< comics/x >
YOU CHOSE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME #1-3
by David G. Lamplugh and and Chris Nicholas
(24-32pp b&w comics, $2.50 each;
Website,
e-mail. Available in Austin at
Funny Papers)
Review by Alan Rankin
Like
Road to Perdition and the novels of James Ellroy, author of
L.A. Confidential (to whom the comic creators are compared in a cover blurb),
You Chose Right is a gritty, convoluted crime story set in a real time and place: Chicago, 1968. The Democratic Convention has everyone in the city on edge; into the middle of this mess steps Lem Bivage. He may or may not be a hit man (the Chicago police think he is), but he’s definitely up to
something.
Lem is connected to a mob boss and his murdered son, a cop romancing a mob wife, and a talking totem pole, among others. Again, it’s not clear
how he’s connected – but we’re only on issue three. At this point, the storyline that follows these shifting (and shifty) characters is labyrinthine, and the results not at all clear, but it’s evident they will be revealed as the story continues. I’m definitely intrigued. I should mention that
You Chose Right includes images of violence to animals, which some people find offensive. It also includes images of violence to people - which, of course, everyone enjoys.
The political powder keg that was the '68 Democratic Convention is the perfect place to start such a tale of violence and corruption. I happen to know a hippie who was there when the Chicago police came marching in with nightsticks and orders to, in Mayor Daley’s words, “preserve disorder.” The hippies had been chanting “The whole world is watching” to remind the cops that they were surrounded by cameras; the Convention riots were national news. When my pal was confronted by his own personal Stacey Koon,* he shouted, “The whole world is watching!” The cop replied, “Yeah... and they
love bloodshed!” before bringing the nightstick down.
*You don’t remember
his name, but I bet “Rodney King” rings a bell….
[ Link to this review ]
