Nights of terror! A city awash with blood! New Orleans right after the WWI - the party returns to the Big Easy but someone looks to spoil it. The pattern for each murder is the same: a piece of the door is removed for entry, the axe is borrowed on the property and the assailant aims straight for the head! Why? How could he fit through a hole in the door? The man is never found for sure, but speculations abound and Geary presents it all with his usual gusto!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Noel
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
New Orleans, 1918. As the World War enters its final year, a terrible menace walks the streets of the Big Easy - the Axe-Man! A couple who run a grocery and live in the apartment in the back of the shop, have one of their door panels cut open, and are found by their relatives hacked to death, the bedsheets soaked in blood! Thus begins a two year reign of terror in New Orleans as more victims pile up and the police are baffled as to how to catch the murderer.
Rick Geary produces another fantastic forgotten murder case from the early 20th century. He sets the scene, giving the background to the formation of New Orleans and jazz, and brings us up to date to the fateful year of 1918. He's a very methodical writer who tells the reader everything they need to know about the case. In nearly every attack the victims are Italian, run a grocery, have a panel of their door cut open by a chisel, and are attacked by an axe belonging to the victim in the early hours of the morning. Some survive, some don't. Each survivor can't describe the attacker and so the case continues until eventually the murders stop with the murderer not caught.
It's a fascinating case, not least because of the detail of the door panel. This is the entry point of the attacker and yet a door panel is so small, how could the person have fit through? Was he a homicidal small person? And how could a family continue sleeping when a chisel is working on the door? Geary goes through the various theories, some more tantalising than others: a Mafia hitman seems most plausible but he was of normal height and was probably guilty of one murder (maybe), and the only letter written to the papers by the Axe-Man has the killer claiming to be a demon from Hell.
Drawn compellingly in black and white, the art is eyecatching and serves the story well. Geary's written another brilliant book on a fascinating case where the reader can envelop themselves in a lost world through a fantastic true story and learn something of history at the same time. An excellent comic book, highly recommended.
Rick Geary produces another fantastic forgotten murder case from the early 20th century. He sets the scene, giving the background to the formation of New Orleans and jazz, and brings us up to date to the fateful year of 1918. He's a very methodical writer who tells the reader everything they need to know about the case. In nearly every attack the victims are Italian, run a grocery, have a panel of their door cut open by a chisel, and are attacked by an axe belonging to the victim in the early hours of the morning. Some survive, some don't. Each survivor can't describe the attacker and so the case continues until eventually the murders stop with the murderer not caught.
It's a fascinating case, not least because of the detail of the door panel. This is the entry point of the attacker and yet a door panel is so small, how could the person have fit through? Was he a homicidal small person? And how could a family continue sleeping when a chisel is working on the door? Geary goes through the various theories, some more tantalising than others: a Mafia hitman seems most plausible but he was of normal height and was probably guilty of one murder (maybe), and the only letter written to the papers by the Axe-Man has the killer claiming to be a demon from Hell.
Drawn compellingly in black and white, the art is eyecatching and serves the story well. Geary's written another brilliant book on a fascinating case where the reader can envelop themselves in a lost world through a fantastic true story and learn something of history at the same time. An excellent comic book, highly recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent way to hook older teens on historical research
14 Oct 2010
By GraphicNovelReporter.com
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
The newest entry in Geary's true-crime graphic-novel series A Treasury of XXth Century Murder takes readers to New Orleans just after the First World War. Between May 1918 and August 1919, 12 people in New Orleans are either murdered or seriously injured by a man who breaks into their houses in the dead of night and uses their own axes to attack them. New Orleans was a city of immigrants and at first it seems as though the Axe-Man is attacking only Italian grocers and their families. But when he branches his attacks out to include others, authorities don't know where to turn. The Big Easy is suddenly a city is in panic, but no one can find a pattern to the attacks and suspects are few.
Geary shows the same flair for pacing and drama here as he did in the other volumes in this series and in his nine-volume A Treasury of Victorian Murder series. He builds the tension by slowly revealing the facts, using a journalistic tone of voice that rarely dips into sensationalism. He allows his art to show the horrors of murder, with dramatic shadows, wide-angle shots, and close-ups all used to good effect. Geary's black-and-white palette and line shading give the right historical feel to his tales, and he has a sharp eye for the details of a time period. That, combined with his historical research, makes his story all the more horrific as the reality of it is impossible to escape.
The Terrible Axe-Man is a worthy addition to a collection, but librarians might do well to consider adding it to the true crime section, rather than graphic novels. While graphic novel fans have often already discovered Geary's terrific work, it is now time for true crime aficionados to see what he has to offer them. Though there are bloody murder scenes, high school libraries still should consider this volume and the others in the series. Geary's work is an excellent way to hook older teens on historical research. They won't believe what horrors lurk in the depths of history!
-- Snow Wildsmith
Geary shows the same flair for pacing and drama here as he did in the other volumes in this series and in his nine-volume A Treasury of Victorian Murder series. He builds the tension by slowly revealing the facts, using a journalistic tone of voice that rarely dips into sensationalism. He allows his art to show the horrors of murder, with dramatic shadows, wide-angle shots, and close-ups all used to good effect. Geary's black-and-white palette and line shading give the right historical feel to his tales, and he has a sharp eye for the details of a time period. That, combined with his historical research, makes his story all the more horrific as the reality of it is impossible to escape.
