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The Black Monday Murders (Single Issues)
The Black Monday Murders #1
“MAMMON” ALL HAIL GOD MONEY! From JONATHAN HICKMAN (EAST OF WEST, Secret Wars, Avengers) and TOMM COKER (UNDYING LOVE) comes a new crypto-noir series about the power of dirty, filthy money... and exactly what kind of people you can buy with it.
THE BLACK MONDAY MURDERS is classic occultism where the various schools of magic are actually clandestine banking cartels who control all of society: a secret world where vampire Russian oligarchs, Black popes, enchanted American aristocrats, and hitmen from the International Monetary Fund work together to keep ALL OF US in our proper place.
THE BLACK MONDAY MURDERS is classic occultism where the various schools of magic are actually clandestine banking cartels who control all of society: a secret world where vampire Russian oligarchs, Black popes, enchanted American aristocrats, and hitmen from the International Monetary Fund work together to keep ALL OF US in our proper place.
Unknown Binding
Published August 10, 2016
19 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Hickman
1,221 books2,036 followersJonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
August 10, 2016
The Black Monday Murders is a Jonathan Hickman comic which means it’s got to feature a small cabal of mysterious strangers wielding immense power! This one’s got something to do with money and worshipping Mammon. Oh, so it’s an obvious commentary on America’s capitalist economy – Americans literally worshipping money. Sigh. It’s also very, very boring!
Read the full review over at Need to Consume here!
Read the full review over at Need to Consume here!
March 4, 2017
Also available on the WondrousBooks blog.
Another cult one!
I think there might a bright future ahead of this comic book. However, the first issue was so overwhelming. There’s too much information, even though you have no idea what is happening. There are diagrams, sketches, names, dates, dictionary entries, historical facts.
Yeah, sure, the reader gets the gist of the story, but there’s also so much information that remains just hanging there, because you don’t know the characters, you don’t know the settings, you don’t know the symbols. What about the girl who kept talking gibberish? There was a family tree of the Rothschild line with some someone added with every generation? Was that her? What is that supposed to mean for me, as the clueless reader?
Also, there was a stark difference between the drawings of the men and the women. The females looked well drawn, while the males were usually a lot of messy lines and just blackness.
And last, but not least: WHY IS TAYLOR MOMSEN IN THIS?
Another cult one!
I think there might a bright future ahead of this comic book. However, the first issue was so overwhelming. There’s too much information, even though you have no idea what is happening. There are diagrams, sketches, names, dates, dictionary entries, historical facts.
Yeah, sure, the reader gets the gist of the story, but there’s also so much information that remains just hanging there, because you don’t know the characters, you don’t know the settings, you don’t know the symbols. What about the girl who kept talking gibberish? There was a family tree of the Rothschild line with some someone added with every generation? Was that her? What is that supposed to mean for me, as the clueless reader?
Also, there was a stark difference between the drawings of the men and the women. The females looked well drawn, while the males were usually a lot of messy lines and just blackness.
And last, but not least: WHY IS TAYLOR MOMSEN IN THIS?
May 9, 2018
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Talky, slow, and very dry . . . and yet I found myself engaged with it every step of the way. Just when I thought I was gonna get bored with it all, I realized I was pretty creeped out. I look forward to seeing where this is going.
August 14, 2016
This new mystery comic from Jonathan Hickman blew me away. This first issue is so smart and intriguing. The top bankers are in this god of money cult and everything is alright when they are making a ton of money, by any means necessary, even hurting others, but when the stock market crashes, the god of money demands a sacrifice. Theodore Dumas is the detective in charge of investigating these murders and unlocking the secrets, that this secret organization that runs almost everything, have hidden. A noir thriller about the power and the magic behind money. I was very much reminded of the atmosphere and mystery aspects of the movie Se7en while reading this. Conspiracy theorists, people against big corrupt business, and crypto-mystery lovers would really enjoy this. There is a lot of extra panel information to build an amazing world and perfect moody art in this spectacular new series from the creator of East of West and The Manhattan Projects.
September 29, 2017
I love the atmosphere, I'd definitely like to check out the rest of the series
March 28, 2019
Slow burn, good read. Lots of mystery which at times can be a little confusing given all the financial jargon they use mixed in with the elements of mysticism. Very stylish artwork. It takes its time telling the story which I can appreciate and leaves the reader wanting to learn more.
May 5, 2017
Conspiracy, paranoia, power games, an enormous cast of off-beat characters, and a healthy love for history are major colours in Jonathan Hickman's writer palette. I've loved his writing since Nightly News, an experimental and wickedly smart take on of the media over a decade ago. Since then he's stayed in suspense and politics with Pax Romana, and more recently he's found great success with the fantastic and weird Manhattan Projects and East of West, both continuing series on Image. Each of these titles has a composition unlike anything else on the shelves. His writing is dense, usually peppered with beautifully rendered little pages of extra details, often found in newspaper clippings, daily logs, journals, or incident reports. Though this method could be dry, Hickman applies all the artistry of the graphic novel medium to these little details, making them feel like little exposed secrets the reader is excited to find, little pieces of art that manage to fit right into the tone of everything else he does. Even Fantastic Four, a mainstream title for which I had no affection, won me over when I picked up a trade only because Hickman's name was on the cover. He managed to take the same love of history and intrigue and write a story worth reading, while still being rated for all readers. In that case, it was the history of science fiction pulps, which he channeled masterfully, keeping me reading until the end of his run in a title that had never before caught my interest.
Here, in the first issue of Black Monday Murders, Hickman is back at his best. All the classic Hickman is here. Weaving a story from the night before the crash that heralded the depression of the 1930s with events to occur on Halloween night of this very year, in this thick chapter Hickman introduces a power beneath and above the world economic system far more sinister than any we could already discern in the corruption of Wall Street. Conspiracies run from banks to cults to the realm of hell, where gods and demons manipulate the sorry rich with their true power over filthy lucre. As usual, many new characters are introduced quickly, and a web of intrigue just barely begins to be revealed. His trademark use of scattered fragments of story throughout the pages is his most skillfully done yet.
This may become my favourite pull after Invisible Republic.
The setting of some of the events being in our very near future, Halloween night of this very year, is a very interesting piece of storytelling skill that gives the whole story a very eery feeling. The art is violent and dark and demonic, like a slime is laid over everything. He fantastic elements are written with an exacting verisimilitude by weaving them seamlessly with perfectly believable interactions between bankers, police, and media. Much of the book is in black and white, or with colours washed out when they are there. The paper is matte, and the lettering is often in a typed or printed face that makes the whole thing feel like some forbidden file the reader has found about the whole nasty conspiracy.
This is haunting, claustrophobic, dense, and dark. I very highly recommend it.
Here, in the first issue of Black Monday Murders, Hickman is back at his best. All the classic Hickman is here. Weaving a story from the night before the crash that heralded the depression of the 1930s with events to occur on Halloween night of this very year, in this thick chapter Hickman introduces a power beneath and above the world economic system far more sinister than any we could already discern in the corruption of Wall Street. Conspiracies run from banks to cults to the realm of hell, where gods and demons manipulate the sorry rich with their true power over filthy lucre. As usual, many new characters are introduced quickly, and a web of intrigue just barely begins to be revealed. His trademark use of scattered fragments of story throughout the pages is his most skillfully done yet.
This may become my favourite pull after Invisible Republic.
The setting of some of the events being in our very near future, Halloween night of this very year, is a very interesting piece of storytelling skill that gives the whole story a very eery feeling. The art is violent and dark and demonic, like a slime is laid over everything. He fantastic elements are written with an exacting verisimilitude by weaving them seamlessly with perfectly believable interactions between bankers, police, and media. Much of the book is in black and white, or with colours washed out when they are there. The paper is matte, and the lettering is often in a typed or printed face that makes the whole thing feel like some forbidden file the reader has found about the whole nasty conspiracy.
This is haunting, claustrophobic, dense, and dark. I very highly recommend it.
November 23, 2019
Gostei demais da arte, mas o texto é árido até dizer chega. Fala de pactos com deuses, sacrifícios, etc., mas em vez de mostrar pessoas falando de magia como nos acostumamos dentro do "gênero", o vocabulário é todo político e, principalmente, de mercado financeiro. Então é um grupo de poderosos manipulando o mundo pra ganhar dinheiro, basicamente. A dissonância é proposital, mas só deixa mais difícil achar uma porta de entrada pra curtir o quadrinho (o que também é proposital, mas... não sei se é uma boa escolha).
Tô na dúvida se gostei ou se é um daqueles quadrinhos/livros que é tão cascudo que você se sente tentado a achar que gostou pra não parecer burro.
Tô na dúvida se gostei ou se é um daqueles quadrinhos/livros que é tão cascudo que você se sente tentado a achar que gostou pra não parecer burro.
August 15, 2016
I went into this a little guarded, wondering if it was going to be one of those self-congratulatory titles that is difficult to read, but I loved it. I think that it's a hella strong start to a series. Although economic themes seem to have been on the rise lately, Hickman's ideas are spun in a fresh and engaging way. I love how the book gets off to a creepy, sinister start right off the bat, aided by Tomm Coker's art, and how it's so many of my favorite things rolled into one: horror, detective mystery, and smart speculative fiction/retelling.
August 10, 2016
This was really great, but if I were to recommend it to someone (which I definitely would), I would say pick up the trade when it comes out in January because I have a feeling this is going to be really great to get the entire story in one go.
I really want to know what those symbols mean...
I really want to know what those symbols mean...
August 13, 2019
Great art anyway.
The story is fragmentary and told in a confusing manner, with almost no characterization, but it's basically that there is a magic cult group in charge of the financial world and they are evil or something. Money is magic is power is evil.
That's about it, really. A bunch of characters parade in and off the stage. I didn't really care about any of them or their relationships to each other. Every few pages is interrupted by boring documents that substitute for worldbuilding. People get sacrificed because I guess we need some blood to keep audiences awake. I can't be bothered to follow the story, though, so it didn't work with me.
Truly dull and uninteresting, yet apparently a lot of readers really like the series. I won't be reading any more of it, though!
The story is fragmentary and told in a confusing manner, with almost no characterization, but it's basically that there is a magic cult group in charge of the financial world and they are evil or something. Money is magic is power is evil.
That's about it, really. A bunch of characters parade in and off the stage. I didn't really care about any of them or their relationships to each other. Every few pages is interrupted by boring documents that substitute for worldbuilding. People get sacrificed because I guess we need some blood to keep audiences awake. I can't be bothered to follow the story, though, so it didn't work with me.
Truly dull and uninteresting, yet apparently a lot of readers really like the series. I won't be reading any more of it, though!
October 15, 2020
This goes for Volumes 1 & 2: I really like the myth behind the Black Monday Murders. If only the execution (ha) would have brought out more of that myth! A non-negligible amount of effort went into developing the myth about the history of worship of Mannon and its tie-in to modern banking. To have it all obscured by image after image of supernatural power-gathering and senseless trying-to-be-edgy gore was a disappointment. I'll still read Volume 3 to see what comes out, and still hope that someone may pick up the pieces to fill out the rest of the story in another graphic novel or more classic form.
May 7, 2021
معرف إيش رأيي فيها الحقيقة قريتها قبل كم ساعة والحين فيني نوم وعقلي اسفنج بسسس الرسم ما كان ستايلي ومع ذلك ما كرهته... حبيت كيف هالستايل يخلي ويوه كل الشخصيات قاتمة وفيها بؤس معرف شر كذيه هيهي + القصة شوي ممتعه... كبداية... بما انه ذا أول أشيو ستل.... المحقق عيبني وايد معرف شسالفته ساحر أو بس ذكي وشاطر فشغله وايد بس عايبني لو بكمل أقرأ الأشيوز الثانيين بيكون علشانه... ما أظن عندي اهتمام بالمؤامرات-كذيه يكتبوها؟؟ - الخاصة بالإقتصاد العالمي 😫 -أحب السحر ذو... وأظن الموضوع له شغل بالسحر (ضحوا ربيعهم فالبداية أو إيش... ممتع).
February 23, 2018
I really enjoyed this one. With great illustrations, good plotting, and and intriguing premise, it was a really great start to what promises to be an intriguing story. It was a bit slow, but I liked the pacing, especially if I was reading it as a volume rather than by issue. I loved the idea of using Memnon. Really intrigued to read more.
February 13, 2018
Undoubtedly clever, but I suspect this works better the less you know about the world financial system. It feels somehow naive or possibly self-deluding about the desire to attribute pedestrian human evil to something occult. Won't be reading more.
November 8, 2017
Love the art and concept, but I'm still confused.
July 18, 2018
A very different type of read no doubt.
January 1, 2019
Part history lesson, part crime, part mystical, not sure what exactly but I liked it.
November 18, 2019
La idea es interesante, el dinero como un ente vivo que debe de ser alimentado y con un giro brutal a los conceptos del capitalismo. Buena introducción.
April 12, 2020
This is freaking awesome!!!
June 12, 2020
Mammon, exercises his power.
Good artwork. Image freebie. A Mammon worshipping cabal runs wall street and strange deaths are occurring. A power struggle at the top?
Good artwork. Image freebie. A Mammon worshipping cabal runs wall street and strange deaths are occurring. A power struggle at the top?
August 27, 2021
Hickman's writing is good at points, but he inevitably throws in boring, technical information that makes the reading feel like a textbook chapter. That's my main complaint with his writing.
April 28, 2022
Ths was fantastic. I'm not totally sure what's going on but I'm here for the journey!
October 14, 2016
I'm not used to reading comics in single issues so this may be biased but this just read itself. Art is detailed and incredibly atmospheric. Dread, death and age-old domination stalk the pages.
February 16, 2023
The art is phenomenal , Tom Coker has definitely caught my eye.
February 12, 2017
Wow, this was incredible. Perfect metaphor for our times.
August 10, 2016
This book is exactly what you expect from Jonathan Hickman, but I like the story in tone (modern-day crime) and in the style of the artwork (similar to Velvet). At this point, there's just cryptic understanding between the reoccurring roles and time loops.
If you like Hickman's elaborate world-building, there's a lot of that in the first issue. Detailed diagrams and organizational and ancestry charts. If Hickman and/or all of this sounds annoying, you will most likely not find this extended issue interesting.
If you like Hickman's elaborate world-building, there's a lot of that in the first issue. Detailed diagrams and organizational and ancestry charts. If Hickman and/or all of this sounds annoying, you will most likely not find this extended issue interesting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews