Homicide: the Graphic Novel, Part 1

June 3, 1991
Baltimore Sun reporter Simon spent a year tracking the homicide unit of his city's police, following the officers from crime scenes to interrogations to hospital emergency rooms. With empathy, psychological nuance, racy verbatim dialogue and razor-sharp prose, he offers a rare insider's look at the detective's tension-wracked world. Presiding over a score of sleuths is commander Gary D'Addario, ``connoisseur of survival'' who grapples with political intrigue, massive red tape and ``red balls'' (major, difficult cases). His detectives include Tom Pelligrini, obsessed with solving the rape-murder of an 11-year-old girl; Rich Garvey, whose ``perfect year'' is upset by a murder case that collapses in court; and black, cosmopolitan Harry Edgerton, a lone wolf, son of a jazz pianist. This hectic daily log reveals the detective's beat on Baltimore's mean streets (234 murders in 1988) to be brutal, bureaucratic and, occasionally, mundane.

May 15, 2023
Graphic adaptation of the book that begat The Wire. Journalist David Simon worked the police beat so assiduously in Baltimore that the chief eventually gave him a backstage pass to the homicide unit. In that role, Simon trailed homicide detectives as they worked their ways through mountains of paperwork and rivers of blood and gore. His 1991 book, Homicide, led to the TV series of the same name and underlay the HBO series The Wire, which he created--and which some critics argue is the best TV show ever. Squarzoni works faithfully in Simon's noirish, jutting-jaw, exploding-brain milieu, following detectives whose hours alternate between tedium and terror. Set in the late 1980s, the book opens on a gallows-humor note, as one detective says to another, "He's got a slow leak," adding, for the benefit of the victim, "You're gonna have to get a new head." The mayhem doesn't let up from there, while the period details reflect a police culture that was resolutely racist and sexist. When women were admitted onto the force, the resentful old boys called the newcomers "secretaries with guns," and it's telling that nearly every one of the detectives' suspects, to say nothing of the victims, are people of color. Meanwhile, "the homicide unit remained a bastion of male law enforcement." Throughout, there's a sullen nostalgia to the beat. As Squarzoni, speaking for his period subjects, notes, "A quarter century ago, a law officer could fire his weapon without worrying whether the entrance wound would be anterior or posterior." Following Simon's example, Squarzoni also offers a closely detailed account of the fine points of police politics (nobody appreciates a martinet), the brutalizing of the poor and especially the homeless, and the terrible things people do to one another. Skillfully drawn and written, with a perfectly rendered cliffhanger to set the stage for the next volume.

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Starred review from June 26, 2023
As cutting, darkly funny, and true today as when it was first published in 1991, Simon’s landmark nonfiction crime narrative gets an appropriately noirish graphic novel adaptation that does right by the original. As a Baltimore Sun police beat reporter, Simon (The Wire) spent 1988 following the city’s homicide detectives. The first half of a duology drawn by Squarzoni (Climate Changed) maintains the density of Simon’s reportage and his trademark mix of procedural detail (indoor killings are easier to solve than outdoor; motive doesn’t matter) and elevated sardonic humor. Early stretches give a feel for the city and the job, grooving on the detectives’ profane language and self-mocking gravitas enough to personalize them without simplistic heroizing. Tensions mount as the body count piles up (two murders every three days) and detectives are torn between clearing old cases and focusing on the high-profile “red balls” or “murders that matter.” Of those, solving the brutal killing of 11-year-old Latonya Wallace (“a true victim, innocent as few of those murdered in this city ever are”) becomes a departmental obsession. Squarzoni’s sharp, clean line art renders dramatically etched shadows and starkly clenched nighttime faces, the muted colors occasionally splashed with bloody red for yet another body sprawled on a Baltimore street. It’s a must-read for Simon’s many fans and anyone who appreciates sophisticated true crime.

June 30, 2023
Originally published in French, this graphic adaptation of journalist Simon's 1991 account of his unfettered access to the Baltimore Police Department's homicide division is frequently brutal as it delves into both the people and the cases being investigated in 1988. Several cases are presented in detail, the most shocking being the murder of Latonya Wallace, who was only 11 years old. The illustrations are dark, set in a neutrally toned background, usually gray or cream, with brighter accents for things like the blood at crime scenes, the orange of a prisoner's jumpsuit, or the yellow of police tape. Background settings are shown with less detail, helping to draw readers' attention to the foreground features of a panel. This book is the first volume, and not all cases are closed, so readers should not expect all of their questions to be answered. As the original Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets was the inspiration behind HBO's The Wire, readers shouldn't be shocked by this harsh look at life in Baltimore in the late 1980s.

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