Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • Building the Bat: The Dark Knight (2008)

      Jason Sacks
      July 21, 2012
      Columns, Shot for Shot
    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
    • Leading Questions: Comics and the Anti-Social Contract

      Jason Sacks
      June 16, 2016
      Big Two, Columns, Image, Indie, Leading Question
    Recent
    • 4.5

      DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      January 22, 2021
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • 4.0

      Review: 'Hey Kids! Comics! #1' is a blast to the past

      Jason Sacks
      September 11, 2018
      Image, Indie, Reviews
    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
    • 4.0

      African-American Classics

      Jason Sacks
      January 4, 2012
      Reviews
    Recent
    • 4.5

      DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      January 22, 2021
    • 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
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Kickstarting a New Generation of Exploitation: The Minds Behind TEN

      Jason Sacks
      March 25, 2013
      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
    • Small-Press Super-Heroes of the '80s: Zot!

      Jason Sacks
      November 14, 2014
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    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
    • Exclusive Advance Trailer: 'NORMAN' from Titan Comics

      Jason Sacks
      December 9, 2014
      News, Previews
    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
    • Jason Shiga and His Deliciously Demented 'Demon'

      Jason Sacks
      May 9, 2017
      Books
    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: If I win Powerball, I will buy Amazing Fantasy 15
  • DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Reviews

The Saga of the Bloody Benders

Jason Sacks
June 27, 2007
Reviews
The Saga of the Bloody Benders
4.5Overall Score
Reader Rating: (0 Votes)

This is the ninth graphic documentary by Rick Geary as part of his “Treasury of Victorian Murder” series, and it might be the best so far. While the book may not have the resonance of “The Murder of Abraham Lincoln” or the well-trod complexity of “The Borden Tragedy,” this book has a certain kind of documentary verisimilitude that makes it very special.

This graphic novel is the story of the Bender family, who own a small grocery along a desolate stretch of the Osage Trail in extreme southeast Kansas in 1870. Due to their isolation and the peculiarities of the extremely rural settings of the incidents, the Benders are able to get away with a long series of cold-blooded murders of men, women and children as the people come across the Osage Trail.

Geary tells the story in five parts, each more intriguing than the one before. He spends much of part one simply setting the stage for the story, describing “Bloody Kansas” and its unique place in American history. I found this section of the story somehow fascinating. With Geary’s evocative use of language and humanizing portraits of the characters who settled Kansas, this book starts out with history that feels dramatic rather than like a dry recitation of facts. In part two, Geary draws readers into the story of the Benders. Here, small and evocative details have a way of humanizing the characters. In their banality they are more compelling. John Bender Jr. and Sr. can’t spell the word grocery. The family owns an antique eight-day clock. Kate bender is a bizarre and moody woman who imagines herself as having a connection to the spiritual world.

Through these small touches and many more, Geary makes these incidents feel immediate and realistic rather than a simple dry historical document. In short strokes Geary introduces the murder victims through a simple recitation of facts that somehow acquires extra resonance through his artistic portraits of them. Each of these people seem so ordinary and sincere as Geary draws them, and the Benders all seem to be slightly depraved in each panel. The book feels both straightforward and off-kilter at the same time, effectively depicting the horrific strangeness of the story.

In part three, the Benders leave their small farm as quickly as they had arrived. From that point forward, Geary seems to tell the story of the Benders with a detached eye, as much about the lives of the people in surrounding towns as about the Benders themselves. It’s horrifying when the members of the surrounding families find the dead bodies and bloody abattoir, and somehow even more scary when an angry mob tries to lynch one of the Benders’ neighbors because they blame him for the crimes. Nobody escapes the horror, even those who are completely innocent.

By part five, entitled “What Came of Them?” Geary has taken his story to magnificently unique heights. In this chapter, Geary explores the legend of the Benders, attempting to explain what happened to the family after they left Kansas. It turns out that nobody knows what happened to them. Did they take their murder spree to West Texas? Or were they found by sheriff’s deputies and killed? Did Kate become a society matron, a whore or a practicing outlaw? This unresolved mystery gives Geary’s book a little final zing. Here were some of America’s first and worst serial killers, and nobody even seems to have a clue what happened to them. It seems so unlikely and yet so realistic at the same time.

This is a wonderfully thoughtful and interesting book. Geary’s wonderful artwork has seldom looked better, combining a documentary realism with his typically humorous style. And he’s never created a story as thoughtful and intriguing as the saga of the bloody Bender family of southeastern Kansas.

 

Jason SacksNBM/ComicsLitRick GearyTreasury of 20th Century Murder

Share On:
Tweet
Mind Your Manners
Marc Bernardin/Adam Freeman Bring On the Monsters

About The Author

Jason Sacks
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

  • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

    Mark Stack
    January 2, 2019
  • Top 10 Thoughts About Jack Kirby

    Jason Sacks
    August 28, 2017

Latest Reviews

  • 4.5

    DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)

    Daniel Gehen
    January 22, 2021
  • 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
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