Book-It '10! Book #66
The Fifty Books Challenge, year two! This was a library request.
Title: The Case of Madeleine Smith by Rick Geary
Details: Copyright 2006, Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "A scandalous secret affair in 19th century Scotland between an upperclass woman and a gentleman of lower standing ends in his murder by poison..."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Geary's work had gotten positive notice from The Onion AV Club.
How I Liked It: This now being my third Geary book (I've read four so far, actually, but that review is later), I have a better grasp of his style. I have to say, it appears his Victorian Murder series fares better in artwork and in journalism than his XXth Murder series (at least in what I've read).
The Garbage Pail Kids style of cover aside, the inner artwork is intricate lines than transcend the previous "John Held Jr versus R. Crumb" style I'd seen in other volumes. Subtle, stirring expressions on the characters are worthy of Gaiman, particularly when Geary depicts angst. Sparse dialog dots this story and is incorporated in a similarly Gaimanesque fashion (once again, the creative team of Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón should be taking notes) and thusly doesn't disturb the narrator.
Though compact, Geary manages to tell the story in an informative as well as engaging fashion, separating the sections off in non-chronological order (climax, backstory, leading to climax, story directly after first section) that manages to not be confusing (and offers the material in a way that's considerably more interesting than if he decided to go with a more straight-forward approach).
Notable: As mentioned, Geary provides a backstory for our two central players, Madeleine Smith and Emile L'Anglier:
A close up on the cover of one of the illustrations from the "popular magazine of sensation fiction" is familiar.
That looks incredibly similiar (possibly an "outtake"?) to Geary's own The Mystery of Mary Rogers cover. Yes, I notice minutia. It can't be helped.
Title: The Case of Madeleine Smith by Rick Geary
Details: Copyright 2006, Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "A scandalous secret affair in 19th century Scotland between an upperclass woman and a gentleman of lower standing ends in his murder by poison..."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Geary's work had gotten positive notice from The Onion AV Club.
How I Liked It: This now being my third Geary book (I've read four so far, actually, but that review is later), I have a better grasp of his style. I have to say, it appears his Victorian Murder series fares better in artwork and in journalism than his XXth Murder series (at least in what I've read).
The Garbage Pail Kids style of cover aside, the inner artwork is intricate lines than transcend the previous "John Held Jr versus R. Crumb" style I'd seen in other volumes. Subtle, stirring expressions on the characters are worthy of Gaiman, particularly when Geary depicts angst. Sparse dialog dots this story and is incorporated in a similarly Gaimanesque fashion (once again, the creative team of Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón should be taking notes) and thusly doesn't disturb the narrator.
Though compact, Geary manages to tell the story in an informative as well as engaging fashion, separating the sections off in non-chronological order (climax, backstory, leading to climax, story directly after first section) that manages to not be confusing (and offers the material in a way that's considerably more interesting than if he decided to go with a more straight-forward approach).
Notable: As mentioned, Geary provides a backstory for our two central players, Madeleine Smith and Emile L'Anglier:
A close up on the cover of one of the illustrations from the "popular magazine of sensation fiction" is familiar.
That looks incredibly similiar (possibly an "outtake"?) to Geary's own The Mystery of Mary Rogers cover. Yes, I notice minutia. It can't be helped.