Reviews of graphic novels and comic book collections every Tuesday and Thursday.


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Roach Killer by Jacques Tardi
To preface this review, I must note that 16 pages of the 48 page story were missing, but 16 other pages were repeated. Having said that, I'm not sure if reading those pages would have clarified any of Roach Killer (1992, NBM Publishing, Amazon listing). Jacques Tardi's art carries the narrative, but reading Benjamin Legrand's words is a bit of a mind trip.

Malcolm is an exterminator who while on a job notices that there is a 13th floor on a New York highrise. Knowing that most buildings don't have a 13th floor he checks it out, only to overhear some men discussing murders. He is found out and followed setting the stage for a paranoid thriller. Malcolm is saved at one point by a colleague, Luis. But is Luis working for the murderers, or does he have his own agenda. I don't want to spoil it for you and fortunately I can't because it is never made clear. However, there is some gun play and at the end it becomes a bit like The Manchurian Candidate. Of course, the roaches and the paranoia recall Franz Kafka.

Tardi's art captures the urban squalor of New York City (pre-Guiliani) with impeccable detail. The art is all black and white except for Malcolm's red work uniform which sticks out despite the fact that he is a nobody in the larger scheme of things. In an epilogue to the story, Tardi places the cartoon Malcolm against actual pictures of NYC and it is to Tardi's credit that it is hard to tell the difference between his drawings and actual pictures of the city. Unfortunately, the story (and the two creator's rambling essays which read like a conspiracy theorist's rants) don't warrant the art.

Roach Killer 2 stars (out of 5)

posted by Sean McGurr at 8:11 AM