Synopsis: Aspiring investigative reporter Marilyn witnesses one of the greatest money heists in history…but will she be able to collect enough evidence for anyone to believe what she saw? For fans of I Survived and Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales but with a true crime twist, read about the Great Train Robbery of 1963 in this I Witnessed graphic novel.
Marilyn is in for an unforgettable trip when she sneaks aboard a Royal Mail train from Glasgow to London on the night of August 7, 1963. While Marilyn’s focused on her writing portfolio and convincing Dad not to ship her to boarding school, the night takes a turn when she witnesses more than a dozen masked men board the train. What Marilyn didn’t know when she snuck aboard was that this Mail Train was transporting over £2 million in cash. The robbers detain the crewmen, seize control of the train, and then abscond into the night with their bounty…but thanks to Marilyn, they won’t make it out scot-free.
Inspired the true events, Marilyn’s story offers a fictional kid POV rooted in historical facts about the heist and the subsequent trial. Case fact sidebars offer additional nonfiction elements to the story.
Synopsis: In a not-so-distant future where society has changed considerably but the problems often remain the same, a young policewoman from Paris is dragged into a difficult, dangerous investigation that could impact the very future of mankind.
Review: The Mermaid Project is a French language near-future, espionage/detective story, with science fiction elements. It's published by Cinebook and is a complete story is 5 volumes (albums). It was written by Leo and Corine Jamar, art by Fred Simon, and translated by Jerome Saincantin.
Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow by Hajime Inoryū and illustrated by Shota Itō (Kodansha)
Synopsis: A routine call regarding a burglary at an empty mansion leads cocky young police detective Jin Saeki to a gruesome and shocking discovery. The corpses of 13 children, along with the presence of a strange symbol, spur a manhunt for Juzo Haikawa, the mysterious absentee owner of the house. So begins an investigation (and an obsession) that will take Jin all over Japan and into the darkest recesses of both the past and the human soul.
The Roots of Chaos Vol. 1 - Lux & The Roots of Chaos Vol. 2 - Umbra by Felipe Hernández Cava & Bartolomé Segui (Europe Comics)
Synopsis: “March 1953. Alexander is walking through the streets of London with a bomb in his hand. It is destined for Marshal Tito, during his controversial visit to Great Britain. Alexander's story began several months earlier, when his mother was struck by a car and instantly killed. Trying to understand why and how his mother, who was in an institution for senile elderly people, wound up so far from her home, Alexander finds himself caught up in a spiral of terror involving the British secret service, strange Serbian nationalists, and the island of Majorca... all of which culminate, several months later, with Alexander finding himself on the bank of the Thames, holding a bag with a bomb in it”
Dark & Twisted: Dead Flowers by Duane Swierczynski & Andrea Mutti
Synopsis: “LANEY GENNAWAY takes a true crime tour to get to know her new town. The location: the notorious Aztec Hotel, built during Prohibition to cater to gamblers, drinkers, and sexual libertines. There she meets an elderly man named PRESTON BAILEY, who is friendly but clearly lonely.
The tour is focused on a famous unsolved case from 1949—the so-called “FLOWER ARRANGER” who mixed and matched the body parts of his three victims (Violet, Rose, and Lily) at the Aztec Hotel before vanishing into thin air. The husband-and-wife tour guides claim to have finally discovered the Flower Arranger’s identity and promise to lay out their case over the three-hour tour, ending with the big reveal.
There was an old book blog/site that kept a running list of quotes when characters got “hit in the solar plexus”. Whenever they found an example, they would add it. It was a tongue slightly in cheek way of recognizing a cliche but I think done from a place of love. In that spirit, I’m starting a series called Shoulder Wound Sunday, which playfully acknowledges a favorite cliche while highlighting the crime comics they appear in.
This weeks shoulder wound is from Mugshots by Jordan Thomas & Chris Matthews
I think every title I’ve written about up until now is in print, available digitally, or from the library. But, as with today’s two books, that won’t always be the case. Both of these books are out of print, not available digitally, and from a now defunct Fantagraphics line. Used copies are floating around but they’re a little pricey. I didn’t even realize they were out of print when I pulled them off the shelf.
There are two titles under the Wish You Were Here subtitle: The Innocents and They Found the Car. Story and art for both books are by Gipi, an Italian artist and writer. They were part of the Ignatz line of books from Fantagraphics that Igort edited or curated. While the books are numbered they are more of a thematic pairing. So even if you see either of these out in the wild somewhere, grab them!
My copies of They Found the Car and The Innocents
The Innocents. Wish You Were Here was published in 2005. It tells a really simple story on the surface that hides a lot of depth. A grown man and now reformed criminal takes his nephew out for the day when he gets a call from one of his old running buddies and the two go to meet him. This is a story where the crimes are kept way the hell off the page and focuses on the psychological development and growth of these characters. The reformed man has come along way and his growth is really highlighted when we meet the friend, who is a jittery mess still living in the past. The flashbacks are rendered in a sketchy style where the lines look as if they are going to fall right off the page underscoring the fragile nature of memory. The flashbacks add depth to the two men in a meaningful way and Gipi isn’t afraid to keep vital information off the page and let the reader fill in the gaps.
