Video Noire

Written by Carlos Trillo
Art by Eduardo Risso

I'd wondered why more of Carlos Trillo and Eduardo Risso's comics weren't being published in English.  Having read some or all of Vampire Boy, Borderline, and Chicanos this summer, I've formed a very favourable impression of this prolific Argentinian duo.  Then I read Video Noire, and became thankful for editorial curator-ship, when it comes to non-English comics getting translated for the North American market.

It's not that this book is bad...  Well, actually, it kind of is.  The story is about a gorgeous children's television host who is using mass media to affect the minds of the young, so that they will participate in Satanic rituals with her.  A hermaphroditic clean freak hires a private detective to investigate her, but he is killed.  Soon, his partner and ex-friend takes up the cause.

This is a bleak and mean little story, hampered by the fact that it hasn't aged very well, and has been surpassed by the creator's later efforts.  Risso's art is always great, and he draws some lovely ladies here, and continues to fill his backgrounds with silent stories of their own (people get held up a lot in his comics), but he isn't quite able to breathe enough life into this predictable and at the same time bizarre script.

I'd avoid this one - read Vampire Boy instead.