Synopsis: Karmela Krimm was the most promising young detective on the Marseille police force until she volunteered to take the fall for an operation that went sideways. When Karmela lost her job and became a private investigator, her ideals went up in smoke along with her badge. Perhaps for the better: in the troubled waters she now navigates, ideals are a dangerous luxury.

Review: We meet Karmela sitting in a car, on a stakeout, camera in hand. Her God daughter Manon is in the car with her. She’s asking Karmela questions about her job for a supposed school project. Not only do we get to see some of their dynamic play out but it also provides an easy vehicle for a quick bit of back story. Her backstory is related in a single page, with four panels using a different stylized approach for the flashback. It’s a little pulpy, it gets right to some action, and hooks the reader into wanting more.

Today’s shoulder wound is from Last of the Independents by Matt Fraction (review)

American Caper Volume 1: Red-Pilled Blues by Dan Houser and Lazlow, Illustrated by David Lapham and Chris Anderson (Dark Horse Books)

A new crime-fiction saga created and written by Rockstar Games co-founder DAN HOUSER (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption) with additional writing by LAZLOW, with art by Eisner Award-winner DAVID LAPHAM (Stray Bullets).

A Mormon hitman.  A gambling-addict lawyer. Two neighbors intertwined in a real estate deal gone wrong. Mix in a Mexican beauty queen on the run from her past, a red-pilled housewife, two escaped convicts in love, a Wall Street billionaire who has become a cowboy, and a maniac hell-bent on revenge. The manicured wilderness of Verona, Wyoming is the perfect cocktail of American culture: real estate development, violence and snake oil.

From the tax-avoiders in the Rockies, to the thought police of liberal Brooklyn, to the confused political and environmental battlegrounds of Florida, one thing is certain: This tragedy is someone else’s fault.  

AMERICAN CAPER: RED-PILLED BLUES collects the first four issues of the new crime-fiction saga and is created and written by Rockstar Games co-founder DAN HOUSER (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption) with additional writing by LAZLOW, art by Eisner Award-winner DAVID LAPHAM (Stray Bullets) and CHRIS ANDERSON with covers by TYLER BOSS (4 Kids Walk into a Bank).

Plot Summary: Ginger Lewis’ mother has passed away after a long illness. When Ginger was only a baby, she and her mother were abandoned by her father, a low-life thug called Dennis Russell. Russell is now a successful crime lord and he is married again, but he never helped his former family. And Ginger blames him for her mom’s death. Dennis Russell is going to discover that nothing is more dangerous than the rage of a teenage girl.

Review: At 46 pages, Victor Santos’ Ginger’s Revenge just flat out moves. The inciting incident is front loaded into the first couple of pages and by page 3 Ginger is at a strip club with a broken bottle in hand fighting motherfuckers left and right like a revenge fueled demon. This energy never lets up in its full on sprint to the end.

In addition to the central revenge plot we also get more of this world, its characters, and their relationships/connections fleshed out. The ending of the story even winds up in surprising territory as it confronts generational trauma and violence head on. The final page is a single page epilogue that wraps the whole thing up with a nice satisfying bow on top.

Plot Summary: Hoping to secure a future for his children, an aging Alaskan crime boss looks to retire and divide his empire amongst his three heirs. But when his idealistic son refuses the inheritance, the old man disowns him. This turns out to be a fatal mistake when he sees his cold-blooded daughters use their new-found power and influence against him.

Review: An aging patriarch at the head of a powerful enterprise wants to step aside, or will be forced to, and a power struggle among his children ensues. Not only is this a classic framework that goes back to King Lear, it’s also been explored before in crime fiction. After all, the classic story structures are always being used. They’re classics for a reason. From the movie The Godfather to the TV show The Straits to season 2 of Fargo we’ve even seen King Lear in crime fiction before. Family Ties steps into this space.

The aging patriarch of the family has dementia. This obviously poses a problem for a criminal organization This character is presented in a nuanced way with different parts of his personality emerging at different times and often changing up even mid scene. You can see the complex array of emotions that he goes through, often cycling through them quite quickly, but also the frustration in those around him. 

Plot Summary: If Nick Barrow can stay alive for 21 days he'll die happy. Everyone Nick knows wants him dead; Mob bosses, contract killers, and dirty cops. Performing the last act of a desperate man, Nick takes out a million dollar insurance policy on himself, payable to his estranged daughter. The problem? The policy doesn't take effect for 21 days. Nick knows they'll be lucky to be alive for twenty-one hours.

Review: Nick Barrow has an estranged daughter. His underworld dealings have backed him into a corner and everyone is trying to kill him. He wants to leave something for his daughter, so he takes out an insurance policy worth one million dollars. But he has to stay alive for 21 days before the policy is activated.

Plot Summary: Cesar Ruiz is a hardened enforcer for a powerful drug cartel, and his young daughter isn’t just along for the ride. Angela is a little girl growing to be a young woman in the long shadow of her criminal father, Cesar. What will a child do to win the respect of the most brutal enforcer in the Cali cartel? And how many people will Angela have to kill to get what she wants most?

Review: This is a quick and dirty crime story at only 88 pages. We get tossed right into the action with a young woman shooting her way out of a tight spot while musing on her fate and life choices so far. Bloodied and beaten, she makes it to a payphone and calls her father. Who is her father? A killer to be feared.

We then move to a larger chunk of the book which provides us with backstory and context. We learn who her father is and how he started teaching her the job when she was way too young to be participating in this cartel version of take your daughter to work day. We’ll eventually get to the events that took place before the book's opening.

[Quick programming note. I have a few of these themed posts I’m working on and I am undecided on whether to group all of the themed titles together in one post or to spread them out over a designated period of time. For the Dads & Daughters theme I’ve decided on daily posts all this week. That could change for other themed posts. If anyone has strong opinions on this let me know]

Plot Summary: At the height of the roaring twenties, the daughter of a mafia boss is determined to rise to prominence in her family's business.

Nicoletta has aspirations to join her brothers in the family business--an organized crime syndicate running the streets of Brooklyn. Though her father objects and a crisis ensues, Nicoletta takes it upon herself to prove she has what it takes, moving steadfastly into a world of brutality. New York has a new player in town, and they ain't seen nothing yet!

This is, essentially, a gimmick crime comic. Gimmick here is not necessarily a pejorative but instead acknowledges that it either has a specific approach to the story being told or is filtered through a specific lens. The specific approach to the story is so integral that it can’t be ignored and has to be considered. Your interest level in this book, and how you engage with it, will depend on how much the gimmick appeals to you.

Simply put, Knockturn County by James E Roche and Axur Eneas is a collection of short noirish inspired tales that are both written and drawn in the style of Dr. Seuss. For example, in the first story when the femme fatale appears, we get the following narrative/dialogue: “And THAT’s when it happened. An angel appeared! She’s like no other. And his heart had been speared!”

Here’s another example of what can be expected:

Vol. 1: The Mission

Vol. 2: The Betrayal

Today’s shoulder wound is from November by Matt Fraction (review)

Synopsis: After World War II, tensions rise in a Southern city ruled by organized crime, touching countless residents as they struggle to make sense of the new world. A sudden act of violence sets off a series of bloody events between the police and mafia as they lash out against one another. As the violence worsens, desperation grows to stop it, by any means necessary.

Review: Two Dead is a historical crime fiction by Van Jensen and Nate Powell published by Gallery 13 in 2019. It takes multiple elements rooted in fact and blends them together in a pressure cooker story.

Gideon Kemp is returning home at the behest of his politician uncle. Gideon is a war hero (though he rejects the honorific), an FBI academy graduate, and he’s studied law. He seems like the perfectly straight arrow John Q Law type brought to town to bring down the mob. Kevin Costner’s Elliot Ness in The Untouchables (1987) comes to mind. Except this introduction is the second scene in the book. The first scene in the book shows the reader his war experiences and why he rejects the war hero title. He’s done some bad shit and is haunted by it. 

No Man's Land by Szymon Kudranski (Image)

A high-stakes murder mystery perfect for fans of True Detective, Whiteout, and Insomnia.

Diomede Islands.

For three months each year, you can walk from the USA to Russia across an ice bridge—a frozen path known as the Ice Curtain.

In 1963, when the body of a young woman is discovered on this icy no-man’s land, the already fragile relationship between the superpowers threatens to collapse. With nuclear tensions rising, an FBI agent and a KGB operative must solve the murder—before the ice melts…and war ignites.

From SOMETHING EPIC and BLOOD COMMANDMENT creator SZYMON KUDRANSKI comes the must-read thriller of the year.

Collects NO MAN’S LAND #1-4.

Today’s shoulder wound is from November by Matt Fraction (review)

Synopsis: USA, 1970. Joe is driving his camper in the wide open spaces of the Wild West. He makes several acquaintances along the way: a small coyote, to start with, but also local thugs, F.B.I. agents, a U.S. Marshal, old friends who seem to be more or less trustworthy… But who is this good ol’ Joe? Those who cross his path tend to see their life expectancy dangerously decrease…

Review: The Coyote and the Snake by Matz and Xavier was first published in French in 2022 and was translated into English soon after (Europe Comics). We already covered Matz’s series The Killer as part of the introduction to European comics series and some of their differences compared to American and Japanese comics series.

The Coyote and the Snake is comprised of short chapters with titles like “Ride Lonesome”, Midnight Run”, “Hard Times”. It’s always clear to the reader where and when the story is taking place for that chapter. The story opens in Arizona in 1970. A man in a camper driving through the desert. In the next chapter he’s in Utah. Clearly he’s just driving the back desert roads of the Southwestern states. He picks up a pup in the desert and now he has someone to talk to! The monologuing of The Killer will feel familiar here.

Synopsis: 1990s. Russia. The USSR has ceased to exist. Its dimly remembered promises of utopia have dried up, and amongst the rubble, scavengers and looters abound.

Amongst the vast Russian tundra and decaying Soviet buildings, two such scavengers engage in a rather dubious pastime—getting their hands on all sorts of trinkets that might interest wealthy investors.

Slava, once a promising young painter, has abandoned his career and ideals to scrounge around with a pal from his school days, the consummate conman Lavrin. The future is up for grabs, and in this anything-goes, dog-eat-dog new world order, Lavrin assures Slava anything and everything can be bought and sold.

Soviet Land by by Pierre-Henry Gomont (Abrams Books) REVIEW

A must-read thriller at turns madcap and melancholy, about a down-on-their-luck duo of swindlers looting their way through the decaying remains of the USSR

"A rich and humane story of ordinary people navigating extraordinary historical upheaval in this tragicomic tale that will have strong appeal for readers of literary or international graphic fiction." (starred review, Library Journal)

1990s. Russia. The USSR has ceased to exist. Its dimly remembered promises of utopia have dried up, and amongst the rubble, scavengers and looters abound.

Amongst the vast Russian tundra and decaying Soviet buildings, two such scavengers engage in a rather dubious pastime—getting their hands on all sorts of trinkets that might interest wealthy investors.

Slava, once a promising young painter, has abandoned his career and ideals to scrounge around with a pal from his school days, the consummate conman Lavrin. The future is up for grabs, and in this anything-goes, dog-eat-dog new world order, Lavrin assures Slava anything and everything can be bought and sold.

In this tragicomic thriller, author Pierre-Henry Gomont tells a gripping tale of average people caught up in the turmoil of history in the making. His deeply human characters fumble through a disorienting world—one where the promise of tomorrow has evaporated. They aspire to nothing more than to continue: to continue living, loving, and maybe someday even painting again.

Today’s shoulder wound is from Newburn by Chip Zdarsky & Jacob Phillips (review)

I had it on my mind to do a quick write up on Cat’s Eye and City Hunter by Tsukasa Hojo at some point. I was looking at something else on Amazon and saw that the omnibus Volume 1’s for both titles are currently on sale for $2.99 each, so I at least wanted to mention them.

I don’t have numbers on this but licensing of older manga seems to be a tough sell for Engligh audiences. Even popular titles or old flagship Shonen titles. Which is partly what made Abrams/Kana’s decision to reprint two of Tsukasa Hojo’s books such a pleasant surprise. But then again, new adaptations certainly help

Cat’s Eye ran from 1981-1985, originally collected in 18 tankobons, and is now being reissued in 3-in-1 omnibus editions. There was an anime series from 1983-1985, and a new anime series started last year.

Synopsis: "Locker is a nearly-blind sniper, and after losing his job, he joins a support group for unemployed assassins. All of the members were once feared, but now they're losers who help and hinder one another. After overhearing a conversation at a restaurant, Locker believes he's identified the man that took his sight. Finally, he has one shot at revenge -- hopefully this is one he doesn't miss"

Review: Most fiction advice relies on action. Situations escalate, characters do things to make their situation worse, out of the pan into the fire. Conflict is created until some resolution is reached. (Yes, I know, this is all very reductive). This can certainly be true for genre fiction which tends towards plot mechanics. Fiction presents moments in these characters lives that serve the larger story. What do these characters do on a day off? What do they do on a regular Tuesday? It can be these small side moments that offer the most rewarding moments.

There is a growing desire for fiction that holds space for these types of moments to occur.  These types of stories (eg: slice of life, cozy [not the mystery sub-genre]) are popular, sell well, and are influential. Shows like The Midnight Diner, novels like The Kamogawa Food Detectives and The Dallergut Dream Department Store. Manga and anime like The Way of the Househusband, Dorohedoro, Shimazaki in the Land of Peace, and even the earlier chapters of Sakamoto Days. (These examples aren't definitive, just some that I like).