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Murder Me Dead
"Lapham, an Eisner Award winner (for Stray Bullets), has expertly crafted a tale with great dialog. His well-paced panels of stark black-and-white illustration convey the story's movement through the dark recesses of his narrative." - Library Journal (Starred Review) "Very nifty, so much so that this mainstream edition of a decadeold indie original is as welcome a revival as can be." -- Booklist After a decade out-of-print, another great El Capitan graphic novel returns! Hanging from the ceiling fan in their lavish Hollywood home. That's where Steven Russell finds his estranged wife, a tear-stained note in her pocket pouring out years of pain and regret. Is it suicide? The police think so. But his wife's rich and powerful family is convinced otherwise, and they'll do everything in their power to make him pay. As Steven's life is systematically destroyed by a lascivious private detective, a chance meeting with an old friend drives him back toward a simpler time when the world was full of hope-to a downtrodden neighborhood he had long left behind and a fateful reunion with a woman who loved him.... David Lapham's love letter to classic noir takes you down the long, dark road of obsession, sex, betrayal, and murder. Peeling back the carefully constructed facades of each character, he exposes the true nature of their humanity and propels you toward a final, horrifying revelation.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
March 6, 2016
If you like Crime Noir, you'll love this book. Basically another volume of Stray Bullets, David Lapham is a master of the genre. His art is so good and expressive. He knows how to capture the underbelly of society. So good.
September 3, 2018
3,5*
A nice tribute to the 40's and 50's Film-Noir. If you like them- I do- you won't be disappointed.
But you won't be surprised either.
David Lapham uses all the ropes of the genre. The main character is moronically blind to a woman desperately fatale, the PI is rotten to the core, the family of the deceased is vengeful, etc.
Considering how Lapham did an amazing job with Stray Bullets, Murder me dead lacks boldness, something that would raise it higher than a mere homage. One could argue that issue 9 is ballsy though. The revelations concerning Eve's death are graphic to say the least.
This being said it is a good homage, the characters and the atmosphere are there, with help of the use of B&W. I'm pretty sure Lapham's style won't please everybody but he is a good storyteller if not the best penciller ever.
So if you like Film-Noir or crime stories this one's for you. Not mind-blowing but a good story, well-told and as comfortable as an old slipper.
A nice tribute to the 40's and 50's Film-Noir. If you like them- I do- you won't be disappointed.
But you won't be surprised either.
David Lapham uses all the ropes of the genre. The main character is moronically blind to a woman desperately fatale, the PI is rotten to the core, the family of the deceased is vengeful, etc.
Considering how Lapham did an amazing job with Stray Bullets, Murder me dead lacks boldness, something that would raise it higher than a mere homage. One could argue that issue 9 is ballsy though. The revelations concerning Eve's death are graphic to say the least.
This being said it is a good homage, the characters and the atmosphere are there, with help of the use of B&W. I'm pretty sure Lapham's style won't please everybody but he is a good storyteller if not the best penciller ever.
So if you like Film-Noir or crime stories this one's for you. Not mind-blowing but a good story, well-told and as comfortable as an old slipper.
August 10, 2014
Loved it. Great mash-up of all the familiar & beloved Film Noir cliches & tropes. I wont rehash all the plot points, but its has enough twists & turns to keep you hooked. It's a very fast read and a thrill-packed ride for the first half, but There IS a disappointing moment about 2/3rds into the graphic novel where you realise the female lead will behave exactly how you expect her to in all cases going forward, but leading up to that, her put-upon innocent victim schitck is very entertaining and keeps you guessing (at least for awhile). The male lead is a doufus and that is both entertaining in his idiocy and also very much in the noir tradition of the "average joe" facing insurmountable odds. If you like "Stray Bulllets" you will love this. If you are not used to dave lapham's art style, you may have some trouble getting acclimated to it during the first few chapters before your eyes get used to it. It IS an acquired taste. ---Buy this book now!!!!!
