Created by Jamie S. Rich and Joëlle Jones
New York City eye ANTONIO MERCER is a young, handsome sonuvabitch; a sucker, he admits, who can’t resist sticking his nose in dangerous places. He figures he could use a break, and he gets one (he thinks) when he’s hired by a woman to find her sister, who disappeared from a locked room just before her big deal high society wedding.
The catch?
The runaway bride is Julie Roman, Antonio’s ex. She’s a high society dame who comes from money and a powerful, controlling family — which is why she’s his ex. It doesn’t help, either, that the family is seriously involved with some fairly dangerous criminal types.
And then the bodies that start piling up.
The is just classic noir. Sure, you’ve read it all before, but Rich’s writing here is exceptionally tight and the patter falls just right, and there’s none of the overwrought blocky caveman art of many of its crime comic rivals to jerk you around, but Jones’s air of quiet, rough-hewn elegance perfectly suits the story and Mercer’s slightly rumpled appearance (and slightly dubious reputation).
All in black & white, of course.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jamie S. Rich is a writer and editor who published his first prose novel, Cut My Hair, in 2000, and his first superhero comic book, It Girl and the Atomics, in 2012. He has worked on multiple projects in both mediums. His comic work includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Food Chain, Madame Frankenstein, Mister Miracle, Rorshach, Strange Adventures, and Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow. He currently reviews music and film, and lives in Portland, Oregon.
Comic artist Joëlle Jones is best known for her work in Catwoman, Helheim, Jean Grey, The Girl Who Owned a City, and with co-creator Jamie S. Rich, the ongoing black comedy Lady Killer, about a picture-perfect (but homicidal) homemaker, wife, and mother, set in the early 1960s.
UNDER OATH
- “Some will holler cliché. Me? I see nothing but classic noir and hard-boiled genre tropes lovingly celebrated in Rich’s story, a smooth flowing piece of work that reads like a period-perfect screenplay for a 1940’s-50’s noir. As for Joëlle Jones art? Fans might be surprised to see some softer lines and curvier faces here and there, but it’s still Joëlle Jones’ brilliant, stylized draftsmanship throughout… Any savvy noir fan will smell a rat – or at least an untrustworthy femme fatale – early on, but even the savviest may not be ready for what really happened to the missing sister. Trust me: This one’s a treat.”
— The Stiletto Gumshoe
GRAPHIC NOVELS
(2009, Oni Press)
Black & white
Written by Jamie S. Rich
Art by Joëlle Jones
Originally published in 2009, there have been several softcover and hardcover re-releases, including an updated 2026 edition featuring new covers and an afterword by Jamie S. Rich.
THE DICK OF THE DAY
- October 28, 2026
THE BOTTOM LINE: This 1930s New York City eye is a young, handsome sonuvabitch who gets hired by a woman to find her sister, who disappeared just before her big deal high society wedding. The catch? The runaway bride is his ex. The recently reissued 2009 graphic novel is just a classic noir wet dream — Rich’s writing here is tight and the patter falls right, and Jones’s quiet, rough-hewn elegance of the black & white art hits the spot. All that’s missing is an intro by Eddie Muller.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
