The Story of Shamus Stone and the Case of the Serial Murderer is now complete!
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“You Have Killed Me” is a graphic novel written by Jamie S. Rich and with art by Joelle Jones. It begins with our detective, Tony Mercer in bad shape talking about the smell of Almonds. Usually this means poison in most detective fiction, but that’s a red herring here. Mercer has been hired to find a missing rich girl, who just happens to be an ex-flame, by her sister.
It’s a bit of a twisting case, but Rich does a fine job of crafting an excellent mystery. The Characters are quite good and there is some very good use of suspense.
The art by Joelle Jones is good, the faces are very expressive, but there are a few continuity problems. Jennie, the sister who hires Mercer, is supposed to be a red head and her hair is slightly shaded on Page 5, but this technique is quickly abandoned, making it a bit difficult to tell the two sisters apart. Also Kane has dot-tone shading to denote his ethnic background on page 36, but he loses that in his later appearances.
The biggest issue I have is the gun held by the final big bad. It goes from a squared off Colt-style gun to a revolver between panels. Mayhaps there were two? I’m not sure and that probably not a good thing.
However Jones is very good at staging her action and using an “Economy of Lines” to create her images, it is some very compelling work.
So, other than a few small issues, I recommend this book and keep you eyes out for Rich and Jones, I’m sure there will be great things from them in the future!
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This is a new feature here at Shamus Stone. I, Nathan Bonner, will overview and hopefully recommend a Film Noir style Book/Graphic Novel. So first up is “Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score” by Darwyn Cooke.
This book is third in Cooke’s Parker adaptions. With “The Hunter” and “The Outfit” being the other two.
First up the Art. Cooke’s style is light and breezy, but manages to have an amazing impact. It’s like a book of 1960s advertising illustrations committing crime. The interior art is keep to black and white plus one color. The impact of these images does nothing but impress me. Longtime Batman: the Animated Series fans will recognise Cook’s style in the faces of Parker and of the female cast, after all Mr. Cooke did work on the 1990′s Batman series. This is a book one could just buy for the viusals.
That’s not all to this tome’s appeal, however. The story is topnotch, Stark’s original story and characters have been wonderfully adapted. A word on the Hero, Parker is a very bad man. Parker is a profession criminal and does kill (usually only worse persons, usually). There is some attempt in this volume to give Parker a less violent side, the way he uses psychology to control the town’s unsuspecting populace, instead of using his typical violent approach. Parker is a total S.O.B. otherwise, but this story is on par with the best traditions of Film Noir and I highly recommend it!
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