Roach Killer

French cartoonist Tardi ( Fog over Tolbiac Bridge) returns with a peculiar protagonist in a very peculiar story. Making a call in lower Manhattan, Walter, who works as a roach exterminator, notices that unlike most buildings in New York City this one has a 13th floor. He decides to take a look around only to overhear, to his dismay, plans for a series of murders. At this point Legrand's storytelling takes a turn for the bizarre as Walter, terrified that these unidentified conspirators are after him, is joined by a lowlife coworker named Luis who may or may not be--it's never clear--involved with Walter's pursuers. Eventually Luis's albino sister (she's some sort of mystic) is kidnapped and everyone is murdered in a calamitous shoot-out, leaving Walter on the verge of insanity, unknowingly drafted into a murky conspiracy. Tardi's talent for creating a brooding, blighted urban setting is exceptional and his gritty portraits of the city carry the narrative, but Legrand's plot is utterly mystifying, managing to be both plodding and pointless at once. (May)