August 27, 2014
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a page turner, since the beginning I was captured by the feelings and situations the main character was in. I liked the drawing style too, it's clean and classic. If you put on a great soundtrack, it'd be better!
I'd recommend to fans of graphic novel and crime/mystery and noir films.
NetGalley, thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel, I received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 22, 2015
Oooooo this book was really good. I picked it up on a complete whim as I perused the shelves at the library purely based on the title (a phrase which seems to have entered my daily vocabulary to vocalise my generally sarcastic shock and awe at minor trivialities, feel free to try it yourself) and I must say it lived up to it beautifully. As an ardent Hitchcock fan, I love a bit of noir and this embraces all that is good about the genre with love, betrayal and intrigue abounding across the pages and tortured characters that put their heart and soul into everything. The illustrations are also superb sticking with the black on white approach which adds to the sense of suspense and forboding and supports the story wonderfully. And the ending is both shocking and not but you cannot stop your jaw hitting the floor as the reality of it sinks in. It is only because you can kind of see it coming that this loses some of its edge, but still, damn!
May 20, 2024
Still holds up. Very entertaining crime thriller.
Looking forward to rereading Stray Bullets.
Looking forward to rereading Stray Bullets.
August 17, 2010
Good fun. Wears its film-noir inspiration with a solid, capable drawing style.
My only criticism is that the story flails in the third act, leaving the blunt ending with much to be desired. There actually isn't much to the mystery, but it is good to see drawn versions of film-noir archetypes set in the present day.
My only criticism is that the story flails in the third act, leaving the blunt ending with much to be desired. There actually isn't much to the mystery, but it is good to see drawn versions of film-noir archetypes set in the present day.
June 7, 2024
A depressed musician reconnects with his high school crush, a beautiful but troubled woman who is suspiciously thrilled to see him. Misfortunes start to pile up, as he loses his innocence, his reputation, his fortune, and his freedom...
Lapham establishes in the foreword that Murder Me Dead is inspired by films noir of the '30s-'50s, and it follows that formula precisely. Which is to say, he does not update the story for more sophisticated modern audiences. The femme fatale does straightforward femme fatale things; the schmuck protagonist does straightforward schmuck things and never fails to make the wrong choice.
These would have been thrilling twists and turns in 1938, but it's old school and it reads that way. Ultimately very worthwhile, but calibrate expectations accordingly.
Lapham establishes in the foreword that Murder Me Dead is inspired by films noir of the '30s-'50s, and it follows that formula precisely. Which is to say, he does not update the story for more sophisticated modern audiences. The femme fatale does straightforward femme fatale things; the schmuck protagonist does straightforward schmuck things and never fails to make the wrong choice.
These would have been thrilling twists and turns in 1938, but it's old school and it reads that way. Ultimately very worthwhile, but calibrate expectations accordingly.
November 19, 2016
Ah! This was a nice nice treat. I've read another book by David Lapham, (Young Liars) and I remember enjoying it. I have to read it again, but I don't think it was anywhere as memorable as this story. I did love his short story for the Matrix Anthology. By far the best in the volume and one of my favorite short stories period. Just a great story and pacing and art. Wow! I wish I could just review that one. This one although has a lot of the typical stuff you might find in film noire flicks or almost soap opera kind of stuff I think the art and pacing made it such a fun ride and you kind of forget about the typical cliche's. I need to get started on his "Stray Bullets" series since that seems to be what he's known for. Only criticism I have is near the end there were some bad guys that looked similar to the protagonist and it was a little distracting, but he made up for it with all the nice street scenes and great storytelling.
