It’s summer, which means it’s time for another gloriously grisly entry in Rick Geary’s Treasury of XXth Century Murder series. The previous books covered The Lindbergh Child and director William Desmond Taylor in Famous Players. This time out, we don’t meet celebrities of the twentieth century; instead, the famous victim is one of its best-known cities: New Orleans. The first chapter of The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans functions as travelogue and brochure of historical high points, taking us through […]

Rick Geary continues his Treasury of XXth Century Murder series with Famous Players, covering “The Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor”. This murder case, long an unsolved mystery, took place in 1922 Hollywood, where moving pictures were just settling into being an industry. William Desmond Taylor was a director for Famous Players, the most prestigious studio of the time, and actress Mabel Normand was the last person to see him alive. When Taylor was found dead, suspicion fell on young […]

The Lindbergh Child kicks off a new series for author/artist Rick Geary. Previously, he’d released nine volumes of A Treasury of Victorian Murder; now, this book moves into a more recent era, starting “A Treasury of XXth Century Murder”. (The odd spelling of Twentieth is apparently intentional.) Based on this first case, “America’s Hero and the Crime of the Century”, these stories will feel more familiar to the modern reader. Once Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean, he […]

Classics Illustrated relaunched with Rick Geary’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Previously published in 1990, this short reprint hits the high notes of the story of orphan Pip growing up to become a gentleman. I find illustrations very handy in understanding the context of a classic set in another time and place, and Geary doesn’t disappoint. His unique faces are well-suited to a story with so much conversation, since the cast can be instantly distinguished, and he shows their […]