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Treasury of Victorian Murder
Asesinatos victorianos
An engrossing, illustrated journey into true crime classics of the Victorian era, this omnibus volume contains three works in Rick Geary’s increasingly storied treasuries of murder— Jack the Ripper , The Beast of Chicago , and The Fatal Bullet . Jack the Ripper presents Geary’s inimitable tongue-in-cheek take on the 19th century's most infamous serial killer. H. H. Holmes is the next subject in Geary's award-winning series, as he presents the chilling, methodical murders of the world’s first serial killer in The Beast of Chicago . Lastly, Fatal Bullet explores the assassination of President James A. Garfield at the hands of an obsessive-compulsive stalker. These carefully researched presentations of true crime stories include a bibliography of research sources, presenting true facts about famous murders in an entertaining fashion.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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614 people want to read
About the author
Rick Geary
194 books202 followersRICK GEARY was born in 1946 in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in Wichita,
Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where his first cartoons were published in the University Daily Kansan. He worked as staff artist for two weekly papers in Wichita before moving to San Diego in 1975.
He began work in comics in 1977 and was for thirteen years a contributor to the Funny Pages of National Lampoon. His comic stories have also been published in Heavy Metal, Dark Horse Comics and the DC Comics/Paradox Press Big Books. His early comic work has been collected in Housebound with Rick Geary from Fantagraphics Books.
During a four-year stay in New York, his illustrations appeared regularly in The New York Times Book Review. His illustration work has also been seen in MAD, Spy, Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, and American Libraries.
He has written and illustrated three children’s books based on The Mask for Dark Horse and two Spider-Man children's books for Marvel. His children’s comic “Society of Horrors” ran in Disney Adventures magazine. He was the artist for the new series of GUMBY Comics, written by Bob Burden, for which they received the 2007 Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Publication for a Younger Audience.
His graphic novels include three adaptations for the Classics Illustrated, and the nine-volume series A Treasury of Victorian Murder for NBM Publishing. The new series A Treasury of 20th Century Murder began in 2008 with “The Lindbergh Child.” His other historically-based graphic novels include Cravan, written with Mike Richardson, and J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic Biography.
Rick has received the Inkpot Award from the San Diego Comic Convention (1980) and the Book and Magazine Illustration Award from the National Cartoonists Society (1994).
He and his wife Deborah can be found every year at their table at San Diego’s Comic Con International. In 2007, they moved to the town of Carrizozo, New Mexico.
(from http://www.rickgeary.com/bio.html)
Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where his first cartoons were published in the University Daily Kansan. He worked as staff artist for two weekly papers in Wichita before moving to San Diego in 1975.
He began work in comics in 1977 and was for thirteen years a contributor to the Funny Pages of National Lampoon. His comic stories have also been published in Heavy Metal, Dark Horse Comics and the DC Comics/Paradox Press Big Books. His early comic work has been collected in Housebound with Rick Geary from Fantagraphics Books.
During a four-year stay in New York, his illustrations appeared regularly in The New York Times Book Review. His illustration work has also been seen in MAD, Spy, Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, and American Libraries.
He has written and illustrated three children’s books based on The Mask for Dark Horse and two Spider-Man children's books for Marvel. His children’s comic “Society of Horrors” ran in Disney Adventures magazine. He was the artist for the new series of GUMBY Comics, written by Bob Burden, for which they received the 2007 Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Publication for a Younger Audience.
His graphic novels include three adaptations for the Classics Illustrated, and the nine-volume series A Treasury of Victorian Murder for NBM Publishing. The new series A Treasury of 20th Century Murder began in 2008 with “The Lindbergh Child.” His other historically-based graphic novels include Cravan, written with Mike Richardson, and J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic Biography.
Rick has received the Inkpot Award from the San Diego Comic Convention (1980) and the Book and Magazine Illustration Award from the National Cartoonists Society (1994).
