Murder by Remote Control

author: Janwillem van de Wetering
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at: 2016/06/25
date added: 2016/06/25
shelves: graphic-novels
review:
'Murder By Remote Control' is a collaboration between international writer Janwillem van de Wetering and his neighbor, artist Paul Kirchner. The book did very poorly during it's initial publication, but this reprint should bring new life to a story that feels just as fresh and interesting today.

The story starts with the murder of Mr. Jones who is out on a lake and is killed by a remote control airplane. There are plenty of suspects in the area and lots of motives. Mr. Jones was not a very nice guy, so his greed or disregard for the environment could have been his undoing. An unusual detective is sent to solve the murder. One who sees things differently. He definitely feels like a precursor to Agent Dale Cooper of the Twin Peaks TV series. The residents/suspects are all oddballs and recluses, and each have their own reason for despising Jones. The detective finds his way into their lives and heads to uncover the truth.

The art is alternately very normal and also strangely surreal. There are full page panels that have a strange symmetry. In a brilliant afterword by Stephen R. Bisette, written just for this edition, we get a look at the influences of artist Paul Kirchner. There is a definite Wally Wood style, but "this murder mystery erupted into a panoramic visionary tableaus, delirious visual and conceptual detours, stream-of-consciousness pageantry and lunacy at the turn of a phrase." It's quite unsettling, but I rather liked it. I'm glad this book got a reprint. I really feel that it was quite ahead of it's time, but might find new appreciation now, when the story has not aged a bit.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.


via Wayne's bookshelf: read http://ift.tt/28Tyo87