The Black Monday Murders, Vol. 2: A Story of Human Sacrifice

The Black Monday Murders

by Jonathan Hickman, Tomm Coker (Artist)

Thomas Dane goes looking for a man who doesn't want to be found.

From JONATHAN HICKMAN (EAST OF WEST, Secret Wars, Avengers) and TOMM COKER (UNDYING LOVE) comes the next installment in the crypto-noir series about the power of dirty, filthy money... and exactly what kind of people you can buy with it.

THE BLACK MONDAY MURDERS is classic occultism where the various schools of magic are actually clandestine banking cartels who control all of society: a secret world where vampire Russian oligarchs, Black popes, enchanted American aristocrats, and hitmen from the International Monetary Fund work together to keep ALL OF US in our proper place.

Collects issues 5 through 8.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Graphic Novels Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2018

About the author

Jonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is money the root of all evil?



The youngest Rothschild is out for revenge after being cast out.
And regardless of what the other families think of her, they need her to take her place of power at the table. With her twin dead and another head of one of the families missing, she's about to attempt something that has never been done before.
But does she have the abilities necessary to pull it off?



At the same time, Detective Dumas teams up with Dr. Gaddis to confront a god and solve Daniel Rothschild's murder. Dumas finds out that there is always a price to pay when Gaddis bargains for the answers to questions the detective didn't even know he needed to ask.



This is a weird story that I was afraid wasn't going anywhere, but volume 2 has me hooked.
Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Buddy read with Captain Monocle

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Black Monday Murders is a strange tale about cabals and money cults that drive the world economic cycles. The first volume was pretty strange but intriguing and this second volume actually notches up the suspense a bit. I can't say that I follow everything that is happening, but the graphics are splendid (and gory), and the dialog is great as well. I loved when the detective and the old man visit Mammon, perhaps the high point of this book actually.
Recommended for those who enjoy the gore of The Walking Dead and ghost stories as well as speculative fiction.

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

More diabolical misadaventures of the financial magnate clan i.e. the rulers of this world (or at least the avatars of the true ruler, Mammon). Rather a come-down from the brilliant first volume; also made me realize that the prior book was perhaps less an example of brilliance and more one of ingeniusness. Still, I'll take an ingenius book and this continuation remains very engaging. An interesting idea is hinted at: once the world was populated by old gods, who gradually died out due to lack of worship; the sole remaining god just happens to be the greediest: Mammon, god of money. This installment's greatest weakness is the reduction of its ostensible protogonist, an Haitian-American detective, from an intimidating psychical investigator to an ignorant straight man, mouth agape at the bizarre wonders that come to light. Chief among those dark wonders: the abyss below the Federal Reserve, where Mammon and his staff hold court. The art was particularly wonderful in that scene, and is superlative throughout this volume, as it was in its predecessor. The artist Tomm Coker is easily the series' MVP. The Black Monday Murders' third and final arc has been on hold; from what I've read, due to health challenges that Coker has been experiencing. But I've also just read that it should be moving forward shortly, and Coker has been spending much time on the art. Like so:

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so excited when I finished reading the first volume of Jonathan Hickman’s “Black Monday Murders” that I immediately ordered volume 2 and impatiently waited for it to be delivered: I just had to know what happened next!!

It is hard to summarize without spoiling either the first of second volume, but I thought this was a great continuation of Hickman’s story of occult conspiracies, betrayal and murder. The muted color palette and clean but detailed illustrations are perfect for this bleak and creepy story. Gregoria’s plan to avenge the crimes committed against her family and Detective Dumas’ fall down the proverbial rabbit-hole are spine-chilling and riveting.

This book gets 4 stars because it’s the last one, which may or may not be a fair rating, but dammit, what do you mean, this is it?! We don’t get to know more about this creepy world Hickman created, or what happens to the characters after the last page? I am in a huff about it, so I docked a star off. I love those books, they are so dark and weird!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was as good as the first volume! What a deep and twisted story about the true power of wealth and the Market. The art and story are so solid here and the characters are just as vibrant and sinister as the first volume. The twists and turns especially when the detective and Professor Gaddis meet the god Mammon, are priceless and very very dark. This is not for everyone but the takeaway here is very close to the world we live and in and the events here and the story told make you wonder....

Man this still has me thinking so heavily!

Danny

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first volume of this series. The second one is also quite good.

The strange story about the powerful magic houses, who also happen to be financial powerhouses, struggling for the top position. Meanwhile a nutty professor and an intrepid detective have a meeting with Mammon himself. More than that I shall not spoil.

The oddness of the story of magic and markets is a fresh look at the intermixing of finance and magic. It was amusing to hear Mammon's reason for market crashes. Lol. I laugh, but likely there is some idiot progressive (oxymoron) who thinks this stuff is real. But, I digress. The artwork is quite good and the muted colors do a great job of highlighting the darkness of this story.

"The Black Monday Murders" stand out from the normal dreck that have become the norm in comics. An interesting story, well told and with some very unique concepts. I can appreciate a well told story. I think if you read this, you will as well.

[Alexander Peterhans]

The heady mix of ideas flags a bit, as more answers are presented. The idea that the Rothschilds may be subverting the Mammon power system is interesting. The meeting with Mammon itself is quite audacious.

The art is still very good.

Goodreads' own Lenny pointed me towards possible antisemitism in this book, seeing as the Rothschilds are one of the powerhungry families, and they're the only real life Jewish banker family that Hickman uses. I did recognise the Rothschild name, and I assumed the other families were also named after real life moneyed families, which they're not. It is strange, and seeing Hickman's work, nothing is in there by accident.

I can't make my mind up on this one, so I'll leave it at that and not rate it for now.

Read with Anne, who should be the chair of the Fed.

[Ma'Belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended to fans of: Hellblazer, From Hell, and other occult-centered tales.

This series is deeply fascinating and enjoyable to read. My only criticism is that it's being paced incredibly slow, and this is true of nearly all of Jonathan Hickman's comics. Don't get me wrong: I'd much rather this story be drawn out across 4 or 5 volumes than it be done too quickly, but certain reveals at the very end of this volume could have happened sooner, in my opinion.

[Štěpán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I am stupid I like answers and this has some answers so I like it.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the first book of The Black Monday Murders we found out that an American rich dude was murdered by a Russian rich dude; in the second book of The Black Monday Murders, the investigating detective finds out what the reader already knows: that an American rich dude was indeed killed by a Russian rich dude. Jonathan fucking Hickman…

There is one new piece of information to add to the story which is that one of the financial crashes wasn’t caused by Mammon (though what that means at this point is anyone’s guess) but that shouldn’t be it for AN ENTIRE BOOK! What an absolute waste of time this one was.

Hickman is almost always style over substance and nowhere is that more apparent than in The Black Monday Murders. In addition to the comics pages, there are entire pages of nothing but dots, title pages, a contents page, a character list, reports, maps, newspaper reports, journal entries, quotes, logos, diagrams, how tos - all of it superfluous to the story!

Like the aforementioned dross, the characters’ dialogue is much less lofty and cool than it thinks it is and only serves to underline the superficial nature of this series. The only thing worse was any scene with Detective Dumas and Dr Gaddis, aka Mr Exposition, which are tediously extensive info dumps about the most boring drivel. Good luck staying awake through that nonsense!

Tomm Coker’s art remains the only good thing about this title. The lair underneath the Fed looked great, as did the character designs of the god.

There is something to the concept behind The Black Monday Murders so it’s a shame that Hickman’s dragging his heels this early in the story instead of actually developing it. As it is, he’s disappeared up his own bum with this pseudo-intellectual snorefest and I can’t be bothered to continue indulging him. The Black Monday Murders Volume 2 is a rubbish book that’s bankrupted what little interest I had invested in the series.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

Once the world buidling slowly unveils and kicks in. Once the characters start to take place. Once the intrigue has built to a stage where you want more at every turn of the page. You know you've become hooked. The amazing thing is that very minimal story has been unveiled but somehow Hickman and Co have created a story with so much going on.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this volume Jonathan Hickman is less self-indulgently cryptic and the plot follows a straighter path if no less weird. I won't pretend I understood everything- some scenes totally eluded me- but globally it follows the powerplay between schools on one hand while on the other hand Theodore Dumas continues his investigation on Rotschild's death.

Hickman is as dense as can be; lots of dialogues (most quite good actually), innuendoes, layers of piecemeal information, social criticism, occult stuff, you name it. Add a bit of gore to lighten it a bit and that's it.
Hickman even manages to develop scenes I would most probably find ridiculous if done by someone else, notably the one in the Federal Bank where Dumas and the professor actually meet Mammon as goat-skulled god.

Which leads to the other stars of the book: Tomm Coker (pencils) and Michael Garland (colors). Coker instills a creepy, stressful and depressing atmosphere like few can. The aforementioned Fed Bank scene was so wonderfully rendered that I totally forgot how incongrous it was in the first place.
The characters are very well drawn too. Special mention to Dumas and a very special mention to Abigaïl, the creepiest bitch in town. She'll give you shivers.

For me Hickman is hit-or-miss. I adored The nightly news but his Avengers stuff left me stone cold. This one's a hit as far as I'm concerned and if you liked vol.1 this one is of cut from the same cloth so no need to hesitate and go for it.

[Billy Jepma · Rating 5 out of 5]

God, what a trip. Volume 2 is a little choppier, as it covers a great deal of ground at a very rapid pace, but Hickman's writing is riveting, and Coker's art is somehow even better than it was before. There's so much to unpack here--maybe a little too much--but nothing feels unresolved. The mystery is solved, new puzzles are introduced, and I'm gutted that I have to wait for the forthcoming continuation that may or may not come anytime soon.

I wish Hickman gave us a little more of his characters, as it feels like he keeps his readers at arm's length from who these people really are. But...that also feels intentional. Coker's art tells us plenty, and the insights from Hickman's script are enough to sculpt these characters into tactile figures. But there's so much going on beneath that it's frustrating and exciting to have it be just out of reach. It's bold, exciting stuff and expertly toes the line between genres and themes. Whenever I thought I had a grip on the world Hickman and Coker created, it would zag another way and introduce a new, terrifying wrinkle into the mix.

This series is just stellar. I can imagine the obtuseness and density rubbing people the wrong way, but it scratches a particular itch I didn't know I had. I will be anxiously and impatiently waiting for the next installment whenever Hickman and Coker grace us with it.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, Hickman really lost me with this one. There are plenty of great ideas in here, but the writing is so obfuscated and withholding that it's very, very difficult to have any clue what's going on at any given moment, until all of a sudden, there's an expository infodump that doesn't seem to address any of your actual questions. The idea that the world's money is controlled by a secret cabal of dark magicians is a very ripe one, but as I said in my review of Vol. 1, Hickman gives us no one to root for in this fight.

Everyone is a villain I want to die. I guess it's kind of like a bleak, humorless Succession, in that it's about a bunch of terrible people who are very difficult to root for, only like, the Roys can summon demons. But Succession works because you on some level understand who the Roys are, and their machinations (and dialogue) move at a blistering pace that keeps you enthralled. Everyone in this series feels like a horrible asshole and an empty vessel for making vague, unexplained magic stuff happen. It carries itself with the gravitas of other Hickman work, like East of West, but can't quite live up to its own lofty ambitions. Throw in the fact that this series is unfinished, and has been for many years, and you've got yourself a real skippable book.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars. Man this is a tough book to rate. Here Detective Dumas and Professor Gaddis continue their conversation about the symbols and what Dumas has seen done with them. They also meet this God Mammon. That whole sequence was pretty dope. This volume gets a little darker than the previous with the gore and blood. Coker really brings that stuff to life with his art. This is tough to rate because on one hand I was enjoying reading this, the allure, learning what these people are really up to, what we learn with the meeting with Mammon. I was definitely intrigued as I was getting through this. But also there were so many questions left unanswered. Like what did Gia do to get so strong? What was this thing she did that had Eresko pissed? Who did Ackerman have to meet in Denmark? What happened there? Why now was Ackerman summoned home? All these things left me feeling unfulfilled by the end. If these questions were answered, then I missed it then.

[Dev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm kind of in two minds about this series, on the one hand it's a great concept and really well executed. I love the format that the story is portrayed in [with the files and emails scattered throughout] and the art really fits the overall mood well. On the other hand, I struggle to remember the various plot threads from one volume to the next and also to tell some of the characters apart and remember how all the various groups relate to each other. But that is something I often struggle with so I won't fault the author for it, and also I just really enjoy it even though I sometimes feel like there might be small details I'm missing soooo ...four stars!

[Zedsdead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to believe this is written by the same guy who barfed up East of West.

There's a treat in v2: we get to meet Mammon himself. And the aesthetic is perfect. Dwelling deep in catacombs that exist beneath the Fed, Mammon and his retainers are all about animal skulls, chains, and human bones, patience and infernal purpose. If Mammon really does exist in the material plane, this is what he looks like.

The sprawling, historic conspiracy at the heart of The Black Monday Murders actually feels like it would hold up under close scrutiny (unlike, say, Preacher's Grail). It's refreshing.

[Des Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Hickman is so damn consistent. While I was afraid of that typical problem where you forget the details of his last volume, Black Monday Murders does a great job with its retrospective exposition. I was clued in again right away, and completely invested in Detective Dumas and Mia Rothschild's arcs. This idea is so unique, and putting unbridled capitalism right up with the darkest occult shit Hickman can muster, is just a perfectly gruesome cocktail.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck, I barely have any clue what's happening but I love it. Gods, dark economics, vampire murder familiars, the spookiest scenes in any comic I've ever read... yeah, this is my jam.

[Dávid Novotný · Rating 4 out of 5]

With second volume pieces of puzzle will start to fall in right places and whole story makes more sense.

Some moments (especially mystic ones) are great, accompanied by amazing art by Tomm Coker.

There is even some conclusion in a way, but still the final piece is missing and I hope, that one day, I will get a chance to read it all in nice big deluxe edition.

[Alex Sarll]

"Haven't you ever wondered why Judas, who only betrayed Christ once, is the fallen sinner of the story, and Peter is the redeemed? After all, Peter denied the Son of God three times - each denial a separate betrayal.

Judas, you see - he took the money."

Hickman and Coker's treatise on finance and occultism, and how they're really the same thing, continues. Albeit slowly - it took them almost a year to get these four issues out. It can't help that the climate in the allegedly real world has continued to get ever stranger and darker over that period – even compared to when the series debuted in 2016, a story which foregrounds the role of the Rothschilds among the secret rulers of the world can't help but read a little more uncomfortably now, and for very different reasons, especially once we get to the scene with a human heart being devoured. On top of which there remains the series' besetting problem: when the detective's sage advisor tells him that "money is the physical manifestation of power", I still expect the reply 'Yes, and?' Even once we meet the thing that lurks beneath the Federal Reserve, and in hollow tones it proclaims that "Scarcity gives the people appetite, and hope makes them believe they will be fed. Man is my seed, and they are the true reflections of my nature. So they worship themselves and in doing so, me. Eternal consumers. It is as it always was. As it always will be"...fundamentally, it doesn't feel that different to the average Philip Hammond budget speech, except maybe that Mammon's skull-face looks healthier. If anything, the hints that even this demon-god of capitalism doesn't quite control everything, that it can be blindsided, feel like they're pushing the story into the realm of consolatory fantasy (My Little Monday: Finance is Magic?). Still, it can't be denied that this is a nicely eerie bit of comics. The secret magic language, inconceivable as its pronounciation might be, does look plausibly like an alphabet people might speak, which is a surprisingly difficult trick for a designer to pull off. And the art team make even overfamiliar elements of spookiness look newly chilling again in these sinister towers and shadowed vaults.

[Fx Smeets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Monday Murders is one of these comics: I am fascinated, and I am struggling to embrace it. The material is rich and the back stories are deep, possibly too deep. It is impossible to insert them all into the narrative, which becomes elliptic, cryptic at times. It makes for a slow reading. Pages can be deceptively bare: they still take time to go through if you want to stay close to the plot and understand what is going on.


But it can be liked without being understood. The art is beautiful, its crisp, monochromatic looks, its neat lines and shadows, the clarity of the drawing clashing with the darkness and the violence of the contents. Very few comics have inspired a frisson of fear in me. The combined efforts of Hickman and Coker manage that feast, particularly when Mammon (the God governing our fates*) is on the page. The story, starting from Wall Street and diving into the occult, is right up my street. But before I decide whether this is one of my favourite comics of all times, I need to read it a few more times, muse a bit longer at some plot twists, figure out what is a metaphor of what and get lost again into its dark horror.





(*) "From the edges of the sea above, to the depths of that abyss below, and all that lives under the fallow earth, to the very core where rests an iron fount.
It is all mine.
All of it.
The entire world.
Doesn't that make one a god?"

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story doesn't feel finished, though this might be by design. The imbalance after the murder in the first volume is resolved. The police investigation is also likely discontinued. Power is shown to corrupt individuals of every social status. Time moves on in this urban fantasy. I would love to read more in this amazing world.

Animosities within the group of the true world leaders become obvious. The newly-instated member is looking for revenge and she needs allies. She must tread lightly, though, lest she disturb ongoing business which would earn her more enemies.

The detective investigating her brother's murder discovers the true powers that be and their access to the dark arts. He is helped by a professor who knows about this secret organization.