“What does that mean? Whatever you want it to mean. Are these movies “the best”? Are they our favorites? Are they “movies we got to see before the deadline”? In my case, it’s some combination of all three — but I’m really quite happy with the aggregate results.” — Jim Emerson
When I used to do annual lists at Spinetinger years ago I usually included the above quote and jokingly called it the annual invocation. As a reminder that while we may use the term "best of..." it's really just favorites of what I’ve read so far.
As usual let me say that I haven't read every crime comics that came out in 2025 so this list may not represent the best crime comics but I sure dig them
There is currently a Brian Michael Bendis Jinxworld bundle running over at Fanatical. $14.99 will get you the full bundle including all of the below crime titles:
I wanted to try and round up as many 2025 crime comics releases as I could. I won’t sit here and tell you that I have all of them but I probably have a lot of them.
A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre.
After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings, and made it safely to his van.
However, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas. When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied, 'Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings.'
I had no Monet
To buy Degas
To make the Van Gogh.
I had De Gaulle to post this because I figured I had nothing Toulouse
(swiped from the internet)
Recent news influenced today’s post. On October 19th, eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels were stolen from the Louvre. The robbers, disguised as construction workers, used a monte-meuble (like a hydraulic furniture lift, to access the building from the street. They cut through the glass, tripped the alarm, grabbed nine pieces of jewelry, dropped one of them, and got away. The entire heist took just a few minutes.
As expected, people on social media had a blast with the story making jokes about The Muppets, George Clooney’s Ocean’s 11 crew, and many others.
Days after an image of a nattily dressed man started to circulate with the speculation and a living fan fiction was born that he was a well dressed French detective brought into crack the case.
On October 3rd, Netflix dropped Monster: The Ed Gein Story so maybe it’s time we covered some serial killer books.
One of the great non-fiction crime comics is Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? By Eric Powell and Harold Schechter.
Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? cover
It’s a thoroughly researched book that doesn’t indulge in romanticizing Gein while acknowledging his influence on the pop culture landscape and popular imagination. If you haven’t read it, you should.
Another pair of 2025 releases this week. I’ll probably do a couple more of these 2025 release posts this month and the big 2025 round up in a few weeks.
Cover for Kosher Mafia
Title: Kosher Mafia Credits: Author: David Hazan, Illustrated: Sami Kivelä, Colorist: Ellie Wright, Letterer: Simon Bowland Availability: Print, digital, digital library services Plot Summary: In Cleveland, Ohio, in 1936, Howard Berkowicz, the bookkeeper for the Jewish Mob finds himself on the wrong end of an enforcer’s gun when he tries to spur the Kosher Mafia into action against the rising tide of domestic Nazism in the German American Bund. Review: Kosher Mafia opens with Ephraim Gold, a heavy, paying a visit to the house of Howard Berkowicz, a bookkeeper for the Jewish Mob in Cleveland. Gold is there ostensibly to implement Berkowicz’s euphemistic retirement plan. They wind up having a conversation instead. Berkowicz is worried about the rise of the Nazis and Hitler in Europe and thinks that American Jews, especially the organization he works for, should be doing more. Howard’s problem, for all the characters and even the reader at times, is that he’s sanctimonious about it. Ephraim calls him on it at the end of their conversation: “If I’m a criminal and a killer and a ganif…so is the man who makes sure I get paid.”
The two set off on the run from the Jewish Mob to try and do their part to expose a white supremacist group. I wanted more genre thrills from this and Howard Berkowicz isn’t a particularly compelling character. He’s right, duh we know that from a historical perspective, but Jewish gangsters vs. Nazis is too good of a hook. The book seems to know this. Near the end, it has Ephraim say:
Title: The Brownout Murders: A True Crime Graphic Novel, Set In 1942 Writer(s): Luke C. Jackson, Kelly Jackson Artist(s): Maya Graham Availability: Print, digital, digital library services Plot Summary: They blamed alcohol. They blamed men. But they blamed women most of all.
This week I’ve got a couple of newer releases. I’m still working on the big round-up post of 2025 releases and the plan still is to post reviews of some of the 2025 release that I’ve read as a lead up to that post. This week, a pair of eccentric casts.
Cover for Night People
Title: Night People Writer(s): Chris Condon, Barry Gifford Artist(s): Brian Level, Alexandre Tefenkg, Artyom Topilin, Marco Finnegan Availability: Print, digital, digital library services Plot Summary: A pair of murderous lovers in Florida carrying out a bloody agenda. A perverse political and religious power struggle between a brother and a sister. An easygoing drifter who suddenly finds himself a fugitive on the run. And a bright-eyed young girl discovering her place in the cold dark world. At the end of the twentieth century, chaos and horror were the American dream. Review:
