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Peepland #1-5
Peepland
Alternative cover for B01MT0XEYS
Sink into this sinful semi-autobiographical neo-noir crime comic with a punk rock edge!
A high-octane crime yarn set in the seedy Times Square peep booths of 1980s New York
When a chance encounter for Peepbooth worker Roxy Bell leads to the brutal murder of a public access pornographer, the erotic performer and her punk rock ex-partner Nick Zero soon find themselves under fire from criminals, cops, and the city elite, as they begin to untangle a complex web of corruption leading right to city hall.
Sink into this sinful semi-autobiographical neo-noir crime comic with a punk rock edge!
A high-octane crime yarn set in the seedy Times Square peep booths of 1980s New York
When a chance encounter for Peepbooth worker Roxy Bell leads to the brutal murder of a public access pornographer, the erotic performer and her punk rock ex-partner Nick Zero soon find themselves under fire from criminals, cops, and the city elite, as they begin to untangle a complex web of corruption leading right to city hall.
128 pages, ebook
First published July 5, 2017
12 people are currently reading
1200 people want to read
About the author
Christa Faust
79 books396 followersChrista Faust is an American author who writes original novels, as well as novelizations and media tie-ins.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
January 3, 2018
If you’re an adult who reads comics then you probably know at least one person who gives you grief about it. “Oh, you still read funny books? How old are you? Ten?” This still happens even after Hollywood is dominated by superheroes, and there have been about thirty years worth of feature articles about how comics aren’t just for kids anymore. If you’ve got one of those people in your life just hand them a copy of Peepland, and then watch with satisfaction as their goddamn heads explode.
The story revolves around the Times Square sex trade in 1986 when a porn producer is on the run because he has a video tape that implicates a rich kid in a shocking crime. The producer stashes the tape in the peep show booth where Roxy is working, and after he’s murdered she retrieves it. This kicks off a chain of events that impacts a variety of people like sex workers, crooked cops, thugs, a punk rocker, an innocent kid accused of a crime, and a shitbag real estate developer with a ridiculous hairstyle.
This is one the new series of comics that Hard Case Crime has started doing, and the results are exactly what you’d expect from a company with that name. It’s a gritty noir tale that doesn’t skimp on bloody violence, and of course with a story set in this world there’s plenty of sex and nudity, too. What’s refreshing is that this doesn’t veer into the territory of a cartoon blood bath with tough guy dialogue like a Sin City. This reads like a story happening in a real time and place with characters that you can legitimately sympathize with or hate.
There’s also a very matter-of-fact nature to the portrayal of the sex trade that comes from co-writer Christa Faust’s background as a peep show worker, and her afterward makes it clear that this was in part a love letter to a sleazy Times Square that doesn’t exist anymore. The artwork fits the tone of the story and gives you the vibe of it in the same way that a great ‘70s crime movie like The French Connection can make you feel like you’re walking the streets of New York back then.
A brief personal story about how I met the authors Christa Faust and Gary Phillips: (I’ve recounted this once before in review of Choke Hold.) Back in 2011 at Bouchercon in St. Louis I was talking to Mr. Phillips when Ms. Faust walked up and asked him if he was going to come to her next panel on sports in crime fiction. She said that they were going to talk a lot about boxing, mixed martial arts, and wrestling in particular, and being a smart ass I asked if there would be any actual wrestling going on. Without missing a beat she launched into an extended pro wrestler style spiel about how she was gonna get Gary Phillips in the ring and hurt him bad.
It was a very funny moment, but I wish I’d known then that the two of them would partner up to write a crime comic this good so that I could have thanked them for it in advance.
The story revolves around the Times Square sex trade in 1986 when a porn producer is on the run because he has a video tape that implicates a rich kid in a shocking crime. The producer stashes the tape in the peep show booth where Roxy is working, and after he’s murdered she retrieves it. This kicks off a chain of events that impacts a variety of people like sex workers, crooked cops, thugs, a punk rocker, an innocent kid accused of a crime, and a shitbag real estate developer with a ridiculous hairstyle.
This is one the new series of comics that Hard Case Crime has started doing, and the results are exactly what you’d expect from a company with that name. It’s a gritty noir tale that doesn’t skimp on bloody violence, and of course with a story set in this world there’s plenty of sex and nudity, too. What’s refreshing is that this doesn’t veer into the territory of a cartoon blood bath with tough guy dialogue like a Sin City. This reads like a story happening in a real time and place with characters that you can legitimately sympathize with or hate.
There’s also a very matter-of-fact nature to the portrayal of the sex trade that comes from co-writer Christa Faust’s background as a peep show worker, and her afterward makes it clear that this was in part a love letter to a sleazy Times Square that doesn’t exist anymore. The artwork fits the tone of the story and gives you the vibe of it in the same way that a great ‘70s crime movie like The French Connection can make you feel like you’re walking the streets of New York back then.
A brief personal story about how I met the authors Christa Faust and Gary Phillips: (I’ve recounted this once before in review of Choke Hold.) Back in 2011 at Bouchercon in St. Louis I was talking to Mr. Phillips when Ms. Faust walked up and asked him if he was going to come to her next panel on sports in crime fiction. She said that they were going to talk a lot about boxing, mixed martial arts, and wrestling in particular, and being a smart ass I asked if there would be any actual wrestling going on. Without missing a beat she launched into an extended pro wrestler style spiel about how she was gonna get Gary Phillips in the ring and hurt him bad.
It was a very funny moment, but I wish I’d known then that the two of them would partner up to write a crime comic this good so that I could have thanked them for it in advance.
January 13, 2018
In the graphic novel “Peepland” , the collected first five issues of the Hard Case Crime comic of the same name, written by Christina Faust and Gary Phillips we have a noir story of peep show performer Roxy Bell and her punk-rock ex-boyfriend Nick Zero, becoming entangled in a web of corruption. Roxy must find a truth that leads to city hall.
The story is set in Times Square in 1986. At the time this was the home of New York's red light district where strip clubs, porno theatres and lots of petty crime abound. If you like your comics gritty and action packed then this is defiantly for you. On the down side, there is certainly not too much new ground covered here.
I have read a few novels written by both authors and they are certainly capable of pulling off this kind of story. The artwork by Andrea Camerini is new to me.
Here is an interview with the authors about the comic -->
https://crimefictionlover.com/2016/09...
I tried to purchase this as single issues when they first appeared, and was unable to run across any in my voyaging. So this is a nice collection of the first bunch of issues. I was not aware they did seven different covers for issue number one, and three different covers for each of the remaining bunch. Sadly I never did find any of them. It was nice of the publisher to print the images of all the covers at the back of this collection.
The story is set in Times Square in 1986. At the time this was the home of New York's red light district where strip clubs, porno theatres and lots of petty crime abound. If you like your comics gritty and action packed then this is defiantly for you. On the down side, there is certainly not too much new ground covered here.
I have read a few novels written by both authors and they are certainly capable of pulling off this kind of story. The artwork by Andrea Camerini is new to me.
Here is an interview with the authors about the comic -->
https://crimefictionlover.com/2016/09...
I tried to purchase this as single issues when they first appeared, and was unable to run across any in my voyaging. So this is a nice collection of the first bunch of issues. I was not aware they did seven different covers for issue number one, and three different covers for each of the remaining bunch. Sadly I never did find any of them. It was nice of the publisher to print the images of all the covers at the back of this collection.
June 30, 2017
★★★★1/2
Peepland is the best of the graphic novels that Hard Case Crime has released so far as part of their new line of hard-boiled crime comic books. The book is written by acclaimed crime authors Christa Faust and Gary Phillips, and the story was spawned by Faust's experiences in her past career working in the New York City peep booths back in the day. It takes place in 1986 NYC and is about Roxy Bell, a peepshow artist working a booth at Peepland in Manhattan, who, after agreeing to stash a VHS tape for pornographer Dirty Dick, finds herself caught in a conspiracy that turns increasingly more dangerous every day.
This book does such a great job of dropping you into the world of pre-Guiliani 80's Manhattan (filled with porno theaters, pawn shops, and graffiti) and the people who roam the island. In their own way, Faust and Phillips touch a lot on what was going on in the society in that era as well, like the Central Park Five or the AIDS epidemic. The art by Andrea Camerini is effective and playful, with the saturated colors that we've come to expect from 80's stories.
