I've loved the partnership between Brubaker & Phillips for a while now and once again they've knocked it out the park.

This whodunnit told in a format reminiscent of true crime documentaries or podcasts comes to life though Phillips artwork.

Getting to know the residents of the street slowly, with humour and mystery sprinkled in the interviews, was an interesting story telling device.

I enjoyed the way they told the approach they took to the reveal of the body and also the other main drama on the street - which I won't reveal for spoilers but I did not see it coming.

I was so immersed in this story that even though I went to sleep straight after reading it I dreamt I was living on the street and these people were actually my neighbours.

I didn’t realize this was a graphic novel until I downloaded it. I am not well versed in this genre of novel but what a pleasant surprise! It did not disappoint.

The illustrations/comic strips were very entertaining and added details to the story that may be missed in the written words/captions.

The character development was solid while the story moved at a quick pace that kept me engaged as the story unfolded.
4 ⭐️’s

This book was quite fun, but not at all what I expected.

From the description and the cover, I thought this would be a murder investigation, but turns out it is much more the story of a small town's drama and characters' lives over a few weeks, and the body is barely relevant to the story.

That said, I liked the book! Some of it felt repetitive and some parts were a bit too long, but given it is such a short book, it wasn't that big an issue.



Thank you NetGalley and Image Comics for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was my first by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips but surely won't be my last. What a great read. 5 stars!!

Another great noir graphic novel from Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips. These are always great, with great characters and story (and pacing). #WheretheBodyWasgraphicnovel #NetGalley

I've never read anything from Brubaker/Phillips before but this was really good, very retro, read like a good old crime novel.

I really liked the use of interviews with the characters to develop the story and the switch in perspective really works, I usually struggle with that. I particularly liked how there's lots of mystery and then everything sort of comes together slowly, and the final reveal was good. Overall pretty solid!

ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

I’ve always loved Ed Brubakers work, and here with Sean Phillips they’ve created a fabulous mystery centred around a body.
I loved the artwork so realistic and gritty. The story was really good, moving in circles around a body of a man, in a street, and backwards and forwards in time. The twist at the end was excellent!
Great read 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars.

Amazing! Brubaker does it again. Always been a fan of his work and he never fails to tell a compelling story. Wonderful.

Once again the talents of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips shine bright in this nostalgia-noir thriller. Set in the Summer of 1984 on a decrepit block in a nameless California town this book tells a sordid yet compelling story the lives and fates of its large caste of characters converge on one traumatic event. The distinguishing feature of this book is its constantly changing and evolving point of view as it jumps from one character to another across multiple times. The resulting tale is riveting and the final reveal comes with a few twists that will keep even the most jaded fans guessing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Image Comics, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I can’t think of anything I haven’t loved by this team, and this is no exception. Just great storytelling and art as always.

I’ve loved the graphic novels from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, so I jumped at the chance to read their forthcoming volume, Where the Body Was. It’s another outstanding book.

Taking place on one single block in a small town, the book isn’t so much about the death that occurs as much as it is about how the various lives of the imperfect residents intersect. I just loved how their past and present lives were represented. The story is simple, yet powerful, and the artwork is excellent as always. Very enjoyable.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of Where the Body Was.

A tight, well-crafted crime novella. Brubaker and Phillips take a fairly bog-standard who-dunnit and inject enough of their own sensibilities and craftsmanship to make it seem fresh.

Brubaker and Philips deliver again. This is a well-paced, well-executed crime story set in the early 1980's. Like past collaborations, this was very cinematic with occasional 'direct-to-camera' present-day updates from central characters and hints at the ending from the very first page. Highly recommended.

Where the Body Was is the story of what happened on Pelican Road in the Summer of 1984. Told through interviews with dozens of participants, witnesses, or bystanders. Bit by bit we learn about the hidden lives and choices that led to a body on the sidewalk and its disappearance. As Brubaker states in the afterword: "I like titles that mean more than one thing. This one means several things to me. it's about the mystery, but also about the past and nostalgia and memory and loss."

We begin with a map, the provided key noting 9 important locations. We're then given our 9 member cast of main characters, a full name for each with a key description. (For example Tommy Brandt is described as "Juvenile Delinquent"). The narrative begins with location #3 on the map, the Boarding House, and details it's history from construction to Summer 1984 where an argument between a young couple spirals into a first fight that is broken up by a man with a badge. This action leads to an extramarital affair and introduces the neighborhood and its cast. From there we learn of their summer adventures, jobs, lives and for some of them, how they learned or reacted to the bodies appearance and disappearance.

The interviews really make this novel. They allow the stories to unfold from multiple, specific viewpoints. But because they are held well after the Summer of 1984 the cast are able to talk with new levels of understanding, beyond their immediate reactions or youthful life experience. While many of them were young, how they look back on the events differs especially when it comes to naming the murderer.

