Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes
*Starred Review* In the city of Red Wheel Barrow, crime is on the rise—though no case goes unsolved, thanks to the brilliant, restless mind of Detective Gould. The offbeat nature of the lawbreaking (a woman steals chairs, a novelist lifts words for her book, a Peeping Tom sabotages elevators to get his thrills) could easily be played for yuks, but Kindt goes deeper, turning the seemingly random episodes into a rumination on the nature of crime itself. What is crime? Is there crime without victims? This fascinating work recalls Kindt’s earlier efforts (2 Sisters, 2004; Super Spy, 2007), combining his love for the trappings of crime fiction and nostalgia for the conventions of comic-book serials with an offbeat artistry and sly humor. Panels are precisely composed with casual line work and a muted color palette that reveals the texture of the paper. Newspaper clippings, imageless scenes of dialogue, and stylistic riffs (postcards, paperbacks, comics) keep things fresh and surprising. As characters recur (in particular, a real-estate agent named Tess), the story builds to a wonderfully structured and surprisingly affecting climax in which Gould is forced to confront the idea of preventing, rather than merely solving, crime. If David Lynch scripted Dick Tracy it might—might—be as great as this. --Keir Graff