Pride of the Decent Man is the kind of quiet, literary graphic novel that’s too easily overlooked, because it doesn’t have a high concept with a catchy hook. As told by T.J. Kirsch, it’s a simple story, but one with great resonance, about a life full of struggles and poor choices made, culminating in being in the wrong place at the wrong time out of the best of motives. Life can be nasty, this book tells us, with entire lives […]

Out next month is Rick Geary’s latest murder exploration, The True Death of Billy the Kid. It’s in keeping with his popular Murder Treasury series, in that it explores a famous, historical, violent death, but it’s larger in format, and a little shorter (64 pages), which makes the hardcover oddly reminiscent of a picture book. That’s about all the space needed to cover, though, who killed the outlaw, why, and under what circumstances. Originally crowdfunded on Kickstarter three years ago, […]

Out in April is a graphic novel biography of a key superhero comic creator. The Joe Shuster Story: The Artist Behind Superman is a comprehensive overview of his life, driven by the creation of one particular hero. Perhaps too comprehensive, as I fear only the most dedicated, old-school comic fan will want to wade through the 160-plus pages here, particularly given how downbeat this gentleman’s life was. If you’re looking for evidence that “comics will break your heart”, this could […]

One of the more unusual releases this past year uses the well-known story of Peter Pan to explore survivor’s grief. The Wendy Project is written by actress/screenwriter Melissa Jane Osborne and illustrated by Veronica Fish (Archie). Its black pebbled cover and rounded corners give it the feel of a sketch-filled notebook, fitting its concept. Wendy was responsible for a car accident in which she skidded off a bridge and her brother Michael drowned. That’s what they tell her, anyway, but […]

Rick Geary’s classic series A Treasury of Victorian Murder becomes more approachable and affordable with this paperback reprint of the previous hardcover collection. As that earlier release (now out of print) did, A Treasury of Victorian Murder Compendium Volume 1 contains two of the most famous cases from the era plus four additional tales. “Jack the Ripper” is the most obvious choice once you’re talking about unsolved Victorian murders (thus the cover), while “The Beast of Chicago” is about H.H. […]

Back in the day, there were a few special comic books that were so popular (and timeless) that they stayed on the stands for years through multiple printings. Dennis the Menace in Hawaii was one of them. First published in 1958 (before Hawaii was a state!) as a hundred-page special, it stayed in print through the 70s (with various revisions), with total sales of multiple millions of copies. And it’s still fun to read! Artist Al Wiseman and writer Fred […]

I’ve already reviewed the three books reprinted in A Treasury of XX Century Murder Compendium: The Lindbergh Child The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans Madison Square Tragedy so I was surprised at how much I was affected by re-reading them. They’re perhaps the most outstanding of the many volumes in Rick Geary’s Twentieth Century Murder series, although all of the books are informative and thought-provoking. Geary tackles famous murders, obviously, but each case sheds light on more than just who […]

The latest Treasury of XXth Century Murder (following Madison Square Tragedy) by Rick Geary tackles what’s perhaps the most famous unsolved Hollywood mystery: who killed Elizabeth Short, the 22-year-old wannabe actress nicknamed the Black Dahlia? In January 1947, Short’s bisected body was found in a vacant lot. As with all the other stories in this series, her killer was never conclusively identified. That means the source of satisfaction isn’t knowing the answer to the mystery of her murder; instead, there’s […]