He and his wife Deborah can be found every year at their table at San Diego’s Comic Con International. In 2007, they moved to the town of Carrizozo, New Mexico.
(from http://www.rickgeary.com/bio.html)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
November 20, 2021
Crónica ilustrada de tres famosos asesinatos de la época victoriana:
Jack el destripador, El misterio de Mary Rogers y El asesinato de Abraham Lincoln.
Curioso y entretenido, y me gusta que aporte mapas.
Jack el destripador, El misterio de Mary Rogers y El asesinato de Abraham Lincoln.
Curioso y entretenido, y me gusta que aporte mapas.
May 26, 2023
I'm not usually a fan of true crime but these were well-told stories with (predictably) fantastic cartooning by Rick Geary.
A wonderful collection of stories including:
A couple short stories and some background on the Victorian period. I was surprised that 2 of the 3 stories are set in America. I always associate the Victorian Age with Britain.
Jack the Ripper (1995)
-A fairly concise retelling of the story sourced from diary entries from the period and fact-checked against modern sources. Probably the least interesting of the 3 since I've heard this story so many times (And Alan Moore has the definitive take on the story in comics format). This is the earliest of the series and I think the art is fairly rough.
The Beast of Chicago (1999)
- About H. H. Holmes an American con artist and serial killer with a horror house that certainly makes the Winchester Mystery House look like kids stuff. This one was wild. I'd never heard of this guy before. He was a simple con man and "doctor" who had a building constructed that was built for him to get away with numerous murders and commit acts of torture.
Fatal Bullet(2003)
- The assassination of James A. Garfield in 1881. Garfield, one of the other presidents to have been assassinated, I think these days is overshadows by Lincoln and certainly JFK. There's a fourth one too! William McKinley in 1901.
I found the story here really fascinating. Geary parallels the life of the honourable Garfield with that of his despicable assassin Charles J. Guiteau.
A wonderful collection of stories including:
A couple short stories and some background on the Victorian period. I was surprised that 2 of the 3 stories are set in America. I always associate the Victorian Age with Britain.
Jack the Ripper (1995)
-A fairly concise retelling of the story sourced from diary entries from the period and fact-checked against modern sources. Probably the least interesting of the 3 since I've heard this story so many times (And Alan Moore has the definitive take on the story in comics format). This is the earliest of the series and I think the art is fairly rough.
The Beast of Chicago (1999)
- About H. H. Holmes an American con artist and serial killer with a horror house that certainly makes the Winchester Mystery House look like kids stuff. This one was wild. I'd never heard of this guy before. He was a simple con man and "doctor" who had a building constructed that was built for him to get away with numerous murders and commit acts of torture.
Fatal Bullet(2003)
- The assassination of James A. Garfield in 1881. Garfield, one of the other presidents to have been assassinated, I think these days is overshadows by Lincoln and certainly JFK. There's a fourth one too! William McKinley in 1901.
I found the story here really fascinating. Geary parallels the life of the honourable Garfield with that of his despicable assassin Charles J. Guiteau.
