Area 10

Vertigo Crime

by Christos Gage, Chris Samnee (Illustrator)

In New York City, a killer known as "Henry The Eighth" leaves a trail of decapitated corpses — keeping the severed heads to use for unknown purposes. NYPD Detective Adam Kamen leads the investigation, until a seemingly unrelated freak incident leaves him with a brain injury in the section known as "Brodmann Area 10." When he recovers, Adam's perceptions of time are altered. He becomes slowly convinced that his bizarre condition could be tied directly to the "Henry" case — and that the key may lie in the ancient, mystical practice of trepanation.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Horror, Thriller

184 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Chris N. Gage is a writer for comic books and television.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a high three-star read, a solid "I liked it" but probably wouldn't linger in the memory if not for my vague surprise at how often I encounter fictional mentions of trepanation.

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trepanation is a "medical" procedure where a hole is drilled into the head exposing the dura mater to treat health problems generally having to do with blood pressure. But some believe that this procedure helps to open up a "third eye".

NYPD Detective Adam Kamen and his partner are on the trail of a serial killer called "Henry VIII" for his penchant for removing his victim's heads. But during a random (maybe?) hostage situation Adam is stabbed in the forehead. This may have unlocked his inner sight.

What follows is an interesting detective story about a serial killer who has managed to unlock his own "third eye". This is a dark and grim story. But a good detective tale since it keeps you guessing well into the story. The subtle setup of Adam's character is excellent and keeps you guessing as to his culpability in the crimes, even if he is unaware of his actions. Truly well done!

Good crime story with a hint of supernatural spirituality makes a grim thriller about a dtective's attempt to stop a serial killer.

[Lono · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Vertigo Crime imprint hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype for me. No stupid-great noir tales despite having some pretty talented folks writing and/or drawing a few of them. That said, Area 10 is pretty good. Not off the hook, but certainly an entertaining read.



Christos Gage’s fast paced book focuses on the hunt for a serial killer dubbed “Henry the Eighth” and the one cop in particular that’s trying to bring him in. Fairly standard fare. The thing that makes this a little more unique is the cringe-worthy injury that allows the killer to stay one step ahead of the law. Couple of twists that I didn’t see coming and the characters ultimately grew on me.



Not overly psyched about the art. I like a lot of black and white stuff, but it took a while for me to come around to Chris Samnee’s work in this one and I enjoyed his recent run on Daredevil. In the end it was certainly serviceable enough.



While it’s built on a familiar foundation, Area 10 does do a couple of things different and has enough originality to warrant a read if you’re a fan of serial killer fiction or noir comics. I was unaware that Gage had written for Law & Order: SVU prior to reading this. SVU is one of my wife’s favorite shows and this sorta reads a little like one of their episodes. And that’s not a bad thing.

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[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better of the Vertigo Crime series. It deals with trepanning, which is the idea of drilling a hole into the skull to open up new levels of consciousness. At its heart, however, it's a hunt for a serial killer with enough twists and original ideas to keep it from becoming stale. The art is nice and fits the story well. If you liked any of the other books in the Vertigo Crime line, you'll probably like this one.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like nearly all of these Vertigo Crime entries, the art detracts from the tale.

[Tomás · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leído en la edición de tapa dura de Panini, que no figura en Goodreads.

Me encantan los policiales y cuando leo alguna obra del género me pongo exigente (no en estado de crítico de sillón pero exijo que la historia sea un policial coherente, entretenido y que tenga una voz propia).

Esta historia en particular me gustó, pero hasta ahí. No es nada del otro mundo, juega entre lo sobrenatural y un noir realista sin llegar a ser ninguna de las dos cosas y la mezcla no está muy bien hecha. Queda un híbrido un poco tirado a menos.

Hay un asesino serial como premisa interesante y que engancha al principio. Después tenemos el típico policial de procedimiento, el detective acomplejado, la acompañante femenina (no me gustó para nada el personaje femenino en la historia, parece que fuera solo un agregado para que el protagonista principal tenga con quien meterse en la cama, lo cual me parece bastante bajo de parte del autor) y los compañeros policías que mucho no dicen tampoco. El agregado sobrenatural es interesante, lo hubiera desarrollado un poco más quitando ciertos elementos narrativos que no van a ningún lado. Son 184 páginas, hubiera podido dar mucho más de lo que da. Pero entretiene y cumple un poco, no mucho, pero un poco.

Los dibujos son muy buenos. Chris Samnee se mueve bastante bien con el blanco y negro, los juegos de sombras le dan el ambiente noir necesario a la historia. Las viñetas no son difíciles de comprender (como pasa a veces en este tipo de historias en blanco y negro del género) asi que mis aplausos para este dibujante.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book blew me away. Easily my favourite Vertigo Crime book so far, "Area 10" is a straight-up police procedural mystery that delivers on all fronts: story, art, pacing, intrigue. What sets this book apart from your usual crime fiction story is the subject of trepanation, which is integral to the plot. While reading it, I kept getting those "Silence of the Lambs" vibes; you know, when the suspense gets so intense, and you just *know* something bad's going to happen, that you sit on the edge of your seat? And just when you think everything's all neatly tied up, you realize that there's still a quarter of the book left to read!

Christos N. Gage and Chris Samnee have raised the standard that every future [Vertigo Crime] book must strive to meet. Even people (mystery enthusiasts, especially) who don't normally read comic books will enjoy this one. Anyway, it's not a comic book; It's a graphic NOVEL.

I cannot recommend this book enough. I'd pay retail for this (as a matter of fact, I did!), so at a measly $15 or so online, it's a steal. Get this book, you won't regret it.

[Jess Bragg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book of the Vertigo crime series. Well thought out, well executed. Ohhhh executed!! This book has that. And the not so well executed.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

As a middle-aged, overeducated white male nerd raised in the late Postmodernist Era, I am of course an adult fan of comic books; but as someone who regularly reads and reviews text-based literature, I'm also a harsh critic of comic books designed for grown-ups, finding the vast majority of them to be the exact teen-quality subpar fluff that most non-fans of adult comics suspect them to be. I mean, just take the recent Area 10 for a good example, the latest by the new "crime" imprint of Vertigo, itself the adult imprint of DC Comics, with it no surprise I think that its author Christos N. Gage was once a writer for the Law & Order franchise; because to be frank, this slim volume comes off as the laziest episode of Law & Order ever written, with Gage apparently never meeting a single cliche from this genre he didn't love, in this case based around a concept that even sounds like an idea from the wackier end of Law & Order, like when they tackle Satan worshippers or online pornographers. (Here, it's a serial killer who's obsessed with "trepenation," the ancient act of drilling a hole into a person's skull in an attempt to release their mystical "third eye." Complete with shocking twist ending!) It's fine for a 14-year-old, don't get me wrong, and the strong if not workmanlike illustration by Chris Samnee is a welcome diversion; but I have to confess, the older I get, the more bothered I am when such stuff is marketed towards adults as appropriate adult material, when in fact its quality is far, far below what most fans of text-based novels will consider a good read. It should be kept in mind before picking it up yourself.

Out of 10: 6.7

[Avradeep Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A page turning mix of science fiction and noir thriller with a dark, gritty and gripping story full of twists and thrills from Christos Gage and fine B&W artwork from Chris Samnee. This is one of the better crime based Vertigo graphic novels out there.