Brubaker and Phillips have been collaborators for years, and the strength of their relationship is on full display here showing that they know how best to combine their talents. This is a wonderful stand alone story, a great way to introduce readers to their works.

This graphic novel was so good! I absolutely loved all the characters and their interconnected stories. This was really a book about imperfections, perceptions of people, and secrets which I loved. I cannot wait to check out other graphic novels by these authors. Also a very quick read.

This was such a good read! The mystery of the murder comes second in this graphic novel, but the intrigue around the neighbourhood and its inhabitants keeps you as interested as about the murder. Would read more of Brubaker and Phillips'!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of this text.

This true crime graphic novel was more about the lives of people who live on the same street in the 80s, rather than the murder itself. That doesn't mean this is a bad thing though. It was very interesting to read about the interactions and their thoughts much later in the future.

The artwork was good, nothing amazing though.

A nice quick read for those who want to see lives intercepting each other, with a little mystery built in.

Where the Body Was

Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips (Artist), Jacob Phillips (Artist)

Blurb

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, bestselling creators of PULP, RECKLESS, and CRIMINAL, are back with a new original graphic novel that readers will be obsessed with… A boarding house full of druggies. A neglected housewife. A young girl who thinks she’s a superhero. A cop who wants to be left alone. And a Private Detective looking for a runaway girl. These stories collide one fateful summer in WHERE THE BODY WAS, a tale of love and murder in the suburbs, told from a dozen different points of view. All the neighbors on the block have an opinion about the murder and how it happened, but which of them is telling the truth? WHERE THE BODY WAS is a tour-de-force from grandmasters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Starting with a map of the crime scene, this murder mystery follows the ripples of this killing as they echo through decades of love and loss and passion and violence. Like a true crime podcast crossed with a long-lost diary, WHERE THE BODY WAS is unlike anything Brubaker and Phillips have ever done, and a must-have for all their avid fans! (Goodreads, n.d)

True Crime

Are you a true crime fan? It’s a genre which has taken over the world. It is probably hard to find a person, who hasn’t heard of Jack the Ripper, or delved, down a rabbit hole in a podcast, TV show, docuseries or film. Where the Body Was will give you your true crime fix, in the form of a graphic novel. Intrigue, mystery and all in the suburbs of America. It’s told from different characters perspectives. The superhero kid was amusing, much more effective than the nosy neighbour. Instead of doing what her elders did not, she acts. The story flashes back to the future and the crushing reality was sometimes quite sad.

“I was such a sad kid.”

The words of a future adult.

I enjoyed the interruptions to the story. It was very unique, as though we were actually watching a true crime series, and not reading. It was immersive, but I suppose that’s a nod to the genre itself.

The ghouls that we all are, the true crime books, films, podcasts have got the formula down to a T, and it works here in a comic. You always find recreations of ‘murders, robberies’ etc, distasteful, but not here. Because the imagination and art thrives.

Everyone’s got a secret to hide, and gossip is like a drug to humans, that’s why reality TV, magazines flourish in our generation and why we can’t get enough of rumours, secrets and tabloid newspapers.

Story

The intricacies of life are laid bare in this graphic novel. I can’t say anymore, or I will spoil the story for you. But, sure some elements are true clichés, but what is a cliché? Do they hold some truth? Clichés may exist, because although there are so many of us alive today, we all generally live similar lives. Mortgage, family, work, death. We all ride the same rollercoaster, so it’s unsurprising we feel similar things on the ride.

Art

The art was very nostalgic, really taking you back thirty plus years. I enjoyed the pastel colours and the details were superb. The story worked along with it and it did read like something you would be listening to. The characters each had their eccentricities which made them feel unique. Like Palmer and his badge, the girl and her costume, I enjoyed her dialogue entries too, which were torn pages from a journal. It was the little details that added up which show you the care put into this graphic novel.

Final Thoughts

You will keep asking yourself, who did it? But then you’ll ask the second question, what did they do?

It’s an interesting story and one for any fans of true crime.

References

1. Goodreads, (n.d) Where the Body Was. Accessed via: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/168386479-where-the-body-was

Where the Body Was takes place on a street in a town. People are living their separate but interconnected lives- their stories overlapping and almost touching- and then there is a dead body on the street. There's a mystery, for sure, but the real meat of the book is the tale of these people and their lives.

I loved the heck out of this. I read it in less than an hour and I think I'm going to read it a couple more times before it expires. Brubaker and Phillips have been working together for years and years and it really shows. There's a beautiful flow to this story and the art and writing play off one another perfectly. The character work is great- with just enough backstory and flash forward to give you a feel for who these people are.

Highly recommended!