Maids

Maids is a crime tale based on the Papin sisters, Christine and Léa, who worked together as maids until they murdered their employer's wife and daughter. This is a slow burn of a book, only six chapters long, with the first five establishing background and subtly ramping up tension. The events occur mostly in the Lancelin residence, where Christine began work as a maids. She advocated for her younger sister Léa to be hired on as  cook, and the two were reunited in service.

Over the course of the book, we get insights into the young women's lives, from their troubled upbringing to their years in a convent. They were unusually close and frequently got into trouble. As maids, they often were up to some form of chicanery, pilfering items, messing with food, and trying to enjoy some of their employers' finery for themselves. They worked everyday from 6 AM to 7 PM and were also treated shabbily by the Mrs. Lancelin and their spoiled daughter Genevieve. On February 2, 1933 after being blamed for a power outage in the house due to a faulty iron, the sisters brutally murdered Mrs. and Miss Lancelin.

The artwork in this book is spare but masterfully laid out in ways that build suspense to a crescendo. The color palette is warm, which contributes to a muted, dark ambience that lend a drabness to scenes of everyday life and also a sinister edge to the violence. It's a beautifully affecting book, and Skelly gets every ounce of nuance and feeling from her economical imagery. This book is gorgeous and horrible as well as a clinic in storytelling.

And what an opening page!

 This book is the creation of Katie Skelly whose prior comics include My Pretty Vampire, Operation Margarine, Nurse Nurse, and The Agency (NSFW). She speaks extensively about her work on Maids in this interview.

The reviews I have read of this book have been positive. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly summed up, "This subversive horror story will satisfy readers who like their crime stories served with gender and class analysis and a pretty whipped topping." Writing about Skelly's art, Etelka Lehoczky opined, "It's a style that invites you to take it at face value while mocking your inclination to do any such thing. The theme Skelly expresses in every layer of this book is our tendency — or need, really — to underestimate anyone and anything we can't immediately assimilate: maids, girls, comics, comics about girls." Tom Murphy had a different take on the visuals, writing, "Its strong structure and narrative get as close as possible to the bond of blood between the sisters, but the bubblegum realisation on the page creates an uneasy dissonance."

Maids was published by Fantagraphics, and they offer a preview and more information about it here. Due to violence and adult subject matter, I suggest this book for mature readers.

Velvet, Volume 1: Before the Living End

As you might could tell from my reviews over the years, I really like Ed Brubaker's comics. His multiple collaborations with Sean Phillips, Sleeper, Criminal, Incognito, and Fatale, are among my favorite comics ever. I am also a big fan of his superhero work, particularly his runs on Catwoman, Iron Fist, and Captain America. On that latter title, he did the impossible (to me at least), and brought back the character Bucky in an interesting and provocative way.

Looking at his credits, Brubaker gravitates toward certain artists as collaborators, and in this series he pairs up again with his main Captain America/Winter Soldier partner, Steve Epting. Epting is a comics veteran who has consistently been working since the 1990s. His artwork in this volume is crisp, clean, and very cinematic, a blend of photo realism and technicolor. It reminds me of a contemporary version of Paul Gulacy, whose classic runs on Master of Kung Fu and Sabre are seminal. Also, Elizabeth Breitweiser's coloring is exceptional. There are many pages and images that I felt could have been HD movie cels, they are that vibrant and deep.

The concept of Velvet is somewhat simple, a recasting of a James Bond-like spy thriller. Only instead of Bond being the protagonist, it is Ms. Moneypenny who is revealed to be the ultimate spy. Hiding in plain sight as a secretary of the director of a secret intelligence agency, Velvet Templeton knows where all the bodies are buried and when all the covert operations went down. What is more, she is highly trained as an agent and a combatant. I don't want to reveal too much about the plot, but I will say that it involves a mole in the agency, a plot to frame our heroine, and her having to go on the lam to survive and also get to the bottom of things. There are lots of twists, turns, and revelations to keep the suspense and thrills coming.

Reviews of this book I have read have been glowing. Andy Wolverton wrote that it "is filled with such wonderful scenes in a story arc that makes us think that we’ve just scratched the surface of something that could very well be not just good, but great." Joe Gordon remarked on the excellent characterization of Velvet, "Like Emma Peel she’s confident and powerful and while attractive she’s no mere object for the Male Gaze – you’re likely to find Velvet staring right back at you (and more than likely calculating how she can use your attentions and desires to her own ends. She is in charge here.)." The reviewer at The Telltale Mind wrote that "this book grabs you and refuses to let go" and added that "the second volume of this book cannot come fast enough."

Velvet, Volume 1: Before the Living End was published by Image Comics, who provide lots of information and links here.

Heck

The set-up of this book is very much like many noir stories; our hero is visited by a pretty woman from his past because she wants him to do a job. But this book has a pretty infernal twist on that scenario.