January 20, 2016
Well, this is an interesting book. Geary has made a career for the last few decades out of doing (mostly) non-fiction comics, often dealing with notorious crimes, and this compendium collects several of his early efforts, including fairly substantial comics about Jack the Ripper, the assassination of President Garfield, and about H. H. Holmes (these latter two only nominally Victorian, as though they are nineteenth-century stories, they are not set in England), as well as a few shorter pieces on somewhat less notorious figures/stories. Geary's art style does not on the face of it seem suited to non-fiction, one might think, what with its echoes of Gorey or perhaps Gahan Wilson, in his often almost scrunchy-looking images (I sometimes look at a face and think "cabbage patch kid")--his art seems more stylized, cartoony, and self-conscious than one would expect in fact-based work. However, despite the almost cartoony style, Geary does render very clearly recognizeable different people, and he pays considerable attention to detail--even down to often providing maps and diagrams. Experts on the history might be able to spot anachronisms or errors, but to my untutored eye, he seems to capture his milieu very well. The stories are generally narrated in the third peron, with few word balloons (some stories have none at all), and generally in a restrained, almost dry tone at odds with the sensational material (the occasional unnecessary exclamation point or evidently self-consciously purple-ish passage notwithstanding). It's almost like true gothic (not as in genuine gothic, but as in true stories told in a sort of gothic style), in its mix of the factual and veriiable, and the stylized and unknowable. And it mostly works, perhaps best in the Garfield story, perhaps least effectively in the Jack the Ripper story. Geary claims that this latter one is adapted from an anonymous diary kept by someone living in London at the time, who followed the case avidly; it is narrated supposedly in this figure's voice. I find it unconvincing. At least some bits seem exceedingly unlikely for a contemporary of the crimes to have known or at any rate to have said, even in a private diary. And Geary does not provide explicit information aobut this source, though here and generally he otherwise provides considerable information about his sources. The more umproblematically fact-based ones work better in my opinion. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating collection of a relatively uncommon comics sub-genre. And Geary really does have an excellent command of the formal properties of comics. Pages are for the most part expertly designed and easy to read (though the book size and the font at times do render the text a tad difficult to decipher). Recommended to crime fans, comics fans, non-fiction fans, and all possible combinations thereof.
August 16, 2016
I have an unhealthy interest in Victorian murder classics like Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes so when I saw this at work I realized it was meant to be. I loved the way Geary told each of these stories and offered his own insight into what could have happened in each of these cases. My favorite turned out to be The Fatal Bullet because I had never (for some reason) learned about the Garfield assassination in high school and I'm disappointed that I didn't because it seems like it should be considered a big part of US history. It was interesting to learn about the lives of the murderers and what could have led them to commit these horrific crimes. The Fatal Bullet especially pays attention to Guiteau's life and how he led a life similar to Garfield that made for some interesting parallels to be observed after the crime. Geary gives us a glimpse into the hardships that each murderer faced and showed how they came to be the extremely flawed criminals we know now. I love love loved this and can't wait for the next volume.
October 2, 2013
This is a superb compendium that covers every aspect of the Victorian murderer from the mysterious Jack the Ripper to the cold methodical and calculating H.H. Holmes who stalked the Chicago World Fair (amongst others) for his many victims. The eery nature of these crimes is captured superbly with Geary black and white illustrations and supporting text with the stories of each of our infamous killers laid out frame by disturbing frame. As a fan of the style and class of the Victorian criminal (they seem to have put more effort into it in those days) this is a superb collection that is both entertaining and informative. But be warned, it will leave you with a cold chill running up your spine and a sneaking suspicion that there is someone creeping up behind you.
August 16, 2025
This was pretty interesting! It presented the lives of a bunch of famous historical murderers/serial killers detailed as a graphic novel. The illustrations went well with the story and it gave a short but thorough summary of each case. Weirdly this is like the fourth book I’ve read that talks extensively about Jack the Ripper so if anyone is interested in his lore I can probably tell it beginning to end lol
March 8, 2021
True crime and graphic novel all in one place, what can I say!
May 6, 2018
Absolutely fascinating and well-researched bit of history. I waited a long time for Geary to collect some of his smaller books into this big collection and it was well worth the wait. This is exactly what the title states, only the big difference between this and another history book is that this is all illustrated. Every chapter is fascinating, only I found myself just skimming the Jack the Ripper section as I have read and seen too much on it, but that's just me, has nothing to do with the quality of the content. Highlights, for me, are the assassination of President Garfield and the Beast of Chicago. Now if only Geary would do a series on other interesting bits of history outside of murder...
October 20, 2023
A wonderful collection…worthy of the series…
A Treasury of Victorian Murder Compendium: Including: Jack the Ripper, The Beast of Chicago, Fatal Bullet by Rick Geary is a collection of several prior stories along with a few new additions…
This volume is a suitable anthology of murder and death for those interested in particular Victorian era events. Two of the main chapters cover the assassination of President James Garfield and Jack the Ripper.
However, my interest in this volume is due to a graphic novel I read nearly two decades ago…and is now collected here.
The Beast of Chicago…HH Holmes…entrepreneur, conman, womanizer, murderer…
The chapter of him does a fairly decent job covering the facts as we know about his activities and those he was around.
More importantly…it’s one of the few publications I can reference that tried to present a layout of one of the hotel floors. Even if it wasn’t accurate…I liked their reproduction as a possibility…
The world’s fair hotel was a terrible place, and sadly we may never know the full blueprints or layout due to the designer’s secrecy…but I still appreciate the madman’s focus…
A Treasury of Victorian Murder Compendium: Including: Jack the Ripper, The Beast of Chicago, Fatal Bullet by Rick Geary is a collection of several prior stories along with a few new additions…
This volume is a suitable anthology of murder and death for those interested in particular Victorian era events. Two of the main chapters cover the assassination of President James Garfield and Jack the Ripper.
However, my interest in this volume is due to a graphic novel I read nearly two decades ago…and is now collected here.
The Beast of Chicago…HH Holmes…entrepreneur, conman, womanizer, murderer…
The chapter of him does a fairly decent job covering the facts as we know about his activities and those he was around.
More importantly…it’s one of the few publications I can reference that tried to present a layout of one of the hotel floors. Even if it wasn’t accurate…I liked their reproduction as a possibility…
The world’s fair hotel was a terrible place, and sadly we may never know the full blueprints or layout due to the designer’s secrecy…but I still appreciate the madman’s focus…
February 22, 2025
Asesinatos victorianos está muy lejos de lo que considero una novela gráfica.
· Para empezar, falta la acción, la interacción entre personajes y, por tanto, carece de diálogos de los que surjan psicologías o empatías y, así, el hilo narrativo resulta tedioso y excesivamente analítico, sin emoción ni implicación alguna.
· El trabajo se presenta frío y distante como un expediente policial, y esa parece ser la propuesta: lugares bien definidos, estricto seguimiento cronológico, perfil de las víctimas, circunstancias de los sospechosos, desconcierto policial y así, todo expuesto de manera sistemática en unos dibujos originales, atractivos, pero abigarrados y sin alma, con recuadros de texto demasiado extensos, redundantes a veces, a menudo innecesarios.
· Más que relatos, los tres casos (archiconocidos) que recoge el volumen, se reciben como esos documentales de televisión en los que una sempiterna voz en off va largando datos y datos mientras muestran fotografías antiguas y vistas de los lugares de autos.
· Para empezar, falta la acción, la interacción entre personajes y, por tanto, carece de diálogos de los que surjan psicologías o empatías y, así, el hilo narrativo resulta tedioso y excesivamente analítico, sin emoción ni implicación alguna.
· El trabajo se presenta frío y distante como un expediente policial, y esa parece ser la propuesta: lugares bien definidos, estricto seguimiento cronológico, perfil de las víctimas, circunstancias de los sospechosos, desconcierto policial y así, todo expuesto de manera sistemática en unos dibujos originales, atractivos, pero abigarrados y sin alma, con recuadros de texto demasiado extensos, redundantes a veces, a menudo innecesarios.
· Más que relatos, los tres casos (archiconocidos) que recoge el volumen, se reciben como esos documentales de televisión en los que una sempiterna voz en off va largando datos y datos mientras muestran fotografías antiguas y vistas de los lugares de autos.
May 15, 2017
The first three mini-crimes are not really worth mentioning, so I don't know why I'm mentioning them at all, except that they did have a wonderful "rogues gallery" of all the other Victorian murderers. Jack the Ripper was concise and well put together. The Fatal Bullet made me realize how little I knew about the assassination of Garfield. Sade it took another presidential death to get the protection of the secret service. Also, he lingered MONTHS. Damn painful. The Beast of Chicago oddly spends much time on Holmes's bizarre insurance fraud after his Murder Castle and not much time on motives of why he was driven to kill. Or why he was such a womanizer...
September 19, 2018
Although I have read a majority of the stories contained on this compendium in other books, because of Rick's narrative voice and art, I enjoyed reading them again. Also, I enjoyed reading the new stories that were not familiar.
Rick's approach and art style is meticulously detailed. His art complements the time period that he is presenting. I think if I had one criticism, it is the lettering occasionally bunches together because the font is naturally a bit thick, so at times, it is difficult to read the text. That issue aside, I was glad I picked this volume up and I cannot wait to procure another Geary book in the future.
Rick's approach and art style is meticulously detailed. His art complements the time period that he is presenting. I think if I had one criticism, it is the lettering occasionally bunches together because the font is naturally a bit thick, so at times, it is difficult to read the text. That issue aside, I was glad I picked this volume up and I cannot wait to procure another Geary book in the future.
June 18, 2024
A brief recounting of a few of the murders committed by the ever elusive serial killer, Jack the Ripper. I enjoyed the art work. It's black and white but suggestive of the atrocious nature of the mutilations. I didn't know Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was involved in inquest. Really cool and easy to read overall.
February 2, 2018
A curious book. The mix of history and graphic novel tends towards boring or uninspired, but these stories are educative and visually stimulating. The first two stories didn't grab my attention as much as the last three, so give Rick a chance.
June 18, 2021
3 stars. The stories/content was good don’t get me wrong, but the graphics annoyed me. I’m not sure if it was the drawing itself or the text but something bothered me and my interest was lost… honestly surprised I finished it.
March 20, 2022
This was such an uneven collection. Some were far too long, others were much too short, and including the assassination of James A. Garfield was a weird choice. A little presidential history between some salacious and overdone crimes was not the direction I was expecting, for sure.
June 1, 2017
Rick Geary's take on Victorian murders are always incredibly well done.
December 12, 2017
Un grata sorpresa, las tres historias me gustaron y me impresionaron, además de conocer datos que no sabía, me gusta que lleguen a mi por casualidad y descubrir grandes joyas.
July 9, 2019
A must-read for those of us with an interest in the intersection of graphic novels and true crime... which isn't a huge pool to draw from. Geary's art is interesting, though, and at it's best, it feels like original source material from contemporary press coverage. The Jack the Ripper and HH Holmes stories are the best of this collection!
October 18, 2021
Fun book. However, facts are dated and too often inaccurate.
August 1, 2022
great linework & art. some language reflects the time in which it was written, but overall engaging and good!
October 10, 2022
Nice story and I like the graphic
December 17, 2022
Geary's brisk style is a perfect fit for true crime. The only low point is The Fatal Bullet, which isn't really as interesting as the other stories. Otherwise, Geary completely nails it.
August 9, 2018
Arguably the best graphic novel with history I have read all year. I stumbled upon this volume in a different library and could not believe how many graphic novels were available. This one caught my eye because of my fascination with the Victorian Era from England's famous authors to their scandalous reforms. Anything written about or describing the Victorian era wins my heart every time. My favorite stories within the pages was the assassination of President Garfield, Jack the Ripper, and legacy behind H. H. Holmes. I loved the historic factor of the stories as they were illustrated on every page because it gave me an idea of the psychological thoughts that were coming from the murderers' mind. I thought of them as patients I would have seen in the field, but being blinder without the necessary evidence to convict them. I still believe that Jack the Ripper was actually a vengeful wife that was killing prostitutes who wrecked their family life, or at least a female nurse with extended study in anatomy. Overall, I loved the historical background and research that was put into making this volume. I cannot wait to read the next one.
February 22, 2020
Este volumen que entre las manos es un cómic de no ficción que relata los acontecimientos ocurridos en tres famosísimos casos criminales ocurridos en el siglo XIX: los asesinatos de Jack el Destripador, la desaparición de la estanquera María Cecilia Rogers y el magnicidio de Abraham Lincoln. No debería llamarse estrictamente “victoriano”, ya que solo uno de los sucesos sucedió en Inglaterra, pero pasemos esta inexactitud por alto en aras de la literatura.
El libro está dividido en tres partes, una por cada caso, e incluye una cantidad profusa de información expuesta de una manera muy amena gracias a las ilustraciones. Yo tengo cierta perdición por los mapas, y Geary proporciona varios con muchos detalles y con notas de ubicación o recorrido muy interesantes.
No realiza juicios de valor, ni en el caso del carnicero de Whitechapel ni el de la vendedora de tabacos, exponiendo únicamente hechos fidedignos y dejando al lector indagar por su cuenta en busca de posibles culpables.
El libro está dividido en tres partes, una por cada caso, e incluye una cantidad profusa de información expuesta de una manera muy amena gracias a las ilustraciones. Yo tengo cierta perdición por los mapas, y Geary proporciona varios con muchos detalles y con notas de ubicación o recorrido muy interesantes.
No realiza juicios de valor, ni en el caso del carnicero de Whitechapel ni el de la vendedora de tabacos, exponiendo únicamente hechos fidedignos y dejando al lector indagar por su cuenta en busca de posibles culpables.
September 22, 2014
Continuous exposition does nothing. For that reason, this collection does not take off until one slogs through the first trilogy of murder stories and makes it to the big leagues. Unfortunately, the reader has viewed a third of the compendium by this point. Moreover, only in the story of Jack the Ripper, do the black and white illustrations add to the mood. Here, Geary gave up the far too heartening white backdrops for large pools of black ink to fill the nights. Further, the narrator gave up some of his agency to adopt the role of a citizen reacting to the news of the murders in a diary. That is the real disservice of the book though. It holds off a true confrontation between art, history, and the press until the book is nearly half over.
This negative aesthetic aside, the Mr. Geary's work has value for interesting cultural breadcrumbs dropped along its winding trail. In one instant, Geary and the narrater almost seamlessly blend their voices to remark on the times surrounding Jack the Ripper. He writes, "The public opinion is aflame against foreigners! What is there about our national character that refuses to imagine an Englishman responsible for these outrages?" (91) Again in the midst of the same tale, they note, "A scientific theory, currently popular, holds that--in cases of violent death--the final image seen by the deceased will remain affixed to the retina of the eye...and can be captured on a photographic plate!" (120) Finally, as the collection winds down with its two subsequent tales, that of the would-be assassin of President Garfield and the murderer H.H. Holmes, it gives a startling impression of post-Civil War America, even though the year is 1880! The narrator tells, "On the streets of the capital, disorder reigned, and the wildest of rumors held sway." One woman remarks in response to the attempt on Garfield's life, "Southern troops are massed outside the city!" (192) As of yet, I cannot remark on authenticity of any of these claims, but they are profound evidences nonetheless. Whether based on historical accounts or the interpretation of the author, they speak either to the nature of the past or its memory today--both equally important.
The stories only succeeded when the narrator stepped back behind the curtain and allowed history to direct more of the scenes. After all, Geary begins each tale with an historical introduction and bibliography. In some cases such as Garfield's assassination, the stories close with comments on history and memory of the event as well (210). Why not allow these indications of impressive research and corroboration tell the story, rather than dry omniscience.
This negative aesthetic aside, the Mr. Geary's work has value for interesting cultural breadcrumbs dropped along its winding trail. In one instant, Geary and the narrater almost seamlessly blend their voices to remark on the times surrounding Jack the Ripper. He writes, "The public opinion is aflame against foreigners! What is there about our national character that refuses to imagine an Englishman responsible for these outrages?" (91) Again in the midst of the same tale, they note, "A scientific theory, currently popular, holds that--in cases of violent death--the final image seen by the deceased will remain affixed to the retina of the eye...and can be captured on a photographic plate!" (120) Finally, as the collection winds down with its two subsequent tales, that of the would-be assassin of President Garfield and the murderer H.H. Holmes, it gives a startling impression of post-Civil War America, even though the year is 1880! The narrator tells, "On the streets of the capital, disorder reigned, and the wildest of rumors held sway." One woman remarks in response to the attempt on Garfield's life, "Southern troops are massed outside the city!" (192) As of yet, I cannot remark on authenticity of any of these claims, but they are profound evidences nonetheless. Whether based on historical accounts or the interpretation of the author, they speak either to the nature of the past or its memory today--both equally important.
The stories only succeeded when the narrator stepped back behind the curtain and allowed history to direct more of the scenes. After all, Geary begins each tale with an historical introduction and bibliography. In some cases such as Garfield's assassination, the stories close with comments on history and memory of the event as well (210). Why not allow these indications of impressive research and corroboration tell the story, rather than dry omniscience.
February 10, 2017
The unsolved mystery of Jack the Ripper, the prolonged assassination of President James Garfield, and the strange case of H.H. Holmes; perhaps the first serial murderer in American history. Along with a trio of little known murders involving incest, fraud, and deception, this is the first collection of Victorian Era murder graphic novels by Rick Geary.
If you love true crime. If you are a fan of the Victorian era. If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie, then the works of Rick Geary are right up your ally!
You don't have to be a fan of graphic novels to enjoy these historical pieces. With Geary's attention to detail and journalistic storytelling style, anyone who reads Ann Rule or can't miss an episode of Dateline NBC can enjoy this compendium.
I'm trying really hard to get my wife to read this. She's balking but I know in my heart of hearts that this is something she'd enjoy and demand more.
At only $25 cover, this is a killer deal. Especially as each individual Geary edition has a cover price of at least $10 apiece or higher. Check this out on Amazon or your local library, like I did!
It would be a crime to pass this volume up!
If you love true crime. If you are a fan of the Victorian era. If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie, then the works of Rick Geary are right up your ally!
You don't have to be a fan of graphic novels to enjoy these historical pieces. With Geary's attention to detail and journalistic storytelling style, anyone who reads Ann Rule or can't miss an episode of Dateline NBC can enjoy this compendium.
I'm trying really hard to get my wife to read this. She's balking but I know in my heart of hearts that this is something she'd enjoy and demand more.
At only $25 cover, this is a killer deal. Especially as each individual Geary edition has a cover price of at least $10 apiece or higher. Check this out on Amazon or your local library, like I did!
It would be a crime to pass this volume up!
September 15, 2016
Rick Geary is so good at what he does. Even though I've read about some of these events before, in detail, he still makes them fascinating and the art style is perfect.
December 1, 2014
This rating is based mostly on The Fatal Bullet and the shorter stories. I had read The Beast of Chicago and Jack the Ripper: A Journal of the Whitechapel Murders 1888-1889 beforem (I think they're good, not great). I had just read Assassination Vacation, so this definitely fueled my love of James A. Garfield. This has the usual maps and fantastic bibliography. I'm a sucker for research!
January 3, 2016
I very much enjoyed this. The style which is very simple and almost juvenile is at odds with the subject matter and the quasi-true crime feel of the narrative, but that works to unsettle the reader. What all good horror should strive to do. That said, many of the panels are very busy with a lot of cross-hatching - a la woodcut - and coupled with being relatively tiny made them difficult to read at times. Again, this can also be seen as making the reader dig for hard to come by facts. While mystery enhances horror, it did feel at times like the story was simply hard to follow. I felt sometimes like the narrative took a leap or turn or left something out - not deliberately because it was unkown, but because Geary just left it out. All that said, a fun read. The page count for this book is wrong btw...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews