smart money says he's hedging.

Film noir detective in fedora and suit sitting at desk holding pocket watch in moody office setting

Market Street

Illustration of a stern man at a desk surrounded by bottles and security equipment in a storage locker room setting

Harlow's Bar

Beneath Harlow's bar sits a vault of lockers holding evidence, contraband, and the one thing everyone wants: Locker 27. Harlow pours the drinks and keeps the keys. You want something found or lost — you start there.

Captain Reyes runs OCPD. He could shut this whole operation down tomorrow — but he doesn't. He's been seen at The Velvet Ditch on Daisy's nights. He has a file on Ocean thicker than any case Ocean's ever worked. The question isn't whether he's dirty — it's who he's protecting.

Bearded police officer in uniform sitting at desk in cluttered evidence room with case files and investigation materials visible

OCPD HQ

Woman in glasses and pearl necklace cooking noodles in a noir-style kitchen with city skyline in the background

Canal Street

The only neutral ground is Mama Chen's noodle shop on Canal Street. One rule: no business inside. Everyone follows it — Ocean, Daisy, Reyes, even Vinny. Her back room has hosted more truces than the courthouse. The kitchen has opinions.

And down on Dock Street, Lucky Miles runs a pawn shop that doubles as the city's unofficial evidence locker. If something disappeared from a crime scene, Lucky's got it. He's the only one who knows what's in Locker 27 — and he's not saying. Yet.

Smiling man with mustache in Lucky Pawn shirt sitting at desk surrounded by vintage photographs and memorabilia

Dock Street

"Every case file connects. Every name has a thread. And somewhere in the middle of it all — Locker 27 — is an answer nobody's ready for."

Annotated aerial view of a coastal city district with labeled landmarks and historical buildings highlighted with text boxes
Classified — OCPD Evidence

The map is the key. Find the hideouts.

The Cases Are Open.

27 investigations. 810+ panels. One detective holding it all together — barely. Every case file is a door into the city. Pick one and step inside.

You've been warned