In this case, our hero is Hector "Heck" Hammarskjöld, an ex-football player who became estranged from his father, coming home only after the old man's death. What he found was that his father was a mystic and that there was an opening to Hell in his house. Heck turns this circumstance into a vocation, going into Hell to retrieve secrets and messages from the damned for a price.

In this book, Heck is approached by a girl he had a crush on in high school, Amy, whose husband was a thief and a philanderer who died in a horrific and suspicious car crash. She has a question for him, and contracts Heck to go ask him. Heck and Elliot, a former waterboy and current friend/associate go into the infernal realm, which takes Dante's conception as its model, and they are tested beyond belief. They had forgotten just how much an ordeal going through Hell is, even for the living who do not belong to the place (yet). Eventually, the place tests their resolve, sanity, and very being.

In the end, however, they both realize insights about themselves, and the ending took me a little by surprise (in a good way). This story first appeared in installments in one of my favorite publications of the past year, Double Barrel. This anthology series was created by Zander and Kevin Cannon (who are not related to each other) to showcase a couple of serials, this one and Kevin's Crater XV, as well as some shorter works and a series of advice columns for making comics. Both of the main serials are excellent, and I am particularly taken with how Heck takes familiar scenarios and genres and bends them into a thoughtful, dark, suspenseful, and well-plotted tale.

Zander Cannon began this book as a 144 Hour Challenge, an experiment in creating 12 comics chapters over a year by drawing once a month in the space of 12 consecutive hours. Time and circumstances led Zander to abandon the experiment, but he continued with the narrative, drawing it out into a longer and more satisfying length. The latter chapters definitely seem less rushed and are better composed and clearer than some of the earlier ones. Still, I think the book is very well presented throughout, and this is one of my favorite works from the past year.

Zander Cannon has produced a number of graphic novels with Kevin Cannon, including Evolution in collaboration with Jay Hosler, The Stuff of Life with Mark Schultz, and T-Minus with Jim Ottaviani. He also created his own series The Replacement God and worked with Alan Moore on the series Smax. He speaks more about his work on Heck in this interview.

Cannon is an award winning comics creator, and his work here has received much praise. John Seven wrote, "you can enjoy the action and adventure and humor, but there is something at the core of Heck that runs deeper than any of those." Mark Flowers wrote in admiration of some of the cheeky aspects of the book, but added "at heart this graphic novel is a serious morality play, with the conflicted relationship between Elliot and Heck (who feels responsible for Elliot’s condition) at its center." JK Parkin summed this book up as "pretty awesome." In short, it has effective action and mystery elements, but it also has great heart.

A preview and much more is available here from publisher Top Shelf.

Mind MGMT, Volume 1: The Manager

An airplane takes off and when it lands all 120 passengers on board (save one 7-year-old boy) have complete amnesia (good things the pilots remembered how to land the plane). These people cannot remember a single detail about their lives, not marriages, relatives, childhoods. Nothing. Add to the mystery that one of the passengers, one Henry Lyme, cannot be found.

Enter Meru, a frustrated author who cannot come up with a follow-up to her debut true crime novel. She decides she is going to get to the bottom of this "amnesia flight" as her new writing project. In her quest for truth, she finds herself penniless, followed by the CIA, hunted by strange and powerful figures, and confronted with the existence of an agency of spies who have psychic abilities. These agents have such control of world situations that human beings almost seem like pets or even insects to them, which lends a frightening aspect to the proceedings.

Apart from the plot, which has its own amazing array of twists and turns, there is also a guidebook entry embedded in each page. These instructions lend a different angle to plot developments, and over time they become more and more relevant. This attention to detail is simply astounding and helps make this book one weird, wild trip.

This book's creator, Matt Kindt, is prolific of late, producing graphic novels like Red Handed and Super Spy while also writing a good number of titles at DC Comics, including Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Justice League of America, and Suicide Squad. He has been nominated for multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards, and is generally a well regarded creator. His writing is full of real world facts and details that lend a realism to the suspenseful situations he creates. His art is sketchy and atmospheric, typically enhanced with watercolors, as you can see in this sample page from the "Mind MGMT Case Files" that end each chapter:

The sketchy aspect of the art contributes to the plot in excellent manner, setting up misdirections and confusion that only sharpen the mysteries and plot twists further. I found this collection of issues #0-6 of the monthly comic book series to be eerie, gripping, and well plotted. There are so many details in this book, and they all contribute to a grand scheme that is not apparent at first. I cannot wait to see where these characters are going and what other secrets will be revealed in future volumes.

Reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Seth T. Hahne was "incredibly impressed" with Kindt's "seamless, off-handed, perfect world-building." Sean Edgar described how it "reads like a comic that has had an inordinate amount of thought put into it." Leslie at Working for the Mandroid wrote, "This is the most bizarre comic I have ever read, and I could not put it down."I particularly agree with these sentiments, and I felt this book was utterly compelling and engrossing.

This volume of Mind MGMT, like the ongoing comic book series, is published by Dark Horse. There is a preview and more available here.

The Bronx Kill

Despite its gruesome name, the Bronx Kill is actually a narrow strait that separates the Bronx from Randall's Island in New York City. This locale figures largely in the story, being the place where Martin Keane's grandfather was murdered. Martin comes from a long line of police officers, and he bucks his father's wishes when he becomes a writer instead. While he is writing his second novel, his relationship with his wife gets strained and events from his family's past begin to affect his life. When his wife disappears, the many mysteries deepen and the Keane family history is laid bare.

This noir thriller was created by Peter Milligan and James Romberger. Milligan is a prolific comics writer who has worked on many titles from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, including Shade the Changing Man, Hellblazer, and Greek Street and also Marvel Comics' X-Statix. Along with the sequential art narrative in the book, he also provides us working excerpts from Martin's manuscript. Romberger is a fine artist and cartoonist known for his depictions of life on NYC's Lower East Side. Among his comics work are entries in Papercutz's new horror series Tales from the Crypt.

This family-centered crime drama has been well reviewed. The Graphic Novel Reporter John Hogan wrote that this book is "another fine example of how well Vertigo’s new noir initiative is working." Newsarama's Michael Lorah gushed that "readers looking for a thrilling mystery, supported by strong characters, that builds to a roiling boil would do well to check it out." A.J. Kirby echoed that sentiment, adding that "this historical nightmare has epic proportions." Brian Pruitt and Joey Esposito also heap more praise on the book.

The Bronx Kill was published by Vertigo. A brief preview is available here.

Liar's Kiss

Nick Archer is a private eye in a precarious situation. He has been hired by the wealthy John Kincaid to track his young, beautiful wife Abbey and make sure she is not having an affair. Archer does not take any incriminating photos, but that is because he is the one having an affair with his quarry. When John Kincaid ends up dead, Archer is caught in a situation where he cannot clear his paramour without their trysts being revealed and her being cut out of her late husband's will. So he has to find the real culprit, with or without the assistance of the local police, and there are a number of likely suspects to sort through.

This classic detective noir story was written by Eric Skillman, a graphic designer and art director who is best known for designing covers for the Criterion Collection. He has written detective comics in Egg: Hard Boiled Stories, and this is his first graphic novel. Illustrator Jhomar Soriano is an acclaimed manga artist best known for his work on the International Manga Award of Japan winning books Mr. Grieves and Arkham Woods. He does a great job working in black and white as well as different styles to portray emotional situations and flashbacks. This interview with MTV Geek explains more about the origins of this graphic novel.

Although most reviews do not rave about the book, they acknowledge that it is a well written and well drawn volume. Comics Should Be Good's Greg Burgas enjoyed the momentum of the story until the ending, but he wrote that "even with the strange ending, it fits together nicely, and I always appreciate a clever mystery." The Comics Journal's Nathan Wilson called it a "solid story with powerful illustrations." Johanna Draper Carlson found the book "enjoyable escapism that puts a fresh twist on the private eye yarn."

A preview is available here from the book's publisher Top Shelf.

Monster, Volume 1

Set in Düsseldorf, West Germany in 1986, Monster recounts the story of the brilliant Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a Japanese surgeon. Tenma has a potentially great live ahead of him, blessed with great medical skill, a successful career, and an engagement to the beautiful daughter of the hospital director. But when he goes against his superiors' orders, his life is radically changed. What began as a seeming good deed instead unleashes an evil onto the world. These events also allow Urasawa to begin a huge series of twists that keep drawing readers in for more.

Dubbed "Japan's Master of Suspense" by VIZ Media, Naoki Urasawa weaves a compelling tale that incorporates complex characters, social issues, Cold War politics, as well as contemplations about how evil and justice operate. Urasawa has won numerous awards over his 20 year career. He has won the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award thrice, the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize twice, and the Kodansha Manga Award once. Meanwhile in the US, Monster has been nominated twice for the Eisner Award. Urasawa has also entered the world of academia, in 2008 accepting a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University, where he teaches courses in (what else?) manga.

Monster has received generally positive reviews. Here is one from Johanna Carlson Draper, one from Leroy Douresseaux, and one more from Robin Brenner. Originally, the series ran in Big Comic Original magazine from 1994 until 2001. It has been collected in English as an 18 volume series. The story has also been adapted into an anime, which will begin airing soon in the US on SyFy.

The official website, a hub for all these media versions, can be found here.

This was the very first manga series I read, on the recommendation from the good folks at Comicopia in Boston who told me that this was "a manga for people that don't like manga." I'm really glad I listened to Matt...