There seems to be a real command of the story here. It's confident, well-structured, and a bit addicting actually. I found myself really caring about the characters in a very short amount of time and wanted to see where their story went. I loved the way the story developed in a way that all the lives surrounding Peepland were affected by this interconnecting plot. The dialogue is great, and each character was memorable and efficiently developed. And most important, despite its downbeat ending, the book is lots of fun to read. You can really feel the passion behind it all. By combining Faust's knowledge of the time and place from her past life, Gary Phillips's experience of writing for comic books, and both of their solid crime fiction sensibilities, Hard Case Crime rocked it with this great release!
Peepland is the best of the graphic novels that Hard Case Crime has released so far as part of their new line of hard-boiled crime comic books. The book is written by acclaimed crime authors Christa Faust and Gary Phillips, and the story was spawned by Faust's experiences in her past career working in the New York City peep booths back in the day. It takes place in 1986 NYC and is about Roxy Bell, a peepshow artist working a booth at Peepland in Manhattan, who, after agreeing to stash a VHS tape for pornographer Dirty Dick, finds herself caught in a conspiracy that turns increasingly more dangerous every day.
This book does such a great job of dropping you into the world of pre-Guiliani 80's Manhattan (filled with porno theaters, pawn shops, and graffiti) and the people who roam the island. In their own way, Faust and Phillips touch a lot on what was going on in the society in that era as well, like the Central Park Five or the AIDS epidemic. The art by Andrea Camerini is effective and playful, with the saturated colors that we've come to expect from 80's stories.
There seems to be a real command of the story here. It's confident, well-structured, and a bit addicting actually. I found myself really caring about the characters in a very short amount of time and wanted to see where their story went. I loved the way the story developed in a way that all the lives surrounding Peepland were affected by this interconnecting plot. The dialogue is great, and each character was memorable and efficiently developed. And most important, despite its downbeat ending, the book is lots of fun to read. You can really feel the passion behind it all. By combining Faust's knowledge of the time and place from her past life, Gary Phillips's experience of writing for comic books, and both of their solid crime fiction sensibilities, Hard Case Crime rocked it with this great release!
February 11, 2021
Some great neo-noir set in the seedy Times Square area of the 1980's. Yes, Times Square looked a lot different back then, filled with peep shows and hookers that were mostly driven out during the Guilliani / Disney days. Faust grew up in the Hell's Kitchen area and actually worked in the peep shows back then. When a sex worker at the peep show is left holding a videotape of a murder, things quickly escalate out of control. This is not the kind of story that has happy endings. It's a dark, seedy, violent look into the crime ridden NYC of the 80's.
August 12, 2017
This is a quick graphic novel about crime ridden New York city in the 1980s. Starring a peepshow stripper named Roxy.
The story: there's this guy who talks women into taking their clothes off and he films them. He does this in public. During one of his 'events' he films something in the background - the murder of a young woman. He gets spotted and he runs. Hides the tape in Roxy's peepshow place, and continues running. Then dies.
The bad guys then search throughout the graphic novel for the tape. While Roxy and some friends attempt to figure out what to do with the tape, and who the murderer might be.
Meanwhile, another of the peepshow stripper's has a son. That son gets picked up by the police and framed for the murder of the young woman. It's important to note that the young murdered woman is white (as is the murderer) while the young man framed by the corrupt police is black.
A 'baby butch' named AJ attempts to help Aiesha and her son Zee by doing things like getting money (through robbery) and the like. AJ and Aiesha are a couple - hence that 'background LGBT' shelf.
Oh, and, while Roxy is running around with an ex-boyfriend trying to 'solve the mystery' and stuff, she runs into an ex-girlfriend. So she's . . . I guess bisexual? There's not enough there to tell. I mean, it is shown that she 'had relations' with the other woman, but the boyfriend was in the room watching. But I think she also had 'relations' with that same woman in 'present time' so . . . bisexual? That other woman clearly things that she's hiding the fact she's a 'dyke' though.
Right. So. Interesting story. Not . . . bad. Somewhat horrifying to watch unfold all that abuse, brutality, murder, death, police corruption, and rape. *shudders*
The covers:
[image error]
Rating: 3.44
August 5 2017
The story: there's this guy who talks women into taking their clothes off and he films them. He does this in public. During one of his 'events' he films something in the background - the murder of a young woman. He gets spotted and he runs. Hides the tape in Roxy's peepshow place, and continues running. Then dies.
The bad guys then search throughout the graphic novel for the tape. While Roxy and some friends attempt to figure out what to do with the tape, and who the murderer might be.
Meanwhile, another of the peepshow stripper's has a son. That son gets picked up by the police and framed for the murder of the young woman. It's important to note that the young murdered woman is white (as is the murderer) while the young man framed by the corrupt police is black.
A 'baby butch' named AJ attempts to help Aiesha and her son Zee by doing things like getting money (through robbery) and the like. AJ and Aiesha are a couple - hence that 'background LGBT' shelf.
Oh, and, while Roxy is running around with an ex-boyfriend trying to 'solve the mystery' and stuff, she runs into an ex-girlfriend. So she's . . . I guess bisexual? There's not enough there to tell. I mean, it is shown that she 'had relations' with the other woman, but the boyfriend was in the room watching. But I think she also had 'relations' with that same woman in 'present time' so . . . bisexual? That other woman clearly things that she's hiding the fact she's a 'dyke' though.
Right. So. Interesting story. Not . . . bad. Somewhat horrifying to watch unfold all that abuse, brutality, murder, death, police corruption, and rape. *shudders*
The covers:
[image error]
Rating: 3.44
August 5 2017
March 4, 2018
Peepland is a delectable dish of the darker side of debauchery in the Deuce where peepshow worker Roxy unwillingly becomes embroiled in a murder scheme courtesy of a snuff film made by a privileged prep boy. Set in the 1980’s, the graphic novel oozes novel atmosphere from the inks to the dialogue, to the characters themselves – providing a truly enveloping reading experience. 5/5 stars.
March 4, 2018
A comic that is most certainly not set in any superhero universe but in New York 1986 where we find our heroine Roxy in a universe of perversion, she works in a peepshow. The story opens when a man clearly on the run hides a videocassette and next he dies.
A young black man get suspected for the murder of a white woman in central park and while they have no real evidence to really arrest him for the deed, the suspicion lies heavy on his shoulders.
Who are those people chasing the lead to the missing videocassette that contains the real identity of the killer in the central park.
Peepland is a Hard case crime comic in five episodes/parts that does show a remorseless environment that is the eighties New York Time square with all of its awefull treatment of people and paid sex. It pulls no punches and depicts a heart wrenching image in which this crime thriller takes place. A well written comic that has been illustrated very good.
Time well spend in this adults only comic that does not fail to deliver.
A young black man get suspected for the murder of a white woman in central park and while they have no real evidence to really arrest him for the deed, the suspicion lies heavy on his shoulders.
Who are those people chasing the lead to the missing videocassette that contains the real identity of the killer in the central park.
Peepland is a Hard case crime comic in five episodes/parts that does show a remorseless environment that is the eighties New York Time square with all of its awefull treatment of people and paid sex. It pulls no punches and depicts a heart wrenching image in which this crime thriller takes place. A well written comic that has been illustrated very good.
Time well spend in this adults only comic that does not fail to deliver.
July 10, 2022
There are a few references to sex, certainly fewer breasts than the title suggests. And there is a story behind all this sex, even if you might be thrown off by the suggestive covers. The references to real-life issues like racism, police abuse, objectification of women, single motherhood make this a more mature setting than you might expect from the basic premise. It's an action-packed story with a large bounty getting a lot of people killed.
Dirty Dick Durbin, an amateur pornographer, witnesses by chance during one of his public sex scenes the murder of a young lady by the feared Central Park Slayer. The men who are after Durbin silence him by throwing him under a train, but not before he manages to hide the tape with Roxy Bell, a peepshow worker. She and her ex-boyfriend Nick Nunzio now have a target on their backs, just like the last living witness, Sherry Lindstrom, the girl Durbin was filming right before getting the murder on tape.
Dirty Dick Durbin, an amateur pornographer, witnesses by chance during one of his public sex scenes the murder of a young lady by the feared Central Park Slayer. The men who are after Durbin silence him by throwing him under a train, but not before he manages to hide the tape with Roxy Bell, a peepshow worker. She and her ex-boyfriend Nick Nunzio now have a target on their backs, just like the last living witness, Sherry Lindstrom, the girl Durbin was filming right before getting the murder on tape.
