''The Black Dahlia: A Crime Graphic Novel'' is a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

adaptation of

James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, ...

's novel ''

The Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14–15, 1947), known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized ow ...

'', by

Alexis Nolent Alexis Nolent (a.k.a. Matz) is a French writer. He writes scripts for videogames and has also written a novel and, under the pen name Matz, a number of comics. Life and career Nolent was born in Rouen, France, and grew up in the Caribbean, befor ...

and David Fincher, and illustrated by

Miles Hyman Miles Hyman (born September 27, 1962) is an author and illustrator best known for his graphic novel adaptation of Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery, called ''Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery": The Authorized Graphic Adaptation''. Hyman ta ...

. Originally published in 2013 in French as ''Le Dahlia Noir'', it was published in English in June 2016, by

Archaia Entertainment Archaia Entertainment, LLC, commonly known as Archaia (formerly known as Archaia Studios Press), is an imprint of American comic book and graphic novel publisher Boom! Studios. Archaia Entertainment, LLC was originally an American comic book pu ...

, a division of

Boom! Studios Boom! Studios (styled BOOM! Studios) is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Origins In the early 2000s, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby had been working in Ho ...

Synopsis

Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert celebrates his first day at the Warrants division of the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

, a prestigious position where most police in Los Angeles dream to work. He is teamed up with Leland "Lee" Blanchard, as he was a former boxer. He also meets Kay Lake, a woman who lives with Lee, but doesn't have an intimate relationship with him. The three form a "fairy tale triangle." In January 1947, they begin to investigate a murder as horrible as publicized: that of Elizabeth "Betty" Short, nicknamed "The Black Dahlia" found dead and mutilated in a vacant lot. Bucky and Lee's personal and professional lives begin to unravel as the investigation continues. They both become obsessed with Elizabeth Short. Bucky discovers that Lee's celebrated case—"The Boulevard-Citizens Bank Robbery"—was actually orchestrated by Lee. It was an attempt to frame Bobby DeWitt, Kay Lake's pimp at the time, and to save Kay from the violent DeWitt, who scarred Kay's body with a knife. In the course of the investigation, leads in the murder case point to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Lee heads there alone, and eventually Bucky follows him to Mexico as well, because of the length of Lee's absence. Bucky finds Lee murdered, in a site used to dump bodies. Returning to Los Angeles, Kay reveals many truths about Lee Blanchard's life, as well as hers. Despite this, Bucky and Kay marry May 2, 1947. Bucky begins to deteriorate over the years, but successfully solves Elizabeth Short's murder. Kay has left him at this point because Bucky has become obsessed with Elizabeth Short. Bucky is fired from the LAPD because of his own conduct. Bucky receives a letter from Kay, informing him she is pregnant, postmarked from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. Bucky leaves for a flight to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, to reunite with Kay.

Style and artwork

Miles Hyman used

charcoal drawings Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

in ''The Black Dahlia''. Each page contains three comic strips, an idea proposed by Fincher.

History

In an interview with the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'',

Matz Matz may refer to: First names * Matz Sandman (born 1948), Norwegian politician * Matz Robert Eriksson (born 1972), Swedish musician Surnames * Evelyn Matz (born 1955), German handballer * Howard Matz (born 1943), American judge * Jeff Matz (born ...

, one of the two co-authors of the book, described the process of adapting the original novel into the

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

medium. He stated he did not originally start the script in French, but in English. He also said James Ellroy had to approve the script, stating "If he didn’t approve it, the graphic novel was killed. Simple as that." He mentioned how he had known David Fincher from when Fincher was going to adapt Matz's series, '' The Killer'', into a film. He said Fincher's input was "very valuable" and "Having him onboard made a big difference."

Reception

''The Black Dahlia: A Crime Graphic Novel'' received mostly favorable reviews. An article from Nerdgeist said "This book is further reason why graphic novels are not just for kids, it’s mature, dark and a real gripping read, that does its source material more justice than the film ever did and helps keep alive the memory of someone that died all too young in an all too horrific manner."

ComiXology Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology (styled comiXology), is a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads . It offers a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, graphic novels, and ...

gave it 4 out of 5 stars. An article by '' 20 minutes'' stated, "As captivating, neat and dense as the novel is, this graphic version enjoys an incredible combination of know-how. It would be surprising that it does not box in bookstores." ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

'' wrote "The authors have fully understood, and the case Betty Short has not finished to upset the souls, thanks to the masterful reinterpretation of Fincher, Matz and Hyman." A review from ''Forces of Geek'' praised the graphic novel adaptation, saying "The three together condense the novel into a visual form that exceptionally captures the tone and style of the best noirs without ever feeling derivative or referential. They are handling one of the biggest stories in noir folklore and one of the biggest noir novels of the last 30 years, which is a heavy task, but they achieve in so many places where the film failed." Larry Harnisch, a former writer for the ''

'', critiqued the graphic novel for "compressing and compacting" the source material of Ellroy's 1987 novel, as well as "exposing many weaknesses that aren't apparent in the original book", real life historical inaccuracies, artwork appearing stiff and clunky, and difficulty in telling characters apart.

References

External links