Comic Book Review: Bodies

Bodies

Comic Book Review: Bodies written by Si Spencer; art by Dean Ormstom, Phil Winslade, Meghan Hetrick, & Tula Lotay.

Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.  No other compensation was involved.

Bodies

A string of seemingly-identical murders baffles London detectives in four time periods.  It can’t be the same killer every time…can it?  And what is the mysterious Long Harvest?  From Victorian times to the too-near future, those involved must seek out the common thread.

Each of the detectives has issues.  In 1890, Inspector Edmond Hillinghead thinks his attraction to other men is hidden; after all, he’s never succumbed.  His closet has a transparent door, however.  In 1940, Inspector Charles Whiteman is a Jew who escaped Nazi-occupied Poland, only to find a niche running the rackets.  He’s blamed a captured German pilot for the mysterious corpse, but his own crimes are about to be exposed.  In 2014, Detective Sargeant Shahara Hasan wears her issue out in the open.  She’s a practicing Muslim, and British to the core, in a time when many think those are contradictory traits.  And in 2050, a woman whose name might be Maplewood and might be a detective suffers from scrambled memories, as does everyone in London–but this corpse seems familiar and important.

The four artists each cover one of the time periods as the narrative cuts back and forth, making it easy to tell when we are in the timeline.  I don’t care for all of them, but it works well.

Each of the detectives must discover things about their own identity (literally in Maplewood’s case) in order to uncover the deeper mystery, and its connection to the theme of England.

This is part of Vertigo Comics, which is well known for its reliance on British writers.  That, and being DC’s “Mature Readers” line.  As such, there’s violence, nudity, sex scenes and some filthy language.  College age and up, I’m thinking.

To be honest, some knowledge of British history and culture is going to go a long way towards making this graphic novel more enjoyable.  Those who haven’t studied such things are likely to find themselves lost.

4 comments

  1. Scott – Your review is quite intriguing and definitely sparks my curiosity for a genre I wouldn’t normally entertain. Knowing the authors/illustrators segregated the timelines and characters peeked my interest. Thanks!

  2. Sounds like an interesting book. I’m not sure how I’d do with the changing time periods. I often find those challenging to follow.

    1. It’s meant to be challenging–I can only imagine how confusing it was to people who read it one issue at a time instead of as a book.

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