Homicide: The Graphic Novel, Part One

As cutting, darkly funny, and true today as when it was first published in 1991, Simon’s landmark nonfiction crime narrative gets an appropriately noirish graphic novel adaptation that does right by the original. As a Baltimore Sun police beat reporter, Simon (The Wire) spent 1988 following the city’s homicide detectives. The first half of a duology drawn by Squarzoni (Climate Changed) maintains the density of Simon’s reportage and his trademark mix of procedural detail (indoor killings are easier to solve than outdoor; motive doesn’t matter) and elevated sardonic humor. Early stretches give a feel for the city and the job, grooving on the detectives’ profane language and self-mocking gravitas enough to personalize them without simplistic heroizing. Tensions mount as the body count piles up (two murders every three days) and detectives are torn between clearing old cases and focusing on the high-profile “red balls” or “murders that matter.” Of those, solving the brutal killing of 11-year-old Latonya Wallace (“a true victim, innocent as few of those murdered in this city ever are”) becomes a departmental obsession. Squarzoni’s sharp, clean line art renders dramatically etched shadows and starkly clenched nighttime faces, the muted colors occasionally splashed with bloody red for yet another body sprawled on a Baltimore street. It’s a must-read for Simon’s many fans and anyone who appreciates sophisticated true crime. (July)