[Rodolfo Santullo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Segundo volumen de la colección Vertigo Crime que pasa por estas reseñas y, en esta ocasión, salimos mucho mejor parados. Area 10 nos cuenta la historia de Adam Kamen, un policía neoyorquino, quien persigue a un terrible asesino en serie conocido como "Enrique VIII" (por su costumbre de decapitar a sus víctimas) y quien un mal día se cruza en el camino de un loco y termina con un destornillador clavado en la frente. Milagrosamente sobrevive pero al salir del hospital empezará a percatarse de que su perspectiva del tiempo se ha alterado y que quizá su lesión no haya sido casual sino que se vincula directamente con el asesino que persigue. Manteniendo la costumbre de la colección -la de traer guionistas de otros medios- el autor Christos N. Gage es, antes que nada, guionista de televisión, pero tampoco es un recién llegado al noveno arte (ha escrito unas cuantas series de Marvel). Plantea todo su relato como un policial de esos que fueron furor en el cine luego de Se7en de David Fincher y, la verdad, sale bastante bien librado. Hay que tener cierta tolerancia para un par de casualidades, por Gage entrega una historia muy entretenida, colmada de vueltas de tuerca, buen desarrollo de personajes y un final de esos atado con moño. Y la labor de Chris Samnee no puede ser mejor. El dibujante realiza una obra pristina -en sobrio blanco y negro- donde la narrativa es perfecta y el disfrute de cada página es total.

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Chris Samnee is a joy. I love how even here you can see his style starting to shine through. Gage's noir-style story about the idea of a special area of the brain is fun, too, but the biggest draw here is Samnee.

[Arthur Chappell · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some good gruesome ideas here and there genuinely are new age cults into trepanation, (literally drilling holes in the skulls of the living to open pineal glands or let the brain breath).

Many elements stretch credibility, namely the doctor / psychiatrist / love interest knowing all about trepenation but never being considered a suspect herself, the science fiction angle of the hero and villain both getting visions of the future, the fight in the subway with a ghostly spirit entity that is quickly forgotten in the later police procedural, and the final power-drill duel is just preposterous.

Arthur Chappell

[Jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acceptable plot. Some good twists and some shocking moments.

[Greg Cohoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of police procedural novels, but I used to watch a lot of cop shows on television. This was a really cool graphic novel, following an interesting serial murder case from partway through the investigation to the end. There were several well-placed plot twists, which helped keep the pacing particularly exciting.

The story is well-written, and the art is fantastic. I could look at Chris Samnee art all day long. His style of using a lot of dark and shadows really worked well with the tone of the story.

The main plot deals with a series of murders that include decapitation. As the investigation proceeds, the investigators learn that the murderer is also performing experiments on his victims. And it gets kinda weird. The main investigator has personal demons to wrestle with, and gets injured in the course of the investigation, which really complicates things.

I read this over the course of a couple of days, but it can easily be read in one sitting because it flows so well.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't want to give too much away about the spunky idea the book is based on, as discovering it is half the fun. Let me just say that the premise is pretty cool.

Unfortunately the plot around the coolness essentially plays out like EVERY police procedural in the known world (divorced cop, on the edge of sanity, cute lady met along the way and of course twists (predictable) aplenty)

The artwork while adequate and gruesome at times, doesn't inspire and could have stood to be either more edgy given the content, or perhaps less mundane.

In short, a highly enjoyable read but nothing eye-bleedingly awesome.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Area 10, by Gage and Samnee, is a dark, gritty crime novel that explores an insanely strange topic while being super creepy. The main character, a cop with issues, isn't anything new but those issues and how they're dealt with are very interesting. The bad guy in the book is evil and villainous. The art, although in black and white, is superb. Sometimes wit monochromatic art there can be difficulty distinguishing between characters and events. Not here. Chris Samnee is remarkable. This Vertigo Crime book, while pricey is very good.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book combined an interesting theme, with compelling characters, and a great pace. I enjoyed how the book used the theory of trepanation and mind explanation as a motivation for the killings. It was an easy, quick read, much like watching an episode of crime television. The only drawbacks were that that the motivations for the crimes were not really explored that deeply, and the ending does have some gimmicks. Overall the story is enjoyable, and for those who pay close attention to detail, the clues are usually there for the reader to see.

[Brian Rosenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Vertigo Crime imprint and I enjoyed it. Serial killer "Henry the Eighth" is leaving a trail of decapitated corpses. The detective on the case gets forcefully trepanned (via screwdriver) and starts having weird visions. Writer Christos Gage ties it all together. It's like a Seinfeld episode but with a body count. Area 10 is a fast read with a few twists and pretty cool B/W art. Good thriller.

[Mike Oliveri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good crime thriller with a twist of mysticism. It falls victim to the television trope of having characters explain their actions and motivations in a rush of dialog during the climax, but otherwise is a well-paced read with good use of action and suspense. Samnee's artwork suits the dark feel of the book, and displays a solid sense of story telling. Another winner for the Vertigo Crike line.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent illustrations, moody, great acting, excellent use of blacks. Wonderfully drawn book. Script's solid, interesting premise. I liked the big twist at the end with the killer's ID, but the final fight was a tad ridiculous.

[Ørjan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this was a bit of a surprise. The black and white art is just serviceable, but the writing is awesome! Try this if you're a sucker for crime with a mystical edge.

David Fincher should make the movie version of this!

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible! Hopefully full review coming soon - but yeah this is a winner - great writing, great art.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel in the TRUE sense of the word, meaning that it is a comic book originally published in book format, hence the term graphic novel. People often mistakenly refer to trade paperbacks as 'graphic novels'. Watchmen and Walking Dead are great graphic novels. No, they are trade paperbacks. They compile comic books that were originally published in a single magazine format, and then reprinted/ compiled into a book format. There is a big difference, and it drives me nuts when people throw the term graphic novel around like that.

The format of this book is odd but neat. It's a hardcover smaller than a standard comic book but larger than a digest, in black and white on heavy pulp paper, 176 pages of story. Something like this could well be the comic book format of the future if all monthly comics were to stop being published.

The story by Christos N. Gage is very good, and while it is labeled as a Crime comic, it is in truth a hybrid between that genre and Horror. An edge of your seat page turner, there is only one scene towards the end that made them lose me. *S-P-O-I-L-E-R A-L-E-R-T* There is no way that the guy would take a drill to his head in order to fight the killer. No way. The rest of this book was pretty believable, but that part lost me. *END SPOILER* Recommended reading for fans of the genres listed above, this will also be available in softcover next year for the more budget conscious reader.

[Ryan Werner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty cool that a dude gets stabbed in the face with a screwdriver, but I don’t think I’m buying it. The story itself doesn’t really take any chances, even when it takes chances—the twists are telegraphed and then subverted but it isn’t satisfying, the action develops in big turning moments that just aren’t very fascinating. I get that the Crime genre needs its tropes to work, but this leans in a bit heavy.

I think the art is a little too hardboiled for the narrative, as well. Very dark, lots of negative space to suggest line work. All well and good, but it doesn’t quite fit.

Just like the other book I read in this Vertigo series—Brian Azzarello’s Filthy Rich—it seems a bit schlocky. The pages turned, but that’s about as low as praise gets.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

The area ten referenced in the title refers to a section of the human brain, particularly where the pineal gland is located. A serial killer, called "Henry the 8th" for his habit of decapitating victims, is stalking NYC. A detective working the case get stabbed through his forehead with a screwdriver by a disturbed man. Upon recovery the detective finds that he can see auras and occasionally split seconds into the future. A different kind of crime story with interesting twists.

[Brian Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

The area ten referenced in the title refers to a section of the human brain, particularly where the pineal gland is located. A serial killer, called "Henry the 8th" for his habit of decapitating victims, is stalking NYC. A detective working the case get stabbed through his forehead with a screwdriver by a disturbed man. Upon recovery the detective finds that he can see auras and occasionally split seconds into the future. A different kind of crime story with interesting twists.

[Ljfarve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good but very dark and shocking in a lot of ways area 10 is a standard detective style story where the cop is looking for a killer but Mr. Gage is able to take that basic idea and turn in upside down in a way I did not see coming this book is very gruesome the art fits the world Gage has created very well

[Alessandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great thriller, with a real coup-de-theatre, which is therefore quite unpredictable because of its scarcity (but not abscency) in mystery/thriller/noir literature and movies. In fact, just one world famous franchises uses the same expedient… Darnly enjoyable. Read it and enjoy it.

[Austin Gaines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trepanning. Detectives. Driller Killers. A quick mean detective pulp comic.