The two gain an audience with the god behind the organization - Mammon. Though he is all-knowing, all-powerful and provides them with power, he can't see the members of the organization, only their works. The professor wants an answer to a question that has bugged him his whole life - what causes market crashes. It is Mammon himself. One recent crash was not caused by Mammon, though. This information costs him his life. The experience marks the detective deeply. He loses interest in the investigation in favor of joining the organization.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recently added to a group to discuss comics and omnis and such, mostly dudes from the USA, but also a couple other countries. The chat is very lively! And  with the different time zones its pretty hard to follow, these gentleman wanted to do a readalong together and it was such a long time ago i did that last. We decided on The Black Monday Murders by Jonathan Hickman. A series i read before, but it was a while,  and i remember loving it alot. Its a crypto noir series, very dark, very moody.  Multimiljonairs are devils, reaping souls, getting richer and richer what ever the cost. This comic is nearly ten years old but Hickman was up to something! Not alot has changed, things only gotten worse. It seems that like 10 people rule the known world. Back to the book, The Black Monday Murders is A Murder mystery, full of occult shady business,  its absolutely fiction, but in some ways realistic. Its intelligent horror, and the artwork is phenomenal. One minor is that this series stops when things get really interesting,  its a pretty fitting ending,  but i was really ready for more. But again, this remains a fantastic series. Would not mind a great looking hardcover of this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars.

[Aron · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's books like this that keep me reading comics. I read the first volume last year right after it first came out, and I liked it, but it felt like I was missing something or just wasn't completely getting it. So fast forward about a year and volume 2 comes out and I pick it up. I started reading Vol. 2 and pretty quick I realized I needed to go back and read Vol. 1 again, because there was a lot I didn't remember. So when I read Vol. 1 for the second time I think things were a little clearer and made more sense and as a result I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the first time. So when I finished Vol. 1 I immediately started reading Vol. 2 and WOW, it's fantastic! The writing is great, the story's very compelling and the artwork is awesome and fits the story perfectly. There's a couple nice little twists at the end which make for a little bit of a cliffhanger, but it's not a jaw dropper. All in all an excellent book, in what is so far an excellent series.

[Armand · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book explores the byzantine workings of the banking monolith Caina-Kankrin in even more depth as the incumbents of the Ascendant Seat and the Stone Chair wage a duel to the death through infernal blood magick. I shan't wax rhapsodic over the dialog because I've rarely encountered anything so majestic in a book. It's as enigmatic as it is expressive, shrouding just as much as it communicates. The characters are deep and well-developed, and Grigoria in particular is quite a bewitching if somewhat inscrutable minx.

It is every bit as delicious as the preceding tome, but if I have to nitpick, it's that it's not as voluminous as I would've desired. I devoured the whole book in one sitting, and though it had a most satisfying conclusion, I still found myself craving for more. Fellow fans should not fret though as the opening issue of the final arc is set to be released sometime in mid-2019.

I'm rating this 9/10, or 4 intriguing, abyssal stars out of 5.

[Andy Paciorek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extra stars for Tomm Coker's art and Michael Garland's colours. Both volumes are really visually appealing and suit the tone of the story very well. The tale itself is an interesting premise and told well enough but is pretty straightforward - I'd have preferred a bit more twist and intricacy and offbeat character development but it's not bad and the 2 volumes are handsome artful objects. Nice slices of weird noir.

[Olga Smarzyńska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Po raz kolejny zachwycam się samym dizajnem książki - poza ilustracjami znajdziemy tutaj również bardzo pasujące do klimatu wycinki z dzienników, fragmenty maili czy całe strony z wykresami pomagającymi czytelnikowi zrozumieć strukturę świata przedstawionego.

Historia nabiera zawrotnego tempa i w końcu jesteśmy w stanie złożyć sobie wszystko w jedną, spójną całość. Drugi tom poprowadzony jest zdecydowanie bardziej liniowo przez co łatwiej jest się połapać kto jest kim.
"...[d]latego ci bogowie już dawno odeszli w zapomnienie. Modlitwy do nich rozpłynęły się w eterze. Pozostał tylko wszechświat oraz jedyny prawdziwy bóg konsumpcji."

[Ostrava · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is fucking nuts. It's somebody who read the words "money is a manifestation of power in our world" and decided to take it as literally as possible, and the results are Lovecraft the Comrade.

Seriously don't understand the complaints, this is awesome lol. But is this thing finished or not? I would assume it's not and that its last arch was abandoned but I'm strangely satisfied with this point of the story. Maybe I'll go back and check it out to see if it's done in the future, and I'll most likely come back for the author.

[Harsh Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second volume made this series much more intriguing. The story here is taken to a whole new level.
We finally come across the dark, evil, manipulative, all consuming god "Mammon".

The mysteries are now being unfolded slowly.
The code being deciphered. The whole story is developing towards something darker.

The best part about this series according to me are the characters. They are all well developed.