Good Cop Bad Cop Casebook #1. Rough Cut Comics (2014)

A very entertaining and enjoyable comic about a wolf in sheepdog's clothing. The comic manages the set up for the story very cleverly before moving to the start of a major on-going storyline.
In the opening story Good Cop Bad Cop , written by Jim Alexander, art by Gary McLaughlin  and lettered Jim Campbell, the story gets off to a nicely savage start. Detective Inspector Brian Fisher is interviewing a suspect in a dismemberment case when the interview goes horribly wrong, just not as horribly wrong as it will do for the suspect. This economical story introduces the two lead characters without stopping for any unnecessary explanations, the events just occur. This is the first of a series of very clever moves Jim Alexander makes to deal with serious structural problems that come directly from the story idea. The bad cop is simply presented as an established fact, the reader is taken off on the ride without further ado.
The next story Mrs MacPhellimey, written by Jim Alexander, art by Gary McLaughlin, and lettered Jim Campbell is a neat, short joke that showcases the pitch black humour that laces the comic. The change in tone from the first story is nice.
Three Strikes written by Jim Alexander, art by Gary McLaughlin, and lettered Jim Campbell  is the next step Jim Alexander takes in turning structural problems into advantages and story possibilities. Detective Inspector Brian Fisher is a dedicated police officer who is also a massively violent and predatory and physically distinctive murderer with a police warrant card. A key storytelling problem is how the tension between the two is managed and this is resolved in a unexpected and very clever way.
Under Investigation written by Jim Alexander, art by Will Pickering and lettered Jim Campbell resolves the last and most serious structural problem arising from the story idea. Given that the police force are reasonably competent the extreme actions by one of their officers is bound to draw the attention of the senior ranks. They way that it does and how Jim Alexander uses that to  create credible story telling possibilities is a joy to see. Smart writing and all done without ever sacrificing any action or without having to make the cast too stupid to be interesting. Indeed it is the fact that the senior policemen are not stupid is the key is a pleasure.
Between the three stories are pages from a crime report about the Partick Cat, a burglar that  Detective Inspector Brian Fisher is pursuing. The report is written by Brian Fisher and the wolf and this performs a vital function for the story start up. The wolf is a savage predator, what the report conveys is the necessary view of the inside of his head and the realisation  of just how dangerous he really is. A barely contained mix of rage, hatred and appetite for violence, the balance struck in Three Strikes looks like a very fragile bargain.
The set up complete a major on-going story line starts with Tiny Acts of Kindness written by Jim Alexander, art by Luke Cooper lettered Jim Campbell. The change in art style is pronounced and effectively marks the departure of the story into the main event. The black humour get used to great effect and the balance between the Brian Fisher and the wolf, the relationship between then is used to drive the story. A suitably ferocious villain is also introduced, someone who would be a more credible opponent for the wolf.
The black and white art for the set up stories by Gary McLaughlin and Will Pickering is lovely line work with minimal use of shading or blocks of colour. The cast, including the wolf are vivid and forceful, the stores have a lean and spare feel to them. Luke Cooper's art is much denser, his use of black is astonishing to give form and solidity as well as express the black tones of the writing. The art gives the longer story greater weight which is a considerable benefit.
Clever, confident writing, great art and fresh heart in an intriguing idea all make for an great read.
Chief Wizard Note: This is a review copy of Good Cop Bad Cop very kindly sent by Jim Alexander. GoodCopBadCop Casebook#1 retails for £7.99/$12.99.  Rough Cut will be launching the book at Plan B in Glasgow Fri 24th Jan and Asylum in Aberdeen Sat 25th Jan.  The trade will be available in all good comic shops thereafter.  Also available through Amazon and the Rough Cut shop (http://www.roughcut-comics.com/).  For more details contact eddie.parade@virgin.net

The Apothecary Rose. Candance Robb. Arrow Books (1993)

A very engaging and enjoyable medieval murder mystery with a great cast and a cleverly used historical context. Owen Archer lost an eye and position as Captain of Archers at the same time and became a spy for his master the Duke of Lancaster instead.  In 1363, after the death of the Duke he  find new employment with John Thoresby, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of York. Two suspicious deaths in York need to be investigated, one of them was a man closely connected to Thoresby and he needs Owen to establish if there is an threat to Thoresby or not. For cover Own will become an apprentice to a notable apothecary in York, who had provided herbal remedies connected to both deaths. Own arrives in York and starts his investigations and his apprenticeship and discovers that there is a nicely tangled web of  old secrets that remain very dangerous. The plot unravels at a calm pace, the reveals are very well staged and the conclusion is very satisfying.
The great pleasure of this book are the noisy and vivid cast that Candance Robb creates, that bustle and jostle with each other in a natural way, Own Archer, a man who works hard to be honorable, stands at the centre of the story,. His actions push the plot forward and create the pressure that drives the sharp conclusion. He does not dominate the story, the rest of the cast are full of life and make happy claims on the reader's attention, in particular Laurie, the wife of the apothecary, who has taken over running the business. She is vivid and strong, she responds to the way her life is turned inside out with strong appealing courage, rage and confusion.
The central romance that emerges between Own and Lucie never feels like a plot device, the mutual attraction is developed with a light touch that feels both adult and forceful, never contrived. The smaller players are given clear individual voices and strong presence in the book, they make the story considerably more engaging as they act to sometimes hide and sometimes reveal the plot. The reasons they respond the way they do rings true for the character and it is the mix of plausible motives that gives the mystery its focus and force. Candance Robb does develop a great villain, the horrifyingly understandable forces that drive him make him ever more dangerous.
The historical context is draped lightly over the story, where it is is needed to explain the motives of a cast member, it is clearly and unobtrusively explained, for the most part is is simply included as minor and effective details that firmly place the cast into their context. This allows the cast and story to emerge strongly and to drawn on the context without it ever being mere painted scenery nor overwhelming. A very enjoyable story.

The Cat Returns. Directed by Hiroyuki Morita. Studio Ghibli (2002)

A warm, charming and very engaging animated film that balances all the essential elements with light handed grace and humour. Haru is girl who is rather unsure of her footing in the world and struggling to find it. When she rescues a cat from being run over and the cat thanks her she is sure it is a dream. She discovers that in fact she has saved the life of the son of the Cat King and the King and the cat kingdom want to thank her. Along with an assortment of gifts that would only really appeal to a cat, live mice and catnip, she gets the news that the Cat King wants her to marry his son, the Cat Prince. Haru is attracted by the possibility, but a warning sends her to the Cat Bureau and she meets the Baron. Following on from being kidnapped and transported to the Cat Kingdom as well as being slowly transformed into a cat herself , Haru has to fight to escape to her own life.
The story manages a very difficult task with deceptive ease, the threat to Haru, become a cat and loose her identity as a human girl is strongly presented. There is a distinct edge of menace in the story and it takes considerable courage, hard work and risk to oppose it. The arc of the story works because the problem is a significant one, and this is one of the many pleasures of the film. The creators respect their audience enough to provide strong plot mechanics, they do not confuse child friendly with marshmallow sentiment.
The art is a joy, friendly and inviting with beautiful colours highlighting astonishing details. When the procession from the Cat Kingdom first arrives, all the cats from the kingdom walk upright, there are security guard cats with markings like black suits, white shirts and ties and the remove the local felines with force and dexterity. The art is never angular and sharp, it is soft and inviting, it allows the darker aspects of the story emerge on their own terms rather than signposting them. The key cast members, in particular the Cat King and the Baron are brimming with life and vitality, assertively pursuing their aims with clarity and force. The Cat King gives the appearance of being an aged hippie, there is a forceful and greedy personality hiding beneath the drawl, the Baron is a wonderfully, suave and unflappable action hero.  Haru only emerges when she does find herself and the finale is a smart showing of what that really means.
The film has a strong confidence that the problems of living are better dealt with than run away from, that doing so is not easy, it is worth it. Wonderful and funny, a serious pleasure.

Dublin Dead. Gerard O'Donovan. Sphere (2011)

Very entertaining Irish crime story with very smart plot mechanics and an engaging cast. A request from the Spanish police regarding a murder victim starts Detective Inspector Mike Mulcahy on an investigation leads to unexpected places. Journalist Siobhan Fallon, recovering from a horrifying attack, is covering the funeral of a suicide when she picks up the threads of another story regarding a missing woman. Both Mulchay and Fallon pursue their investigations separately and find that they may have unexpected and very dangerous connections. The reveals are very cleverly staged, the action is tense and satisfying and the climax is gripping and very satisfying.
Along side the very well thought out plot mechanics Gerard O'Donovan makes a number of very smart choices in the book, all of which pay off. The first is that Mike Mulcahy has no serious personality defect nor any dominant flaw that both drives him and is the source of his effectiveness at his job. He is a committed, professional police officer who works really hard with his team to push forward with his investigation. While he does stretch his bureaucratic constraints to a satisfying maximum he does so for an entirely credible reason. Also his boss is competent, generally supportive and smart, pretty much what someone who becomes a senior professional officer would probably be.
Siobhan Fallon is a very well realised recovering victim of an enormous trauma who is trying to restore her life and finds that work is the best way to that. It gives her investigation a personal edge and urgency which allows her to pursue the story past the point where it has become dangerous and not seem to be driven by plot requirements. Her search for a missing woman is a search for her missing self, made clear with a light touch that gives a necessary urgency without poking the reader in the eye.
Gerard O'Donovan uses the plot a chance to have a sharp look at the greed that tumbled Ireland in political and economic austerity, the clever knot at the heart of the book is woven from huge, criminal  greed, the lesser versions also get a look in. This sharply realised context provides a great platform for the action. Top notch crime fiction.

Rounding The Mark. Andrea Camilleri. Stephen Sartarelli (Translator) Picador (2006)

Wonderfully engaging Sicilian crime story that is drenched in atmosphere and with superb plot mechanics. Inspector Salvo Montalbano takes a swim to shake off the depressing feelings that have been plaguing him. He bumps into a dead body and bring it ashore. The body proves to be a murder victim, the identification is very difficult and the only likely possibility was already dead before the likely murder date for the watery body. Montalbano assists at the processing of a  boatload of illegal immigrants and helps return one to his mother. A short while later the immigrant boy is the victim of a traffic accident and the misgivings that Montalbano had at the time return in full force. The quiet investigation he launches leads to some very brutal criminals and some unexpected revelations. The reveals are superbly stages, the plot mechanics cunning constructed and the conclusion satisfying.
Andrea Camilleri has managed the very difficult feat of delivering a wholly satisfying crime story that is also a biting commentary on politics and society in Italy and Sicily. The story carries off both with wit and grace thanks to the glorious Salvo Montalbano, a man who is utterly a professional policeman and a man with a open heart. Montalbano as vivid and forceful as the Sicilian context he works in. The countryside and the atmosphere of Sicily pervade the book, they ground it wholly and give the actions of the cast force and weight.
The action is delivered with a light touch and Montalbano is never dour or grim, he is too busy enjoying his friends and relishing his food for that. This lightness cleverly hides the chilly darkness of the plot that slowly comes into view and as Montalbano's anger develops in response to it the reader is drawn into the human scale of the brutality. This is the strength of the story, the crimes have a ordinary scale, carried out by humans who have no care for others only for greed. The victims are remembered by Montalbano and they are contrasted with the society and systems that failed them. The anger is controlled by Montalbo's professionalism. Andrea Camilleri can see and enjoy the splendor and generosity of Sicily without ever forgetting the dark veins that run close to the surface. The balance he achieves makes this outstanding book a serious pleasure.

The Golem. Chris Kent (Writer & Artist). Graphite Fiction (2013)

