Emil Ferris' meticulous and inventive mystery set during the tense political backdrop of 1968 Chicago is incredible. Like, genuinely incredible. Little wonder that it's the talk of the town at the minute.
It's certainly unconventional, but a major part of the book's charm comes from the intricate way in which it weaves its story. The art on display is magnificent, and the narrative itself superb; Ferris takes readers through a murder mystery that bridges pulp horror with history in an emotive and wholly gripping way, with the main protagonist - 10-year-old Karen Reyes - working to solve the murder of her neighbour, a former citizen of Weimar Germany and a Holocaust survivor too.
It's certainly a visually striking tale, and indeed, one of this year's definite must-reads.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
