Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
If a picture can paint a thousand words, then London is righty considered a canvas that keeps inspiring, an image of forever change and the backdrop to an ever evolving mixture of oils and a representation of life that is both a textured reflection and despairing copy of its once genius self and the back drop to a million hopeless dreams.
To walk the streets of London in a capacity in which you watch the night air unfold and wrap itself around you, clinging to the bones as you hold onto your wits and sharp reflexes, if New York is the city that never sleeps, then for the gumshoe detective, London is the city of permanent insomnia, brooding, beautiful, dangerous, and likely to leave you restless.
To bring to life a private detective in such a manner that Lewis Trondheim and Stephane Oiry achieve in their new collaborated graphic novel, Maggy Garrisson, is to understand that the British especially are obsessed with the nature of crime, not committing it of course, just in the appreciation of the restoration of justice, the balancing act which makes the detective drama such a hit for the television producers and the abundance of books written continually adapted and poured over. From fiction to true crime, no misconduct or misdeed is not appreciated; especially when it is conveyed in such a manner that the reader or viewer is left in doubt about how close to the angels the detective walks.
There are as many detectives as you could find paintings of London, so it is always refreshing to be immersed into the world of one who is different, has a quality of anger and sarcastic wit masking a threat of vulnerability making her part of the dynamic of the city and beyond. To reflect the tightly drawn narrative dangers that were caught so vividly by Graham Greene in Brighton Rock whilst portraying a truth of old style Noir within the otherwise confines of a graphic novel is remarkable, the sense of the underground, the sight of angels and demons, police and criminals bound to cross the blurred lines of their profession is nothing short of enjoyable, and one that is full of detailed observation, not just for the characters but for the suburbs of London and the connection to Brighton.
It is rare in the world of independent one-shot graphic novels to look upon a story and know there is more to surely come, that you hope will be explored further and go deeper into the mirroring of modern society, a classic that rivals the novel Brighton Rock for pacing and examination; Maggy Garrisson is a complex heroine fit for our times.
Lewis Trondheim and Stephane Oiry’s Maggy Garrisson is published by SelfMadeHero and released on April 25th.
Ian D. Hall