 Very striking art and a quiet, strong story combine to deliver an intriguing comic. In 18987 Alfred Larchmont, a stage magician at a small theatre has a family and debts that are pressing strongly on him. He receives a message that he has been left conjuring equipment by a fellow magician. Alfred is set up by the theatre manager and two other performers and finds himself being blackmailed by them after his act goes horribly wrong. At the end of his tether Alfred remembers the gift and investigates it, finding a mysterious mannequin in the chest. This mannequin proves to be the Golem, a clay figure brought to life by magic, Alfred hopes that the Golem will prove to be a new act that will rescue him. The story moves quietly and forcefully as Alfred Larchmont and the Golem fight back against those who betrayed him.
Chris Kent has made a very dramatic artistic choice in this book, the art is done entirely in grey pencil, it looks a little like woodcuts at times. It is not at all fluid or naturalistic, it is explicitly flat and overwhelming. The backgrounds of the panels are filled in by pencil cross hatching, the figures are presented at odd angles, faces loom from the panels. The 9 panel grid is used throughout the story very effectively, sometimes the panels are used as parts of a bigger picture, sometimes a full pages other times two panels.
In the face of such loud art the story has a chance of being submerged, in particular as the tone of the story is consistently low key. Chris Kent had made equally bold choices with his story that allow it match with the art and  meet it on equal terms. The story is rather abrupt, with a grim slightly surreal quality  that artfully recalls the stories of Kafka without ever shouting the comparisons. The story is delivered without a context, it operates solely on its own terms and its own logic. It is this that allows the story meet the art and not be overwhelmed by it, the story is as abrupt as the art, the unsettling atmosphere needs a unsettling style to bring it out so that The Golem can work. A creature of magic, it would unbalance a more conventional means of telling the story and become the centre of the story rather than the human cast.
The motives of the cast in their actions against Alfred Larchmont seem out of proportion to what they want to achieve, they should undermine the story and any hint of realism would ensure that they do so, there would need to a more convincing set up. The art lets Chris Kent get away with very abrupt storytelling and the abrupt story telling gives the art a focus and intent it needs.
A very individual artistic imagination is at work in The Golem, Chris Kent has taken considerable risks and they have strongly paid off, memorable and unexpected, a pleasure.
Chief Wizard Note: This is a review copy very kindly sent by Chris Kent. The Golem  can be bought at Forbidden Planet, Glasgow and Edinburgh and directly from the website, http://www.graphitefiction.com/

The Stone Cutter. Camilla Lackberg, Steven T. Murray (Translator). HarperCollins (2010)

A gripping Swedish crime story that traces the impact of selfishness of every degree on a varied and engaging cast. In the small town of  Fjallbacka the body a young girl is pulled from sea by a fisherman,the postmortem reveals that it was murder not an accidental death. Detective Patrik Hedstrom leads the investigation which leads to to the girl's family, neighbors and closer to home. The plot mechanics are superb, the reveals are wonderfully staged and the final reckoning is as cold and dark as an night in the Arctic.
Camilla Lackberg has a wonderfully confident control of the story, using an extended cast and a long flashback that curl around each other until they finally touch with a savage understanding of how the past has driven the present. The cast are really well drawn, the smallest walk on part is given the same care and attention as the major player. Patrik Hedstron, a new father coping with the the complete upheaval of his life and trying to understand the new landscape he is in with his partner Erica while managing the investigation. Erica is trying to come to terms with being a mother and what it means to and for her, her friend Charlotte is the mother of the murdered child and has serious domestic problems of her own.
As the lives of the cast come under increased scrutiny and pressure they respond in very credible ways and begin to question long term choices and to re-assess their lives. Those who are capable of emotional movement are given the time and space to make new choices. Those who are set in selfishness get to follow their choices down to the bitter bleak ends they have made for themselves. Looming over the rest of the cast is an astonishing portrait of  monumental, poisonous selfishness that methodically distorts and consumes every other life that she is involved with.
The rest of the cast are measured against this character as she moved through the past and slowly into the present, her actions slowly setting the context for the events in the present. Camilla  Lackberg makes an intriguing choice with this character in comparison to the rest of the cast. She is an unbridled monster who sows destruction everywhere she goes, yet she carries the slightest of the consequences handed out to the others. The rest of the cast of fallible, weak and inherently selfish characters all suffer much greater consequences for their actions that she does. The sheer depth of her greed for self leaves no room for any sense of error or transgression, the rest of the cast have inklings, however vague, of the wrongs that have done. This gives their punishment a sharp edge that can actually cut into them.
A nice line of sharp humour keep the book from being unreadablely bleak and the way that the invincible self-regard of one of the cast is actually rewarded is a clever counterpoint to the main threads of the story. The translation by Steven T. Murray is transparent, this is clearly an Swedish story and cultural context, it reads in English without any distance, the reader is pulled directly in the lives and context of the cast.