Violent Cases

Violent Cases by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, 64 pages

In this short but breathtaking graphic novel, our unnamed narrator recalls a childhood encounter with Al Capone's osteopath, a man who tells him more about Prohibition-era gangsters than any five-year-old ought to know. The story is told in a straightforward conversational manner and is certainly interesting, but would be largely unremarkable without McKean's engrossing artwork, which combines pencil sketches with old photographs and bits of fabric. I read this book in just half an hour, but given the complexity of McKean's art, I know that I'll be going back to this book for weeks, parsing more information out of the detailed sketches and collages. Originally published in 1987, this gem of a story is a glimpse of the fantastic work Gaiman and McKean would accomplish in the future.

EDIT: The more I think about this book, the more I appreciate Gaiman's ability to create a complex story (it's a story within a story within a story, folks!) and make it seem so simple. There is absolutely no confusion in the narration here. Granted, part of that is due to the lettering and McKean's art. But Gaiman is such a wonderful storyteller that he makes it look easy, when it really must have been quite difficult to structure. And therein lies the beauty.