You Have Killed Me [Hardcover]

Jamie S. Rich (Author), Joelle Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2009

Things just can't get any worse for Antonio Mercer. A private eye by trade, a dame from his past has re-surfaced in his life as a client along with all of the emotional baggage he thought he'd left behind forever. Of course, this unusual client doesn't have just any case - her family is mixed up with seriously dangerous people and the body count is just starting to pile up!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

1930s-era gumshoe Antonio Mercer finds himself screwed over from all angles when he accepts a missing persons case in which the disappeared dame is his ex-lover. Hired by her equally hot sister, Mercer faces down a number of tough guys, running the gamut from cops, both honest and bent, to gamblers, mob bosses and even short-tempered and knife-wielding musicians, while following the gal's trail, but nothing is ever as it seems. Building to a stark and bizarre conclusion, the team of Rich (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Food Chain) and Jones (Fables) have clearly learned from the noir genre, both filmic and pulp based, and have crafted a riveting successor. Tense and intriguing from start to finish, this is a solid piece of detective fiction coupled with a wholly appropriate and stark visual style that evokes the bygone days of Sam Spade and Mike Hammer. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Oni Press; First Printing edition (July 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932664882
• ISBN-13: 978-1932664881
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jamie S. Rich is a novelist living in Portland, OR. He has published four prose works: CUT MY HAIR, I WAS SOMEONE DEAD, THE EVERLASTING, and his most recent, HAVE YOU SEEN THE HORIZON LATELY?, released by Oni Press in the summer of 2007.

In addition to writing fiction, he has worked as a music journalist, a manga rewriter, and spent ten years editing comic books, four of them at Dark Horse Comics and six as editor-in-chief of Oni Press. He continues to work in the comics field as a writer, contributing to anthologies published by Dark Horse and Image Comics, including a piece in the acclaimed collection "Put the Book Back on the Shelf," where comic book creators adapted the songs of Belle & Sebastian. Rich debuted his first ongoing comic book series in June of 2006, LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE, a collaboration with Marc Ellerby (now collected in two omnibus editions). This was followed in the fall of that year by the original graphic novel 12 REASONS WHY I LOVER HER, drawn by Joëlle Jones.

The writer teamed with Joëlle Jones a second time for another full-length graphic novel, YOU HAVE KILLED ME, a hardboiled crime story set in the 1930s. Oni Press published the book in July 2009, and the pair have already gotten underway on their next project. Zigging instead of zagging yet again, the artistic team has joined with cartoonist Nicolas Hitori De to release the teenage witch comedy SPELL CHECKERS.

Rich spouts off about whatever strikes his fancy at his blog, Confessions of a Pop Fan (confessions123.com), reviews movies for DVDTalk.com, and dives into his Criterion Collection like Scrooge McDuck swimming through his money at CriterionConfessions.com. He lives alone with a cat who doesn't understand his obsession with DVDs, but who lets him do as he pleases as long as she is fed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic noir, September 19, 2010

By 

A. DeClercq (Anaheim, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Have Killed Me (Hardcover)

This is a classic detective noir. I enjoyed this book. It is a bit cliche with its crusty, hard-edged private eye taking a job from a lovely young woman who saunters about his tiny, crusty, hard-edged office.

But even with the tried and true story line, it is an fun, familiar ride. The plots twists are simple (unlike many modern thrillers that twist and twist and twist until you can't see straight). The bad guys are bad. The good guys are tough. The women are sultry, needy, and mysterious. The band plays jazz and the backroom has gambling. I'm not saying its original, though the story is interesting enough to keep you reading.

But here is why you should read this: the art is perfect. Done in immaculate black and white, the lines are as sharp as a razor, the shadows have depth, the people look real; this has a classic, reality based graphic form. And it works. The language is tough but clean and avoids any inappropriate use of the visual form in regards to the ladies. If anything, this would garner a PG-13 rating for the mild violence. It gets a 4, maybe a 4.5/5 stars from me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "This story starts just like any other...with a girl.", April 23, 2011

By 

Denny M. Haynes (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Have Killed Me (Hardcover)

YOU HAVE KILLED ME by Jamie S. Rich & Joëlle Jones was fantastic! I loved their first collaboration with Oni, Twelve Reasons Why I Love Her and their sophomore offering exceeds expectations. This OGN holds nothing back from the high production values to the perfectly crafted script to the outstanding illustrations.

Joëlle's women are sexy, her men are dashing, her backgrounds luscious, and her sequential panel work is flawless. The pacing and flow from one to the next is spot on, there are no awkward transitions, and each beautifully utilizes the best shot possible. The final product is meticulous, it's perfect, but not artificial. The story breathes and the reader gets sucked in. And the story goes down smoothly, the dialogue is quick and clever, the case has twists and turns, and sets the bar for other crime original graphic novels.

Antonio Mercer is a private dick with his own past, which comes back with the case he's offered by Jennifer Roman, the sister of his old flame who is missing. The story takes you through Mercer's case as he tracks down leads, questions suspects, and takes a beating as he gets too close to the truth.

You Have Killed Me is a MUST READ for all! Rich and Jones have achieved yet another exceptional creative original graphic novel.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fast-Paced Detective Work, December 8, 2009

By 

GraphicNovelReporter.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: You Have Killed Me (Hardcover)

My favorite visual motif comes fairly early on in You Have Killed Me. At the onset of chapter two, our protagonist, private eye Antonio Mercer, is driving through the streets of 1930s-era New York City, and out the back of his oblong rear car window, we see an actual picture of the city. It immediately calls to mind the olden days of Hollywood and the heyday of film noir, with jumpy street scenes visible behind cars in every driving scene.

And that's just one of the noir treats in You Have Killed Me, Jamie S. Rich and Joëlle Jones' nicely done tribute to the classic detective genre. As always with these stories, and in the words of the comic itself: "This story starts just like any other...with a girl."

A beautiful girl, of course, and one who has broken Mercer's heart: Julie comes from money and a proud family pedigree, so of course it could never work out with Mercer. She has an equally beautiful sister, Jennie, who puts the story in motion by hiring Mercer to track down Julie, who has disappeared mere days before her wedding.

From there, we travel to the world of shady gambling halls, horse races, edgy cops who suspect Mercer and don't want him messing with their case, and the usual assorted cast of thugs and molls, none of whom can be trusted.

Jones' art is a true standout. She has a knack for drawing beautiful dames, elegant, long-legged ones, and her men are strong-jawed toughs who take punch after punch without flinching. She and Rich have worked together before (12 Reasons Why I Love Her), and they collaborate well. Rich clearly loves the genre he is honoring in his script, and he contributes a fun new work to it. You Have Killed Me is a fast-paced detective work, and as such, the actual solution to the mystery isn't the point--the journey is, and getting there is where all the enjoyment lies.

-- John Hogan