July 16, 2015
It's always the girl that screws everything up in those stories. It's he jealousy, the sex, the con and the sad sap who gets drawn into it. After the suicide of his wife Steven gets sucked into the big con with his school crush comes with a scheme with her boyfriend to take him for all his money. Tara gets Steven infatuated with her and lets him take the fall for stabbing her boyfriend, when she wants the money all for herself, only to ditch out on him while he's in jail with all of the money. But of course Steven tracks her down in the dark heroic revengeful fashion to only have it all end in a blaze of gunfire with the mob and a junkie and a poor sap that just couldn't see what was really happening. Because Tara staged the suicide of his wife. What a way to end the book, never saw that coming.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2014
Interesting read, great artwork and an exciting story. But I have to say, do not get eluded by the description. The story is not really about why the wife suicided and it is less psychogological than I expected from the back description. It is best to see this book as a fast-moving thriller/drama.
April 20, 2015
Decent noir thriller. A man's wife is found dead, seemingly a suicide, and things deteriorate from there. This is a nicely-paced thrill ride of love, obsession, and betrayal. In the end, all secrets are revealed. I'll avoid saying whether anyone's happy about that or not.
January 11, 2008
Intriguing hard-boiled mystery; fantastic black and white artwork.
April 17, 2010
Wow. Put on an awesome soundtrack for yourself and get into this!!
August 18, 2015
David Lapham's free-standing noir miniseries, recently reprinted. Similar to Stray Bullets in tone, but this is a tightly plotted thriller. Lapham really shows his storytelling chops here.
November 9, 2020
Essential Lapham.
Murder Me Dead in terms of its writing and story, is an ode to 50’s Noir Films. I’m sure other reviews here highlight that and the intro to the book highlights that. What I’m gonna talk about here is more focused in its formal elements.
David Lapham is primarily known for his Eisner Award winning series Stray Bullets where he tells crime stories through a fixed 8 panel ( 2 x 4) grid. In a Lapham 8 panel grid there are 4 rows, or tiers, of panels. Murder Me Dead continues this tradition of having 4 tiers on a page, but Lapham breaks past the constraints of just 8 panels. Lapham takes these Stray Bullets panels and divides them, sometimes having 4 panels to a tier. Lapham also tends to use single panel tiers for important moments on a page or for establishing shots. Sometimes Lapham even utilizes a three panel tier. My point in bringing all of this up is that Lapham gets to cut loose and have fun with this and it definitely shows. A lot of the tricks Lapham employs throughout the book are interesting and he shows off 100% why he’s a comics aficionado. The 4 tier set up throughout allows for a lot of information to be processed on a page, sometimes upwards of 12 panels are on one page. The scenes in this book are allowed to linger on the page allowing the reader to take up all the details he wants you to catch. This is perfect for a story like this where there are twists and turns hidden in plain sight. There are also brutal fight sequences throughout that are complimented surprisingly well for such dense pages. The panels on these fight scenes are comprised of static images that highlight the visceral and animal nature of a fight between two men trying to kill the other. It’s extremely effective. Lapham uses these smaller panels in scenes like these to really slow down the pace.
There are also a few instances where David gets pretty experimental with his paneling. There’s a dream sequence early on where the panel borders disappear signifying we’re no longer in reality. There are also times our main character gets his ass kicked and we’ll get solid black panels that show he’s in and out of consciousness at the moment. It’s not a new trick, but it’s an underutilized one that works extremely well to stop any momentum in a good way.
One of my favorite things about Stray Bullets is how expressive it’s lettering is, and Murder Me Dead definitely has great lettering but in a different way than SB. SB has this free flowing sense to its lettering, the bubbles are large internet the words don’t take up as much space. The bubbles breath and the fonts dance between a uniform structure and a free handed jumbled mess to signify tone. Murder Me Dead opts for more uniformity, and this is really apparent off the bat with his bubbles. The bubbling throughout Murder Me Dead is always put in a literal box. The Moebius lettering boxes if you will. David Lapham also opts to have the letters pretty close to each other which allows for the dialogue to be read and interpreted at a much quicker pace which really fits with the 50’s noir aesthetic. Last thing about the lettering, he tries new stuff with his alphabet. The most apparent to me at least was with his Y’s. Lapham’s Y’s throughout Stray Bullets typically appear like they do in this font you’re reading now. Bold, and more structured I guess is how you’d describe it. In Murder Me Dead, his Y’s have a u like top. It doesn’t affect the reading experience, I just thought it was an interesting little thing.
Overall, Murder Me Dead is nothing new when it comes to its story. It’s a Double Indemnity style noir story that leans heavy into the genre’s tropes. But that’s not a bad thing. The way the story is told through David Lapham’s mastery of the comic book medium is why you pick this one up. He spices up the story telling on this one really well.
Murder Me Dead in terms of its writing and story, is an ode to 50’s Noir Films. I’m sure other reviews here highlight that and the intro to the book highlights that. What I’m gonna talk about here is more focused in its formal elements.
David Lapham is primarily known for his Eisner Award winning series Stray Bullets where he tells crime stories through a fixed 8 panel ( 2 x 4) grid. In a Lapham 8 panel grid there are 4 rows, or tiers, of panels. Murder Me Dead continues this tradition of having 4 tiers on a page, but Lapham breaks past the constraints of just 8 panels. Lapham takes these Stray Bullets panels and divides them, sometimes having 4 panels to a tier. Lapham also tends to use single panel tiers for important moments on a page or for establishing shots. Sometimes Lapham even utilizes a three panel tier. My point in bringing all of this up is that Lapham gets to cut loose and have fun with this and it definitely shows. A lot of the tricks Lapham employs throughout the book are interesting and he shows off 100% why he’s a comics aficionado. The 4 tier set up throughout allows for a lot of information to be processed on a page, sometimes upwards of 12 panels are on one page. The scenes in this book are allowed to linger on the page allowing the reader to take up all the details he wants you to catch. This is perfect for a story like this where there are twists and turns hidden in plain sight. There are also brutal fight sequences throughout that are complimented surprisingly well for such dense pages. The panels on these fight scenes are comprised of static images that highlight the visceral and animal nature of a fight between two men trying to kill the other. It’s extremely effective. Lapham uses these smaller panels in scenes like these to really slow down the pace.
There are also a few instances where David gets pretty experimental with his paneling. There’s a dream sequence early on where the panel borders disappear signifying we’re no longer in reality. There are also times our main character gets his ass kicked and we’ll get solid black panels that show he’s in and out of consciousness at the moment. It’s not a new trick, but it’s an underutilized one that works extremely well to stop any momentum in a good way.
One of my favorite things about Stray Bullets is how expressive it’s lettering is, and Murder Me Dead definitely has great lettering but in a different way than SB. SB has this free flowing sense to its lettering, the bubbles are large internet the words don’t take up as much space. The bubbles breath and the fonts dance between a uniform structure and a free handed jumbled mess to signify tone. Murder Me Dead opts for more uniformity, and this is really apparent off the bat with his bubbles. The bubbling throughout Murder Me Dead is always put in a literal box. The Moebius lettering boxes if you will. David Lapham also opts to have the letters pretty close to each other which allows for the dialogue to be read and interpreted at a much quicker pace which really fits with the 50’s noir aesthetic. Last thing about the lettering, he tries new stuff with his alphabet. The most apparent to me at least was with his Y’s. Lapham’s Y’s throughout Stray Bullets typically appear like they do in this font you’re reading now. Bold, and more structured I guess is how you’d describe it. In Murder Me Dead, his Y’s have a u like top. It doesn’t affect the reading experience, I just thought it was an interesting little thing.
Overall, Murder Me Dead is nothing new when it comes to its story. It’s a Double Indemnity style noir story that leans heavy into the genre’s tropes. But that’s not a bad thing. The way the story is told through David Lapham’s mastery of the comic book medium is why you pick this one up. He spices up the story telling on this one really well.
August 31, 2023
Жена популярного пианиста кончает с собой, и это с одной стороны знаменует финал его безрадостной жизни, с другой — запускает череду событий, которые встряхивают жизнь пианиста куда сильнее, чем он, наверное, того хотел, после того как он случайно встречает свою старую одноклассницу, в которую когда-то был влюблён.
Ещё один заход Дэвида Лафама на поле традиционного нуарного триллера, причём эта книга, оказывается, была написана ещё до Stray Bullets. Первая где-то треть довольно круто нагнетает саспенс и заговоры, но дальше автор ухает в откровенный трешак, а финал представляет собой одну растянутую сцену, которую в принципе вообще можно было бы оставить за кадром. Нарисовано очень здорово, но итоговые впечатления не ахти. Прикладываю небольшое превью.
Ещё один заход Дэвида Лафама на поле традиционного нуарного триллера, причём эта книга, оказывается, была написана ещё до Stray Bullets. Первая где-то треть довольно круто нагнетает саспенс и заговоры, но дальше автор ухает в откровенный трешак, а финал представляет собой одну растянутую сцену, которую в принципе вообще можно было бы оставить за кадром. Нарисовано очень здорово, но итоговые впечатления не ахти. Прикладываю небольшое превью.
March 7, 2023
Nobody does crime noir quite like David Lapham, and Murder Me Dead has to be up there with one of my favorites of all time. One could say that Lapham leans into the noir tropes a bit too hard, but my opinion is that he's just too good at executing them so why not let him go for it. The storytelling is still remarkably unpredicatable and kept me hooked from beginning to end. It's not anything revolutionary, but it's just a solidly good crime comic.
December 20, 2021
I've been a big fan of David Lapham's art and crime comics for more than a decade now, so discovering his modern take on the noir thriller was exciting. This a satisfying, sincerely noir story, about a femme fatale and the classically doomed simp, and the inky black and white style fits in really well. There are some great noir images throughout.
November 10, 2024
I enjoyed the story, but it might have been better if Lapham did more to mimic film noir techniques. Instead, his drawing style is rather humdrum with almost no play on perspective, light, or skewed framing. In his introduction, he states that his model was film noir, but apart from the story line, the book didn't have the feel of the old movies that he claims as his inspiration.
April 26, 2026
Murder Me Dead by David Lapham was a suspenseful graphic novel with many twists, lies, and betrayals. I liked how the mystery kept building and made it hard to trust the characters. The dark illustrations matched the dangerous mood of the story. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to readers who like crime and mystery.
November 8, 2017
For me crime noir is the best genre for graphic novels and this one doesn’t disappoint. A good plot line with a some unexpected twists, a steadily accumulating pile of bodies, and a lead character driven mad by sexual obsession. What more does one need? A quick, fun late night read.
March 28, 2023
Very much a period piece noir book but extremely well done.
All the usual elements are here but the pace of the writing and the striking black and white artwork kept me interested. I can't recommend this enough if you're into murder mystery, noir, or crime comics.
December 23, 2023
I read it all until the penultimate issue then forgot about this book until today, yeah I'm in a bit of a rush to catch up on my reading goal hehe I'm going to keep a much lower reading goal next year
September 9, 2024
So noir-ish you can practically hear the room sound from the mics on-set. But modernized with that Lapham flavour - no noir I've ever seen starts with a guy nostalgically flipping through his high school yearbook.
November 6, 2018
A really great bit of noir fiction. Had a perfect ending.
September 6, 2024
A cool film noir graphic novel.
March 18, 2026
This whole thing was miserable from beginning to end… not my type of fun. Scary to think how many people exist in this world who can relate to this type of sh!t show.
2.9✨👎🏼
2.9✨👎🏼
April 22, 2026
David Lapham's Murder Me Dead is a kick @ss neo noir. It has a beautiful black and white art style and a twisted story that will keep you guessing until the end.
September 16, 2026
A fantastic and timeless femme-fatale noir. Some of the drawing and lettering is rough, giving it a “homemade” feel, but never mind that.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews