Nick Archer (Liar’s Kiss)

Created by Eric Skillman & Jhomar Soriano “I don’t even know what the hell I’m doing! I follow people around and take pictures for Christ’s sake! I’m no detective!" Private eye NICK ARCHER isn't much of a private eye, but he sure can be a dick in Liar's Kiss, a 2011 graphic novel by writer … Continue reading Nick Archer (Liar’s Kiss)

Quique Hache

Created by Sergio Gómez A series of Spanish language YA novels following the adventures (and misadventures) of fun-loving fifteen-year-old Chilean  QUIQUE HACHE, who has a knack for solving crimes. In what I think is the second book in the series, Quique Hache, Detective  (2005), Quique's just knocked off a correspondence course on becoming a private detective. … Continue reading Quique Hache

My Bookshelf: “The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery”

My Bookshelf The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery, Volumes One and Two Edited by Russ Kick Created and curated by activist, journalist, writer, editor, muckraker and comics buff Russ Kick, this ambitious anthology series by Seven Stories Press which kicked off in 2017 with The Graphic Canon of Crime and Mystery, Volume One: From Sherlock Holmes … Continue reading My Bookshelf: “The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery”

Stu Manning (Lonesome Days, Savage Nights)

Created by Steve Niles & Salvatore Simeone Steve Niles' comic book private eye hero Cal McDonald has been hunting down, palling around and mostly knocking off monsters for years, so it seems only natural that eventually he'd create a monster P.I. Which is exactly what STU MANNING is, in Lonesome Days, Savage Nights, a 2020 … Continue reading Stu Manning (Lonesome Days, Savage Nights)

Gerard Griffu

Created by Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) and Jacques Tardi (1946--) GERARD GRIFFU is the disheveled, battered and betrayed legal adviser/punching bag hero of a real rock 'em, sock 'em hard-boiled detective story initially serialized in 27 installments between October 1977 and April 1978 in BD (issues #1-27), and eventually published as a very stylish  graphic novel in … Continue reading Gerard Griffu

A.Y. Jalisco (Chicanos)

Created by Carlos Trillo & Eduardo Risso "There is something worse than gringos... and that is rich Mexicans who look at you as if you were garbage." Chicanos follows the misadventures (it's hard to call them "cases") of ALEJANDRINA "A.Y." JALISCO, a short, stout, top-heavy (and, we're constantly told, unattractive) Mexican woman who follows her … Continue reading A.Y. Jalisco (Chicanos)

Denaldo Reynoso (The Big Hoax)

Created by Carlos Trillo (1943-2011) and Roberto Mandrafina Pseudonyms include Cacho (1945--) La grande arnaque (The Big Hoax) was an award-winning 1998 Spanish-language graphic novel splattered with blood, sex, a hefty dose of magical realism, and more than a few pointed digressions into South American history and politics. Not that any of that concerns DENALDO REYNOSO, the … Continue reading Denaldo Reynoso (The Big Hoax)

Frank Grissel

Created by Andersen Gabrych Art by Brad Rader "Whatever you want. You can find it here. Or die looking for it." -- Frank welcomes readers to San Francisco in the intro Few noir novels, let alone graphic novels, wander into the murky areas of sexual desire, never mind homosexual desire, as well or as audaciously … Continue reading Frank Grissel

Christopher Marlowe (The Wasteland)

Created by Martin Rowson British cartoonist Martin Rowson's The Wasteland, a 1990 graphic novel, is a surrealistic mash-up of -- and cockeyed tribute to -- T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland and the work of Raymond Chandler. But don't let that scare you away... T.S. Eliot was, of course, a literary big shot (and a crime fiction … Continue reading Christopher Marlowe (The Wasteland)

Neil Hammond & Archie Goldman

Created by Jules Feiffer "I could kill her." -- Annie on her mother Unlike his first foray into detective and crime fiction, Ackroyd (1977), cartoonist Jules Feiffer's 2014 graphic novel Kill My Mother drew pretty much unanimous praise, and was named one of the year's best books of the year by both Vanity Fair and Kirkus … Continue reading Neil Hammond & Archie Goldman