Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • Keeping It Ghastly: Blood Sucker - Legend of Zipangyu Vol 1

      Jason Sacks
      March 18, 2016
      Keeping It Ghastly, Keeping It Ghastly, Manga
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • What Looks Good for 12/2/15: Marvel and DC

      Jason Sacks
      November 30, 2015
      Big Two, What Looks Good
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • BOOM! Studios Unveils A First Look at FIREFLY #1

      Jason Sacks
      August 27, 2018
      Boom! Studios, News, Press Release
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 3.5

      Fear Itself: The Fearless #1

      Jason Sacks
      October 21, 2011
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • The Big Joe Casey Interview, Part Three

      Jason Sacks
      May 10, 2012
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Classic Interview: Greg Theakston Pt. III - Tiny Hotel Rooms, Rights for Comic Artists and Never going against Neal Adams

      Jason Sacks
      December 4, 2015
      Classic Interviews
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Heavy Metal Comics Goes Back in Time with 'Skip To The End'

      Jason Sacks
      April 8, 2016
      Indie, News
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • Raymond Briggs, Part Four

      Jason Sacks
      November 6, 2015
      Books, The Long-Form
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Reviews

Review: ‘Louise Brooks: Detective’ is a Delightful Bit of Whimsy

Jason Sacks
June 15, 2015
Reviews

What an oddball and delightful book.

Rick Geary, who is probably best known for his true crime graphic novels, including The Lindbergh Case and Sacco and Vanzetti, delivers a new original graphic novel through the fine folks at NBM Publishing. Louise Books: Detective takes one of the most popular movie stars of the 1920s and early 1930s and chronicles what happens to her life when the fame goes away and the fortune begins to disappear. No, it’s not a banal Bravo reality show or a journey into drug rehab.

Instead, Louise Brooks returns back to the country, to her native Wichita, Kansas, and movies back in with her family to try to have some semblance of a normal life. The beautiful former actress falls back into a quiet normal life (she’s a bookworm with volumes by Kafka, Freud and Whitman on her shelf; she’s a terrible cook), opening a dance school to build on her experience dancing on Broadway and making new friends.

Eventually bookworm Brooks begins to become ambitious to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional writer and discovers that one of her favorite authors, a man with whom she had once traded letters, lives in the area. When she journeys out to the country to meet the man, she stumbles onto a murder and a complicated plot that thoroughly intrigues her.

This book is a weird, unpredictable delight. It’s a shaggy dog story wrapped around a murder wrapped around the story of a Hollywood actress gone home wrapped around an exploration of a Kansas (and an America) that’s long gone. All drawn in Geary’s signature style, full of oddball whimsy and direct specficity, the world that he creates here is full of life and verve. There’s an energy in the linework, with characters who seem to come to life with just a small gesture in the art or with just a small emphasis in the art. Brooks at the heart of the story has a delightful sort of starting over energy to her, all fitful excitement at her new life and pleasure at finding a mystery at which to devote her mind.

Louie Brooks, Detective is a delightful bit of whimsy, a vividly created world in which a master at depicting history in comics creates an alternate history all his own.

Louise BrooksNBMRick Geary

Share On:
Tweet
Interview: Steve Orlando Talks Midnighter & Queer Progress in Comics
Singles Going Steady 6/16/2015

About The Author

<a href="http://comicsbulletin.com/byline/jason-sacks/" rel="tag">Jason Sacks</a>
Jason Sacks
Publisher Emeritus
Google+

Jason Sacks has been obsessed with pop culture for longer than he'd like to remember. Jason has been writing for Comics Bulletin for nearly a decade, producing over a million words of content about comics, films and other media. He has also been published in a number of publications, including the late, lamented Amazing Heroes, The Flash Companion and The American Comic Book Chronicles: the 1970s,1980s and 1990s. Find him on Facebook and Twitter. Jason is the Publisher Emeritus of Comics Bulletin.

Related Posts

  • ‘The Mercenary: Cult of the Sacred Fire’ is an Awesomely Fun Jolt of Otherworldly Adventure

    Jason Sacks
    November 28, 2017
  • 4.0

    Cruising Through The Louvre by David Prudhomme

    John Yohe
    January 28, 2016

Latest Reviews

  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Daniel Gehen
    December 14, 2020
  • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

    Daniel Gehen
    December 3, 2020
  • 4.5

    TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

    Daniel Gehen
    October 29, 2020
  • 4.5

    Micro Review: Commanders in Crisis #1

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    October 12, 2020
  • 3.0

    Review: GHOST WRITER Fights the Spectre of Unevenness

    Daniel Gehen
    September 3, 2020
  • 3.5

    Review: Strange Skies Over East Berlin

    Yavi Mohan
    August 11, 2020
  • DRAWING BLOOD: A Hyper-Stylized, Fictional Autobiography

    Ben Bishop, Brittany Peer, David Avallone, Drawing Blood, Kevin Eastman, Tomi Varga
    August 9, 2020
  • 3.0

    Alien: The Original Script #1 – This One’s For The Fans

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    August 7, 2020
  • Singles Going Steady: Why? Lettering!

    Daniel Gehen
    July 28, 2020
  • 4.5

    X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #4 is a Finale of Moral Questions

    Daniel Gehen
    July 22, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders