The Black Monday Murders Volume 1

4 Stars because I just wanted to read the first 2 chapters and go to bed, but then, I ended up reading the whole volume cuz it was THAT good. Came off kinda pretentious at first and boring, how amazingly interesting and eye-catching something about bankers and money would be?! Well, turns out it IS. Had a couple of nice moments at first, kinda confusing too, too much bullshit about families and shit. If I wanted to read a billion names that I won't remember after 2 pages, I could read Silmarillion again thank you very much. But then... story started getting good, and interesting, and made me care more about the story, not once I cared about a character though, but the story is intriguing, and that is: Bankers. A long time ago, families sacrificed their own relatives (or not) with blood, to the God Mammon, (the God of money) so they can stay wealthy. And now, a detective is trying to figure out what happens, while this whole business is slowly going to hell. Lots of real world incidents are portrayed in Hickman's way with lots of twists and that was a nice touch. Half-way through the book it started getting REALLY FUCKING GOOD. Like, intense fucking good. Loved the artwork since the beginning of it, and it just fits perfectly for my taste. Amazing work. Will buy the second volume for sure. And I do recommend it if you're into something different. Oh, and I loved all the diary entries and letters and such that's inside. I mostly hate all of that on comic books but here, here I really liked every little bit of it.

I'm still not entirely sure what crypto-noir is, but I know I want more of it! This is a deliciously creepy series that somehow melds economics and occult magic. This second volume really starts to feel comfortable in its paper skin, and I look forward to where the story is heading.

During the past couple years, there's been a series of mysterious, occult horror comics coming out, many of which just did not work for me. In an attempt to keep things weird and unnerving, writers often don't give readers enough information to actually care about what is going on in the book. The Black Monday Murders doesn't give us a lot, but I did find myself drawn in with enough of an idea of what might be going on that I am looking forward to book 2. The book is about a world in which certain families control the banking system which seems to be connected to the whims of a God. The narrative flips back and forth between the present and the past, unveiling hints of a vast conspiracy. And then there's a murder! Not much actually happens in this first volume, but I am intrigued enough to give the second volume a try.