Decades

Written and drawn by David Taylor

Buy it HERE.

Passage of time and guilt.

Decades is a book where the main subject isn't the crime, or the criminal. It's the detective (now retired) and his mental rumination over the years.

Andrew Gault is a serial killer with 17 female victims to his name. Ten years ago Detective James MacLeod led a team of three SWAT agents who descended on Gault's hideaway. Violence ensued. Two agents were badly hurt. MacLeod got a shot off, thinking he killed Gault. But Gault survived.

Fast forward to ten years later. James MacLeod's writing a book about his experiences in catching Gault. Andrew Gault happens to face extradition to the State of Florida for another killing they suspect him of -from the days when he was free. Florida has a death penalty, so many people who suffered from his killing days want him to be tried there instead of Massachusetts. MacLeod re-connects with his old team and keeps in touch, forever going over the trauma (he originally thought Gault was killed from his gunfire back in the hideaway).

There's a lot to chew on.

Decades reads very well. Most of it is sort of based on psychological and emotional states the characters go through. One might think that's not enough to sustain it through its long page count, but that's not the case here. 17 murdered women (and the possibility of more shown later in the story) account for a lot of emotional trauma to cover.

The art slowly progresses...

David Taylor's artwork is mostly up to the task, but I can see where he has room to get better technically. Heads and hands seem over-large at times. Backgrounds and details are at times a bit too rushed looking or unrealized. The better drawn panels outnumber the poorly drawn ones by far. This is one of those books where the story is strong enough to support the occasional artistic weakness.

Where David Taylor gets it right is in letting the psychological weight of the serial killer's actions make itself known all around -through characters, their dialogue, their actions (or hesitations). It's a subtle art that gets missed in a lot of creative endeavors be they movies, plays, novels and yes comic books.

Next Tuesday:

Robert Multari, creator of Night Wolf is back again with his 2nd installment of his spin off character, a she-werewolf named Snowpaw!