Killing Pickman

Homicide detective William Zhu’s career never prepared him for creepy serial murderer Richard Pickman. A vile fiend who horribly tortures and kills children as a sacrifice to a female demon in exchange for immortality and assorted dark powers, Pickman is apprehended after Zhu shoots him six times in the chest at point-blank range, which leaves him little worse for wear. That’s merely the first clue that Zhu is dealing with something other than a garden variety psycho, and it becomes increasingly clear that Zhu must permanently stop the killer, a gruesome act that will require the removal of Pickman’s beating heart. Becker’s script deftly fuses detective story and Lovecraftian horror yarn to good effect, but it is hampered by the book’s wildly uneven woodcut-like art. It’s unclear if the look of the illustrations is a conscious choice or the result of rushing to meet deadlines, but it nearly scuttles the whole project with its disjointed techniques. (Jan.)