Customer Reviews

The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans (A Treasury of Victorian Murder)

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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

I did research for the Ax Man killings; a fellow New Orleanian was writing a screenplay abou it. Perhaps Rick Geary got hold of the info? I hope so. I'd be honored to have contributed to such a good work. Although Geary is not a resident of New Orleans, he has definatly gotten the feeling of my home town across (not easy to do) and he has used the information to good effect. The architecture is especially effictive.
He did not mention the awful events preceding the murders, that is the death of the Chief of Police (supposedly by an Italian) and the subsequent lynchings of Italian men (most likely completly innocent) on lamposts in the city. This episode made New Orleans police (then as now not a consistent bunch) not particularly efficient when it came to Italian victims. alas. Anyhow, a good book and well worth reading. Also a nice piece of New Orleans and Italian history. Thanks Rick!

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.

I really enjoy the 20th Century Murder Series, even though I have only read three. They have a way of condensing the materials surrounding an unsolved murder and making them accessible to the general public. Yet, the illustrations and many times the stories are very similar. It is for this reason that I read them sparingly. When I saw that they had published a piece on the ax murderer of New Orleans, I just had to get my hands on it.

The graphic novel begins with a brief history of New Orleans which helps to give context to the murders. Additionally, it works as an abbreviated history lesson that is both informative and interesting. In 1918, Joseph and Catherine Maggio were murdered in their bed. The murders were similar to those committed seven years prior when an Italian couple who owned a grocery store were murdered in their beds. In both of the crimes, the houses were broken into by dislodging a panel of wood in the front door and the victims were killed by axes. When similar crimes continue to erupt in New Orleans, the entire city is put on alert and the question is asked "who is the axe murderer and when will he stop?"

I felt that the illustrations in this installment were actually better than those in other graphic novels in the series. The graphics seemed more intricate and interesting. Unlike most graphic novels, the illustrations aren't exactly needed because the text tells the entire story. Yet, the text is quite dry and almost seems as if it is taken directly from court transcripts. Therefore, the graphics make the novel much more enticing to readers. I would certainly recommend this graphic novel and might even tell readers to start with this one when reading the series.

A strange crime spree is pulled from the case files to pore over. The other reviews here detail the Axe-man's odd scenario.

This is an interesting use for the series; making you aware of unusual real crimes that somehow didn't receive greater notoriety; as with the Bloody Benders previously. Although if you're from Kansas, you probably heard of the Bender family before Geary's book. I hadn't.

A fine addition to the Rick Geary Treasury.