Murder By Remote Control

Today I like to say that we are living in the "golden age of comics" because of the sheer volume of excellent material being published in so many genres and for so many different audiences. The key year in this transition (in the US at least)  is usually cited as 1986, when Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and the first volume of Maus were published. The book I am reviewing today is an original graphic novel that predates those publications, and it had a difficult time finding a publisher in the US at the time. So I am glad to get to read and experience it today.

Murder By Remote Control may have been written more than 30 years ago, but it is still a fresh, interesting, and provocative book. The plot is about the murder of an oil tycoon in coastal Maine, an act perpetrated with a remote control airplane.

There are only four houses in the remote location, and the detective on the case, a trench coat-wearing Zen Buddhist named Jim Brady, employs some unorthodox tactics in his investigations. The suspects themselves are a motley bunch: a reclusive farmer, a former high-price call girl, a film star, and a gun-toting, paraplegic ex-criminal (pictured).

Far from progressing in a straight line, this investigation takes some weird turns into drug-trafficking, local corruption, as well as philosophical ponderings of America, sex, and popular culture. These narrative turns are also accompanied by beautiful and surreal splash pages full of portentous images that are just ripe for interpretation. I feel that all of it could easily go off the tracks, but the plot is well-paced and, more importantly, the artwork helps anchor the whole enterprise. Not only is it beautiful to behold, the style is realistic and done in the style of Wally Wood and Jim Steranko, two of the most revered and copped US comics artists.

Murder By Remote Control was created by Dutch writer Janwillem van de Wetering and US artist Paul Kirchner. Van de Wetering was a crime novelist whose work has often been called "off-beat." Kirchner has had a long career, drawing comics for Heavy Metal, multiple toy companies, and The Big Book of series. He also has been a toy designer and today works mainly in advertising. He speaks at length about this book in this interview. He speaks more about his career and specifically about this collaboration with van de Wetering in this interview.

The reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Win Wiacek called it "a delicious treat for the eyes and a therapeutic exercise for the mind." Gahan Wilson, in the original 1986 review, called it "an enjoyable entertainment that succeeds in demonstrating very effectively that this form of storytelling has a unique potential and can work a special kind of magic unavailable to any other medium."

This re-issue of Murder By Remote Control was published by Dover Publications, and they have more information about the book here. This book contains some nudity and sexual situations, so it is recommended for readers mature enough to handle both. This edition also has a couple of extra essays, one an introduction by Kirchner, the other an afterward by Steve Bissette, and I found both fun and informative to read.

Who Killed Professor X?

This book has nothing to do with the X-Men, but it is one of a rare breed: a graphic novel about mathematics that actually engages in substantive mathematical thinking. Who Killed Professor X? is a mystery where the titular professor is murdered and the investigation into his death involves a good number of suspects. All of the suspects are based on historical figures like Isaac Newton, René Descartes, Pierre de Fermat, Marie-Sophie Germain, Pheidias, and Blaise Pascal. And as the investigators meet each figure, they learn about their lives and theories, lending some insight into mathematical concepts and breakthroughs.

Adding to the intrigue, each suspect gave their statement to the police in the form of a mathematics puzzle or equation, so the trick becomes to solve that puzzle to determine whether or not they could have been close enough to murder the good professor and escape unnoticed.

The author states that this book can work for those with some math knowledge and others who have none, and I have to agree. The solutions are in the back of the book, much like in a typical math textbook, as are pictures of the actual historical figures. As the book progressed, the puzzles got more difficult and I could not solve all of them on my own, so I appreciated reading the solutions.  Although reading them was helpful and informative, I also got a lot out of the historical narratives where I learned a bunch about each person. Those narrative made the characters and their motives intriguing, so instead of this set-up seeming gimmicky, I found myself interested in solving the puzzle in each chapter. I also thought it was very clever how each person's biography played into their potential motives for murdering Professor X.

This book was written by author/educator Thodoris Andriopoulos and drawn by Thanasis Gkiokas. It was originally published in Greek, and it was based on an educational video game. Andriopoulos speaks more about his work on this book in this interview.

Almost all of the reviews I have read about this book have come from mathematics publications, and they have been pretty positive. Peter Ruane declared it "a delightfully presented heart-warming tale." Paul Dabraski opined that it was not the most polished book he's ever read but called it "a fun way to test your brain." Adhemar Bultheel gushed that "it is safe to say that anybody will love the book."