December 1, 2018
Peepland has been somewhere on my to-read pile for a while, but my new buddy Devon reminded me about it and so I finally cracked it open. I'm glad he did, too, because this is a great crime comic.
The main plot is that there is a tape going around of a politician's son committing a murder, and all sorts of people are after it. Killers, blackmailers, crooked cops, and people wanting to expose the crime for what it is all have stakes in this game.
While that is the main plot of the story, it's only a part of what it is truly about. In reality, the book is as much about the character of the dark, unforgiving city as it is the human characters. Just as people in the book go to Peepland to sneak a peek at a bit of naughtiness, the reader, too, pays his admission and gets to see his own dirty version of Peepland portrayed as the crime-ridden city and its secrets.
The main plot is that there is a tape going around of a politician's son committing a murder, and all sorts of people are after it. Killers, blackmailers, crooked cops, and people wanting to expose the crime for what it is all have stakes in this game.
While that is the main plot of the story, it's only a part of what it is truly about. In reality, the book is as much about the character of the dark, unforgiving city as it is the human characters. Just as people in the book go to Peepland to sneak a peek at a bit of naughtiness, the reader, too, pays his admission and gets to see his own dirty version of Peepland portrayed as the crime-ridden city and its secrets.
October 14, 2017
Set in the pornutopia of '80s Times Square, Peepland tells the story of a murder accidentally captured on videotape and its sprawling aftermath. Some will stop at nothing to destroy the tape, others will risk everything to profit from it, and decent people get caught in the middle. Generally to tragic effect.
This isn't really five star writing. I'm unclear on why the janitor is important enough that random bypassers are spitting on him in Haitian, for example.
It's not quite five star illustration, either. One sequence is drawn so that a bullet looks like it's flying backwards, through a guy's head, INTO a gun.
But what an experience. The seedy New York porn district just comes to life; the writer lived it and it shows. The way the murder's effects ripple across the lives of so many members of the sleaze community is brilliant. And the wide range of loosely connected characters are remarkably well realized for a scant five issue arc. There are so many small stories happening in the background; it's immensely satisfying even though few of them reach any sort of traditional resolution.
Despite the occasional glitch, I enjoyed the hell out of Peepland.
This isn't really five star writing. I'm unclear on why the janitor is important enough that random bypassers are spitting on him in Haitian, for example.
It's not quite five star illustration, either. One sequence is drawn so that a bullet looks like it's flying backwards, through a guy's head, INTO a gun.
But what an experience. The seedy New York porn district just comes to life; the writer lived it and it shows. The way the murder's effects ripple across the lives of so many members of the sleaze community is brilliant. And the wide range of loosely connected characters are remarkably well realized for a scant five issue arc. There are so many small stories happening in the background; it's immensely satisfying even though few of them reach any sort of traditional resolution.
Despite the occasional glitch, I enjoyed the hell out of Peepland.
December 11, 2017
Definitely Hard Case Crime material. Pretty dark, definitely noir, no happy endings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2020
Prior to Christa Faust’s success as a writer, she was a worker in the sex trade, in the section of New York City’s 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenue, which is what is commonly referred to as “The Deuce”.
It is this background that lends an authenticity to her writing. “Peepland”is a gritty and disturbing, yet strangely nostalgic, graphic novel about life in the Deuce in the mid- to late 1980s. Co-written by Gary Phillips, “Peepland” tells the sad story of Roxy, who sells her body like a commodity in a peepshow booth. Men can stare behind glass and do and say whatever they want for a few bucks, but doing anything more is a higher price. in more ways than one.
One day, Roxy is given a videotape by a man she knows named Dick Durbin, who makes a living by accosting women on the street with a video camera, offering them money if they get naked on tape. Dick tells Roxy to hide the tape, and hours later, Dick’s body is found smeared to a paste beneath the wheels of a subway car.
Roxy and her boyfriend watch the tape. As suspected, Dick inadvertently captured a murder on film, which clearly shows the murderer’s face. The murderer, the son of a prominent local politician, is after the tape himself.
The police, however, arrest a young black teenager named Lorenzo for the murder. The boy happens to be the son of one of Roxy’s fellow sex trade workers and friends. She suddenly realizes the stakes are high. But she also knows that people could be willing to pay a lot of money for the videotape, so why can’t she make some extra scratch?
The resultant cluster-fuck is a suspenseful, twisty, but ultimately soul-deadening noir thriller, where no one gets out unscathed.
Faust has only written a handful of crime thrillers, but they are powerhouse reads. “Peepland”, one of the first graphic novels to be published by Hard Case Crime and Titan Comics, demonstrates the visceral impact that a graphic novel can have.
It goes without saying that these “comic books” are most definitely NOT for children. This is adults-only reading, and mature adults at that.
It is this background that lends an authenticity to her writing. “Peepland”is a gritty and disturbing, yet strangely nostalgic, graphic novel about life in the Deuce in the mid- to late 1980s. Co-written by Gary Phillips, “Peepland” tells the sad story of Roxy, who sells her body like a commodity in a peepshow booth. Men can stare behind glass and do and say whatever they want for a few bucks, but doing anything more is a higher price. in more ways than one.
One day, Roxy is given a videotape by a man she knows named Dick Durbin, who makes a living by accosting women on the street with a video camera, offering them money if they get naked on tape. Dick tells Roxy to hide the tape, and hours later, Dick’s body is found smeared to a paste beneath the wheels of a subway car.
Roxy and her boyfriend watch the tape. As suspected, Dick inadvertently captured a murder on film, which clearly shows the murderer’s face. The murderer, the son of a prominent local politician, is after the tape himself.
The police, however, arrest a young black teenager named Lorenzo for the murder. The boy happens to be the son of one of Roxy’s fellow sex trade workers and friends. She suddenly realizes the stakes are high. But she also knows that people could be willing to pay a lot of money for the videotape, so why can’t she make some extra scratch?
The resultant cluster-fuck is a suspenseful, twisty, but ultimately soul-deadening noir thriller, where no one gets out unscathed.
Faust has only written a handful of crime thrillers, but they are powerhouse reads. “Peepland”, one of the first graphic novels to be published by Hard Case Crime and Titan Comics, demonstrates the visceral impact that a graphic novel can have.
It goes without saying that these “comic books” are most definitely NOT for children. This is adults-only reading, and mature adults at that.
May 11, 2019
So happy to have finally gotten my hands on a copy of Peepland. Money Shot will probably always be my favorite work by Christa Faust, but Peepland is a close second. Very noir-ish gritty happenings in a bygone time and place-Times Square, NY NY, 1986. Great art here too-to me very reminiscent of Howard Chaykin's work, for a variety of reasons. Great stuff.
September 4, 2017
This was at least loosely based on real experiences of the author, Christa Faust. I read her Nightmare on Elm Street tie in but didn't that together until I'd started reading this one.
It's a good noir type crime story, the kind where you can feel the grit and want to shower once the story is over. Not much in the way of happy endings, and the characters are real enough you feel for them. It's set in Times Square in 1986, and the setting is very authentic due to the background of the creators. This is Times Square before it was cleaned up, when it was still a true urban jungle. The basic premise is a murder ends up on a videotape by accident, and powerful forces react to make sure the video never sees the light of day. A young african american is accused of the crime as a scapegoat, which only makes it even more important the truth is revealed. So it's up to peepshow booth worker and her ex boyfriend to set things straight. And as is the case in noir, things rarely work out as they should and soon the bodies are piling up.
Hard hitting crime drama here, don't let the graphic novel format fool you. Top notch, I hope more crime comics like this one are released.
It's a good noir type crime story, the kind where you can feel the grit and want to shower once the story is over. Not much in the way of happy endings, and the characters are real enough you feel for them. It's set in Times Square in 1986, and the setting is very authentic due to the background of the creators. This is Times Square before it was cleaned up, when it was still a true urban jungle. The basic premise is a murder ends up on a videotape by accident, and powerful forces react to make sure the video never sees the light of day. A young african american is accused of the crime as a scapegoat, which only makes it even more important the truth is revealed. So it's up to peepshow booth worker and her ex boyfriend to set things straight. And as is the case in noir, things rarely work out as they should and soon the bodies are piling up.
Hard hitting crime drama here, don't let the graphic novel format fool you. Top notch, I hope more crime comics like this one are released.
June 24, 2018
My first graphic novel and I loved it
August 10, 2023
Peepland is a graphic novel from the Hard Case Crime publishing company, this story written by Christa Faust. It portrays a gritty New York, before it was gentrified, with nudity, violence, bad cops, all the good things. There are references to the Central Park Five story in this one, although with different outcomes. There are also crooked politicians willing to do anything to help their career advance.
Roxy Bell works in a peep show posing for men willing to pay. Dirty Dan who makes a living filming women in the nude and doing commercials, runs into her booth and hides a video tape in the lining of the chair that the customers use. He is killed later on, falling in front of a subway train. Roxy takes the tape and watches it with a friend. It shows a murder of a young woman and also the murderer's face.
On the murder front, the police arrest a group of black teenagers. The henchmen of the father of the murderer hunt for the tape. Roxy and her boyfriend, a punk rocker, try to find out how to get the tape to the police in order to save the boys, one of whom is the sun of Roxy's best friend, another employee of the peep show.
So there is your story... oh, are the cops working the case honest? Oh yes, don't forget the attempted blackmail.
It's an action-packed story, a real page turner. Roxy and Nick are also trying to stay alive, one step ahead of the goons. Well drawn (although I did find some of the characters looked a bit like others, so a tad confusing at times). But entertaining and interesting. (3.0 stars)
Roxy Bell works in a peep show posing for men willing to pay. Dirty Dan who makes a living filming women in the nude and doing commercials, runs into her booth and hides a video tape in the lining of the chair that the customers use. He is killed later on, falling in front of a subway train. Roxy takes the tape and watches it with a friend. It shows a murder of a young woman and also the murderer's face.
On the murder front, the police arrest a group of black teenagers. The henchmen of the father of the murderer hunt for the tape. Roxy and her boyfriend, a punk rocker, try to find out how to get the tape to the police in order to save the boys, one of whom is the sun of Roxy's best friend, another employee of the peep show.
So there is your story... oh, are the cops working the case honest? Oh yes, don't forget the attempted blackmail.
It's an action-packed story, a real page turner. Roxy and Nick are also trying to stay alive, one step ahead of the goons. Well drawn (although I did find some of the characters looked a bit like others, so a tad confusing at times). But entertaining and interesting. (3.0 stars)
March 17, 2019
Great artwork and a gritty story that captures downtown NYC during the height of the violent crime/porn/prostitution /drug epidemic heyday of the late 1970s to 1980s with a touch of the HIV/AIDS hysteria before its Disneyfication.
Definitely check it out.
Definitely check it out.
February 5, 2018
The son of a rich politician is caught on camera strangling a woman to death. The VHS tape is left inside one of the peepshow's booths where one of the workers, Roxie, finds it. The story then follows a trail of corruption and murder to protect the rich politician and all those who gain from his money and political favors. A lot of innocent people are killed. The cops are dirty, just as dirty as the streets of NYC. There isn't anyone to turn to or trust.
I liked this dark and gritty tale. It's a bleak look at the seedy underbelly of the city during the late 80's. No one really wins in this story. You just try to survive. I believe if I were Roxie. I'd move.
I liked this dark and gritty tale. It's a bleak look at the seedy underbelly of the city during the late 80's. No one really wins in this story. You just try to survive. I believe if I were Roxie. I'd move.
November 28, 2019
Peepland by Christa Faust starts out extremely promising. The setting and atmosphere are really tight. The places the story takes place in are dirty and seedy, the characters are lowlives and it seems to be the start of a very well written and drawn noir story. Unfortunately it all changes at one point. It's like at that point an edgy teenager fuelled by juvenile Twitter type activism/rage/toxicity takes over and throws everything into the dumps.
This is what happens when a person doesn't care about the art or even about the entertainment. The primary goal becomes to "educate" the reader and to push an agenda. There are so many scenes pushed into the story completely out of context which are just there to push an ideology. It gets confusing at first and then simply boring.
There is no room for subtlety or nuance. In this way this is a prime example for why the Western comic industry is suffering so much.
This is what happens when a person doesn't care about the art or even about the entertainment. The primary goal becomes to "educate" the reader and to push an agenda. There are so many scenes pushed into the story completely out of context which are just there to push an ideology. It gets confusing at first and then simply boring.
There is no room for subtlety or nuance. In this way this is a prime example for why the Western comic industry is suffering so much.
September 2, 2017
I think I would have liked this a whole lot more as a novel, but the limitations of the comic format left the story feeling a little too thin. I wanted to know so much more about all these people.
June 3, 2018
Not a single redeeming character. No hope. Depressing as all hell. This is truly the "feel-good" story of the year!
October 11, 2021
Set in the seedy pre-gentrification Times Square of 1986, Peepland tells the story of peep show booth girls, pornographers, punks, and other outcasts who become unwitting witnesses to a murder committed by a rich kid with a connected father.
I’ve read a half dozen entries in the Hard Case Crime line of graphic novels and this is the best one so far. The art is consistently high quality throughout, and Christa Faust’s neo-noir prose is always a treat. In an afterword, Faust mentions that the feel and some of the characters are based on her own experiences working peep show booths in 80s Time Square, and the story does benefit from authenticity and the humanity with which the misfit characters are treated.
I’ve read a half dozen entries in the Hard Case Crime line of graphic novels and this is the best one so far. The art is consistently high quality throughout, and Christa Faust’s neo-noir prose is always a treat. In an afterword, Faust mentions that the feel and some of the characters are based on her own experiences working peep show booths in 80s Time Square, and the story does benefit from authenticity and the humanity with which the misfit characters are treated.
December 31, 2022
I'm not much of a comics / graphic novel reader but I came to this via Faust, whose two-book Angel Dare series I didn't read so much as devour. I'm also utter trash for crime stories set in New York City before Times Square went full tourist, so I was predisposed to like this - and I did. For the most part.
It's one of those stories where multiple storylines / characters end up on a collision course and once it all comes together - well, it ain't going to end well. In fact it's pretty damn dark. Innocence is snuffed out and nobody gets their happy ending.
Excuse me, I need to go find a puppy to hug now.
It's one of those stories where multiple storylines / characters end up on a collision course and once it all comes together - well, it ain't going to end well. In fact it's pretty damn dark. Innocence is snuffed out and nobody gets their happy ending.
Excuse me, I need to go find a puppy to hug now.
October 29, 2022
I'm not usually a hard broiled, intense graphic novel fan (I mainly just read this because I heard it was sapphic lol), but this story really did pull me in, especially as I live in NYC. It's fascinating to see the world of New York, even just 40 years ago. While I feel like this story didn't quite click for me, and was disjointed in parts (did we ever learn about the backstory for that background character who was hated?), I overall enjoyed this.
November 1, 2019
Whoo, baby, this one messed me up and bodied me at the end. I know from reading other Christa Faust works that she’s not sentimental but still...damn.
So without spoiling, I’ll say this is a well-told crime tale that pulls together disparate elements of 80s NYC into a cohesive story (including Trump and the Central Park 5). The characters feel authentic, no doubt lending to Faust’s experience as a Times Square peep show worker. The art captures the grime of that era NY. I couldn’t read the pages fast enough and hope to reread it some day.
So without spoiling, I’ll say this is a well-told crime tale that pulls together disparate elements of 80s NYC into a cohesive story (including Trump and the Central Park 5). The characters feel authentic, no doubt lending to Faust’s experience as a Times Square peep show worker. The art captures the grime of that era NY. I couldn’t read the pages fast enough and hope to reread it some day.
July 30, 2025
I had previously read a crime novel by Christa Faust so this graphic novel caught my attention. The story centers around the Peepshow business in NY Times Square in the 1980s. It's a very brutal comic and brings out the worst of the worst in this underworld. Quite disturbing in parts and in the afterword the author explains that she was part of this business and thus it has a lot of truth based on her experiences.
June 17, 2017
Review on ComicsVerse coming soon! But in my eyes, nearly perfect.
July 11, 2018
Superb Art,Great Story........
October 31, 2023
One of the darkest books I've ever read. I'd rank it right up next to Lawrence Block's Grifter's Game as far as a release from Hardcase Crime that left me staring off into space questioning the worth of humanity.
Bonus points for taking place between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Bonus points for taking place between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
December 3, 2017
Peepshows in the 80s in New York. A murder on tape. A frame against a politician.
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