Meschugge: the Madman's Maze

by Benni Bødker, Christian Højgaard (artist)

Copenhaghen, Denmark, 1905. The small Jewish ghetto is living in fear as a series of murders is shaking the population to their core.

A young Jewish secretary is recruited by the Police to help them with their investigation from inside what they perceive as a very closed world. She quickly discovers that the murderer is using old superstitions as his template, leaving Kabbalistic symbols on his victims.

Can she take down the monster? Will she become the next victim?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Mystery, Horror, Bande Dessinée

148 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 2024

About the author

Benni Bødker er en dansk forfatter. Han er uddannet cand.mag. i dansk og filosofi og arbejder som forlagsredaktør samt underviser på Forfatterskolen for Børnelitteratur.

Reviews

[Mehsi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book from Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.

Well, it was a good book for Halloween, there were plenty of scary moments, I loved the religious aspect of it, but it was also so strange and at times just too much, too boring. I had a hard time concentrating and found my mind just wandering off to other things. Fonts are fun things, but I generally appreciate more easier to read fonts. Especially on a PC or phone, yes, I can zoom in, but that just throws everything wrong, not what you want.

[Marlene Bentsen (Boggrippen) · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Reklame - Anmeldereksemplar)

Meschugge er en historisk tegneserie skrevet af Benni Bødker og illustreret af Christian Højgaard.

Historien foregår i København i starten af 1900-tallet, hvor mange jøder ankom til Danmark pga. fattigdom og forfølgelse.

Vi følger den unge frøken Nathansen, der arbejder som referent hos politiet.

Efter en række bestialske kvindemord i den jødiske ghetto, bliver frøken Nathansen sat til at undersøge sagen. Hun er nemlig selv jøde og må derfor være den bedste til at få hevet oplysninger ud af disse mennesker.

Det skal vise sig at blive en yderst farlig sag med både en korrupt afdeling i politiet og en gal seriemorder, der er løs.

Jeg ved ikke hvad det var, men jeg blev desværre ikke rigtig investeret i historien. Måske manglede jeg lidt mere tekst/information fra/om karaktererne.
Men jeg kunne nu godt lide den ret så spændende og dramatiske slutning!

Tidsbilledet af København i starten af 1900-tallet var dybt fascinerende at læse om. Benni Bødker har også tilføjet et meget oplysende efterskrift om de russiske jøder, der flygtede til Danmark. Det var spændende læsning.

Christian Højgaards sort/hvide illustrationer passede perfekt til historien og jeg kunne specielt godt lide den måde han har levendegjort gader og stræder.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Jack-the-Ripper-like character in the Ghetto of Copenhagen in 1905 being chased by a female police typist. The killer, perhaps insane, is inspired by kabbalah. Nice and clear art. The story is interesting but didn't completely hold together for me.

[Victoria Lisek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crime comic book with a feminist protagonist which takes place in the Copenhagen Jewish ghetto - what's not to love

[Marine Lemoine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une bonne BD d'ambiance, parfaite pour Halloween ! L'enquête et le worldbuilding sont intéressants, comme le choix du camaïeu de gris pour la colorisation.
Une intrigue somme toute classique mais qui fonctionne !

Plus d'avis sur Instagram : @instantvalkyries ☺️

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel reminded me of "The Alienist" TV series (based -- itself -- on a popular novel,) particularly the Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning) arc in which a young, upper-class woman becomes a detective in the (turn of the 20th century) world which sees women as too delicate to be subjected to such horrors.

While the lead in this book bears striking resemblance to Sara Howard and the settings are quite similar, the book also features major differences that make it its own unique story. First of all, Kabbalistic Judaism plays a central role in the crimes in this book. Secondly, this story creates the impression that the supernatural might be involved. I don't believe it is unambiguously supernatural, one could explain things in a rational way as well, but "The Alienist" takes a clear rationalist approach.

I enjoyed the story, and it kept me reading. There were a couple points in the story that didn't make sense to me, particularly an occurrence in which a character is being pursued and seems to be in a dire situation, and then suddenly is free. This mechanism is sometimes used with characters who've been established as being extremely capable individuals because it is as if to say, "I don't even need to show you this person getting out of this spot because it's not a big enough trouble to fuss about," (it's also often done in poor TV and movies for budget reasons,) but this character is not a master escape artist (being out of her depths is part of what creates such great tension throughout the story.)

An exciting premise and interesting characters, but with a few rough edges in plotting.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copenhagen, 1905, a young secretary is recruited to investigate the murder of a woman in the Jewish ghetto of Brøndstræderne due to her jewish background. However, as probes into the community, she finds that there is more to the people around her than meets the eye. She must find the murderer before they find her.

The plot is good and brilliantly reflects the societal norms of that era. Although the storyline is good, it is greatly enhanced by the illustrations. I loved how each character's unique details were captured in the illustration. I recommend this book to all the readers who love a good detective story.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork! Really expressive drawings that brought the story to life. An interesting kind of Jack-the-Ripper story based on Jewish mysticism and set in a Scandinavian noir world. A little disturbing, a little sad, a little bit of mystery, a little bit of theology. All in all an interesting, fun read but I didn’t like how it ended so quickly and I didn’t quite understand the mystic aspect. I should probably look it up because I want a better explanation. The ending didn’t quite jive for me and there are some things I can’t make sense of.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this quite a bit and the artwork is very cool.
It's also wild that this takes place in Denmark and involves turn of the century Russian Jews that came there in 1905. Just like my own Grandfather!

I only wish more of this author's work was translated into English because I want to read more of his stuff!

[lydia m · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was beautiful and the concept is incredible...but I found the narrative difficult to follow and ultimately underwhelming. There was little to get you to connect with any characters, and the story jumped to new scenes with no transition which was sometimes confusing. I also think the translation work might have missed the mark a few times.

[Jennie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Je crois que je dois me rendre à l’évidence : les polars et thrillers en bande dessinée ne sont décidément pas mon format de prédilection…

Pourtant, j’ai apprécié les illustrations et trouvé l’intrigue intéressante, mais, comme souvent avec ce genre en BD, je n’ai pas réussi à être happer par l’histoire.

[Genevieve Ducharme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un peu décousu, mais dont le tout fait relativement du sens. C'était une histoire intéressante.

[Li Jin · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF pp. 66 the art style is not bad but graphic! I think I’ve gotten so much more picky with graphic novels recently.. or else I’ve read every interesting book already