booknooknoggin's review
4.0
Crime thriller with a twist. Was very slow to start. The "fictional"pages written by the m as in character really added to the story. Not big on black and white but art was okay.
rosseroo's review
2.0
I like crime fiction and I like graphic storytelling, so I'm always keen to check out a new crime graphic novel. This one is definitely of the noir variety, as it delves into family history and has the classic "you can't escape the past" theme. The protagonist is Martin Keane, a writer whose debut novel was a critical and commercial success, but whose new second novel is a dud (you can understand why when he complains to his wife's mild critique with "the point is that there is no point!"). While casting about for a new approach to his work, his wife's interest in his dark family history leads him to spend four months researching in Ireland. All seems well when he comes back, but one night she disappears from their apartment in the middle of the night.
Martin reluctantly enlists the help of his alcoholic ex-cop father to find her, but as he starts to crack under the stress, he finds himself under increasing scrutiny from the police. A number of reviewers have commented that the outcome of the story is pretty obvious, but I have to disagree. It's a bit difficult to say why I disagree without giving the plot away, but it hinges on a relationship between two characters that's so completely improbable that I was left with that "you gotta be kidding" feeling. It a case of a shocking twist ending that isn't earned in any way, and pretty much ruined the book for me.
The other thing that ruined the book for me is the awful artwork. When I first started the advance copy of the book I got, I spent about ten minutes poking around the front and back looking for some kind of indication that this was temporary art and would be replaced for the final version. Not finding any, I have to conclude that it's the final art, which leaves me aghast. Sometimes I don't care for graphic storytelling simply because I don't like the style, but in this case, its not taste, it's just poor quality. The faces are erratic and totally without nuance, the shading is all over the place, the paneling totally banal, it's just not good. So, between the art and the lame twist ending, I was left disappointed by yet another crime graphic novel. (The best I've come across is Miss: Better Living Through Crime).
Martin reluctantly enlists the help of his alcoholic ex-cop father to find her, but as he starts to crack under the stress, he finds himself under increasing scrutiny from the police. A number of reviewers have commented that the outcome of the story is pretty obvious, but I have to disagree. It's a bit difficult to say why I disagree without giving the plot away, but it hinges on a relationship between two characters that's so completely improbable that I was left with that "you gotta be kidding" feeling. It a case of a shocking twist ending that isn't earned in any way, and pretty much ruined the book for me.
The other thing that ruined the book for me is the awful artwork. When I first started the advance copy of the book I got, I spent about ten minutes poking around the front and back looking for some kind of indication that this was temporary art and would be replaced for the final version. Not finding any, I have to conclude that it's the final art, which leaves me aghast. Sometimes I don't care for graphic storytelling simply because I don't like the style, but in this case, its not taste, it's just poor quality. The faces are erratic and totally without nuance, the shading is all over the place, the paneling totally banal, it's just not good. So, between the art and the lame twist ending, I was left disappointed by yet another crime graphic novel. (The best I've come across is Miss: Better Living Through Crime).
xterminal's review
4.0
Peter Milligan, The Bronx Kill (Vertigo Crime, 2010)
I was less than impressed with the first Vertigo Crime title I read, Azzarello's Filthy Rich, so I came into The Bronx Kill with a bit of trepidation. I shouldn't have. Milligan, who's written for Hellblazer and Human Target, is paired with James Romberger, who's been working on Tales from the Crypt. Unlike Azzarello's title, this pairing is solid, and Romberger's rather spare style is a great match for Milligan's tale.
Martin is a writer. His father and grandfather before him were cops, and his father is disappointed that Martin hasn't gone into the family business. (Astute readers will pick up on a solid nod to Charles Bukowski's short story “My Old Man” at the beginning of this volume.) When Martin's wife disappears, he finds that maybe he's not as far from the family business as he'd like to be, and things only get worse when events in real life start dovetailing with the manuscript of his new novel, a historical-fiction tale Martin is using to explore the mysterious death of his grandfather.
Needless to say, this is noir, and as such you can expect pulp-fiction writing here. I don't consider that a weakness any more than I do in, say, Wilder's adaptation of Double Indemnity; it fits the material. Sure, it's overblown. Who cares? If I have a problem with The Bronx Kill, it's that there isn't enough of it. We get just enough of Martin and his wife visiting Martin's father at Christmas to establish that there's an odd family dynamic (and anyone who's brought the significant other to meet the folks and had said significant other say “I don't know why you hate them so, they seem fine to me” will identify with the discomfort that bleeds from that scene), but there could have been so much more. In every other encounter, it's just Martin and his father. We know what their dynamic is like. I understand why Milligan took the route he did, and at the end of the book you will as well, but that doesn't mean I don't want more of it, just like we all wanted more of Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity. *** ½
I was less than impressed with the first Vertigo Crime title I read, Azzarello's Filthy Rich, so I came into The Bronx Kill with a bit of trepidation. I shouldn't have. Milligan, who's written for Hellblazer and Human Target, is paired with James Romberger, who's been working on Tales from the Crypt. Unlike Azzarello's title, this pairing is solid, and Romberger's rather spare style is a great match for Milligan's tale.
Martin is a writer. His father and grandfather before him were cops, and his father is disappointed that Martin hasn't gone into the family business. (Astute readers will pick up on a solid nod to Charles Bukowski's short story “My Old Man” at the beginning of this volume.) When Martin's wife disappears, he finds that maybe he's not as far from the family business as he'd like to be, and things only get worse when events in real life start dovetailing with the manuscript of his new novel, a historical-fiction tale Martin is using to explore the mysterious death of his grandfather.
Needless to say, this is noir, and as such you can expect pulp-fiction writing here. I don't consider that a weakness any more than I do in, say, Wilder's adaptation of Double Indemnity; it fits the material. Sure, it's overblown. Who cares? If I have a problem with The Bronx Kill, it's that there isn't enough of it. We get just enough of Martin and his wife visiting Martin's father at Christmas to establish that there's an odd family dynamic (and anyone who's brought the significant other to meet the folks and had said significant other say “I don't know why you hate them so, they seem fine to me” will identify with the discomfort that bleeds from that scene), but there could have been so much more. In every other encounter, it's just Martin and his father. We know what their dynamic is like. I understand why Milligan took the route he did, and at the end of the book you will as well, but that doesn't mean I don't want more of it, just like we all wanted more of Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity. *** ½
More...