The Terrible Axe-Man is a worthy addition to a collection, but librarians might do well to consider adding it to the true crime section, rather than graphic novels. While graphic novel fans have often already discovered Geary's terrific work, it is now time for true crime aficionados to see what he has to offer them. Though there are bloody murder scenes, high school libraries still should consider this volume and the others in the series. Geary's work is an excellent way to hook older teens on historical research. They won't believe what horrors lurk in the depths of history!
-- Snow Wildsmith
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bare Bones
14 Mar 2012
By TawnTawn
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This is definitely just the facts with no details. For instance, what did the woman who was hacked in the face, but lived, end up looking like? Were her eyes okay? Etc.
Why didn't any of the people who heard the guy chiseling at their door, simply open up the door and confront him (with a weapon in hand)? How fast could he get up when he's all hunched over intent on chiseling?
How did this guy get in through a skinny lower panel of a door, commit murders in other rooms (after finding an axe belonging to the owner), and when he is interrupted, he then quickly runs out of the house, but nobody sees how, and the doors and windows are still closed and locked? How fast can a man wriggle through a little door panel? And without passing the people that are in the path to that door?
How was it, that in New Orleans, a city with a busy night life, no one ever sees this guy leaving a house or walking down the sidewalk at the time the murders were committed? Was he invisible? It just isn't likely that NO one ever saw anything.
Why didn't any of the people who heard the guy chiseling at their door, simply open up the door and confront him (with a weapon in hand)? How fast could he get up when he's all hunched over intent on chiseling?
How did this guy get in through a skinny lower panel of a door, commit murders in other rooms (after finding an axe belonging to the owner), and when he is interrupted, he then quickly runs out of the house, but nobody sees how, and the doors and windows are still closed and locked? How fast can a man wriggle through a little door panel? And without passing the people that are in the path to that door?
How was it, that in New Orleans, a city with a busy night life, no one ever sees this guy leaving a house or walking down the sidewalk at the time the murders were committed? Was he invisible? It just isn't likely that NO one ever saw anything.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Axe and tell
18 Aug 2010
By Noel
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
New Orleans, 1918. As the World War enters its final year, a terrible menace walks the streets of the Big Easy - the Axe-Man! A couple who run a grocery and live in the apartment in the back of the shop, have one of their door panels cut open, and are found by their relatives hacked to death, the bedsheets soaked in blood! Thus begins a two year reign of terror in New Orleans as more victims pile up and the police are baffled as to how to catch the murderer.
Rick Geary produces another fantastic forgotten murder case from the early 20th century. He sets the scene, giving the background to the formation of New Orleans and jazz, and brings us up to date to the fateful year of 1918. He's a very methodical writer who tells the reader everything they need to know about the case. In nearly every attack the victims are Italian, run a grocery, have a panel of their door cut open by a chisel, and are attacked by an axe belonging to the victim in the early hours of the morning. Some survive, some don't. Each survivor can't describe the attacker and so the case continues until eventually the murders stop with the murderer not caught.
It's a fascinating case, not least because of the detail of the door panel. This is the entry point of the attacker and yet a door panel is so small, how could the person have fit through? Was he a homicidal small person? And how could a family continue sleeping when a chisel is working on the door? Geary goes through the various theories, some more tantalising than others: a Mafia hitman seems most plausible but he was of normal height and was probably guilty of one murder (maybe), and the only letter written to the papers by the Axe-Man has the killer claiming to be a demon from Hell.
Drawn compellingly in black and white, the art is eyecatching and serves the story well. Geary's written another brilliant book on a fascinating case where the reader can envelop themselves in a lost world through a fantastic true story and learn something of history at the same time. An excellent comic book, highly recommended.
Rick Geary produces another fantastic forgotten murder case from the early 20th century. He sets the scene, giving the background to the formation of New Orleans and jazz, and brings us up to date to the fateful year of 1918. He's a very methodical writer who tells the reader everything they need to know about the case. In nearly every attack the victims are Italian, run a grocery, have a panel of their door cut open by a chisel, and are attacked by an axe belonging to the victim in the early hours of the morning. Some survive, some don't. Each survivor can't describe the attacker and so the case continues until eventually the murders stop with the murderer not caught.
It's a fascinating case, not least because of the detail of the door panel. This is the entry point of the attacker and yet a door panel is so small, how could the person have fit through? Was he a homicidal small person? And how could a family continue sleeping when a chisel is working on the door? Geary goes through the various theories, some more tantalising than others: a Mafia hitman seems most plausible but he was of normal height and was probably guilty of one murder (maybe), and the only letter written to the papers by the Axe-Man has the killer claiming to be a demon from Hell.
Drawn compellingly in black and white, the art is eyecatching and serves the story well. Geary's written another brilliant book on a fascinating case where the reader can envelop themselves in a lost world through a fantastic true story and learn something of history at the same time. An excellent comic book, highly recommended.
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