Who Killed Professor X? was published by Springer, and they have more info about it here. There is a video preview of the book available here.

The Fade Out: Act One

I am a HUGE fan of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Their first collaboration, a combination of superheroes and espionage, Sleeper, was followed by Criminal, a series of  hard-boiled crime tales. Since then, they have created all sorts of crime series, like Fatale, where it was mixed with mystical horrors, and Incognito, where there were superheroes involved with the witness protection program. In The Fade Out, they turn back to a straight noir tale.

The narrative here is set in post-WWII Hollywood. It involves a drunken screenwriter, a dead starlet, a blacklisted screenwriter, a crazed director, and shady studio executives. The drunk screenwriter is privy to information that what was reported as a suicide was actually a murder and that there is a cover-up. Of course, there are multiple interested parties (suspects?) and the entire situation is as clear as mud. One of the strengths of this book is that the plot is extremely intricate and the characters are types of a sort but also intriguing because of their circumstances. I am trying not to spoil things and doing a poor job of describing just how great this book is. I should just say that if you are fan of noir, murder mysteries, or classic Hollywood, you should check this book out.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been glowing. Publishers Weekly concluded by calling it "a strong beginning to a serial mystery that offers a fresh spin on the genre." The reviewer at Comic Bastards summed up, "you should come to The Fade Out for the plot and the atmosphere, stay for the characters, and never think about McCarthyism the same way again." Sean M. Thompson wrote that it was full of "great characterization, excellent pacing, a great mystery, and brilliant art and color."

The Fade Out was published by Image Comics, and they have more information and previews available here. There are violence, sex, and nudity in this book, so it is suggested for mature readers.

Kill My Mother

Jules Feiffer cuts a large figure in the world of comics. He was an apprentice to Will Eisner in the 1940s, a time when comics were in a nascent state. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his cartoon work, all but created the genre of alt-weekly comics with his work for The Village Voice, was a comics historian, wrote the screenplay for the classic film Carnal Knowledge, and illustrated classic books like The Phantom Tollbooth. But until now, he had not written or drawn a graphic novel.

And this is some debut. It has lots of elements of 1940s noir films, which I guess should not be a surprise as the book is dedicated in part to Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, John Huston, Billy Wilder, and Howard Hawks. It stars the prerequisite private detective, though he is pretty much useless, a drunken lout who tries to be a womanizer and who seems to enjoy wearing women's panties. The folks who actually do things are all women, and what roles they play. There is Elsie, a young widow who decides to work as a secretary for a PI so she can investigate her policeman husband's murder. There is her daughter, Annie, who resents her absent mother while bossing around her friend Artie. There is a mysterious blond who hires the PI to find a tall, blond woman whom she resembles.

And of course, this being a noir tale, there are lots of scenes in seedy place like apartment buildings, smoke filled cabarets, and boxing matches.

 

The story is split into two parts, one in 1933 in Bay City, and the other in 1943 in Hollywood, where we see what has transpired in ten years. The tone of the second half is much different, as we see the movers and shakers behind movies, radio programs, and USO tours. Their world may seem cleaner and more civilized, but there are still bitter undercurrents of jealousy, greed, and potential murder. It is like having a movie and its sequel in one work, and I think that this graphic novel works extremely well in terms of its narrative. In fact, I think this is a book with all kinds of details that demands to be read and then re-read.

Part of what makes the story interesting is how it is laid out. I think that the panels (and at times, lack of panels) are constructed in interesting and fluid ways. There is something experimental about them in how they attempt to track how readers' eyes will move across pages. The sketchiness of those movements are a strength but also sometimes a detriment. The biggest issue I had with this book was that some of the characters look alike, but that seems partly the purpose in a book about changing societal roles and shifting identities.

Feiffer makes a great hash from his many influences, including dimestore novels, old comic strips, and noir films, as well as his years spent as Will Eisner's apprentice. This book is sort of a paean to those modes of telling stories, but it is also a commentary and critique of them, playing with their conventions and making something vital. The story is entrancing, and the artwork is provocative, ranging from paneled scenes to full page splashes that are surprising effecting and poignant. You can read more about Feiffer's influences and choices for making this book in this profile.

All the reviews I have read about this book regard it as a work to be reckoned with, even if they were not always uniformly positive. In the New York Times Sunday Book Review Laura Lippman called it "terrific" and wrote that it was "a thoughtful meditation on female identity and whether the not-so-simple art of murder can ever be defended as a moral necessity." Alan Cheuse called it "a darkly drawn confection." Dash Shaw was more critical of the book's layouts, calling them "herky-jerky" and summing up his review, "It looks like it was fun for him to make. I wish it was fun for me to read."

Kill My Mother was published by W.W. Norton & Company, and they provide a link to previews and more here.

The Salon

The Salon is a murder mystery set in 1907 Paris where someone is killing artists. Art patrons Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo think they may be next, so they enlist the assistance of several of their closest friends, including historical figures Alice B. Toklas, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Erik Satie, and Guillaume Apollinaire to figure out the killer's identity and put a stop to these gruesome murders. The path to solving these crimes leads the reader through the city and its landmarks, a tour of art history, and assorted absinthe-tinged escapades.

Nick Bertozzi created this graphic novel. He has a number of other credits and is known for the graphic novels Houdini: The Handcuff King, Lewis & Clark, and Stuffed! He is also a contributor to ACT-I-VATE, drawing the webcomic Persimmon Cup. Bertozzi speaks in depth about his work on The Salon in this interview with Tom Spurgeon. 

I felt that Bertozzi did an excellent job weaving an interesting tale, conveying information about the period and characters, and also using color and form to his advantage in this book. The art has painterly aspects, and the colors portray not only mood but also transport the reader into different spaces and worlds where the action takes place. Balancing accuracy and fantasy is a difficult endeavor, and Bertozzi pulls it off with elan here.

Reviews I have read of this book have been positive about its form, flow, and content. Rebecca Porte praised the book with its combination of "energetic line with touches of cartoon flair and high modernist whimsy." Brian Heater called the book "a fun tale, culminating in an atmospheric climax." The Comics Journal's Dirk Deppey concluded that "Bertozzi's ability to make all the elements blend together is such seamless fashion is remarkable." A comprehensive list of reviews can be found here from the author.

Unfortunately, much of the publicity about this book came from a court case that arose when comics store owner Gordon Lee unwittingly distributed a comic book that contained an excerpt of this book featuring a naked Pablo Picasso to children during a trick-or-treat event in Rome, Georgia. He was defended by the Comic Book Legal Defense Club, "a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers." In the end, after years of litigation, all charges against Lee were dismissed. This controversy overshadows an inventive, daring, and cerebral graphic novel.

A brief preview and more are available here from the author. He also provides a preview video here. The Salon was published by St. Martin's Press.

A Study in Scarlet

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most famous literary characters ever created, and this graphic novel is an adaptation of his first story. In it, we meet Holmes' reliable friend and narrator, Dr. Watson and learn how he came to live at 221B Baker Street with the great detective. The pair end up involved in a murder investigation, and Holmes, years before CSI, uses science and deduction to figure out suspect, motive, and method. The solution of the mystery takes the reader to the United States during the early, rough days of the Mormon trek into Utah.

This graphic novel is a faithful adaptation of the work of Arthur Conan Doyle, a Scottish writer who wrote a range of other works such as the science fiction novel The Lost World, and who tired of his most famous detective, even killing him off at one point, but relented to public outcry for more Holmes stories. Ian Edginton, a popular British comics writer, adapted the story. He is known for his sequel to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, Scarlet Traces, and various runs on 2000 AD. The art was provided by I. N. J. Culbard, who has also worked on adaptations of a great number of classic British novels. In particular, he excels at creating mood via space and facial expressions.

The reviews I have read have been overall positive. The Guardian's Rachel Cooke wrote that Edginton and Culbard did an excellent job and she "relished every page." Seth T. Hahne was frustrated that some clues were withheld before the great reveal so he could not solve the mystery on his own. School Library Journal found the book had much to offer new and established Holmes readers alike. I agree and think that Edginton and Culbard have done well capturing the spirit and tone of the original quite well.

This book was published by Sterling. These same collaborators have created two other such adaptations of Doyle's detective, with a third on the way. Previews of this book and those later volumes are available here from Self Made Hero.