Head Games by Craig McDonald, Illustrated by Kevin Singles

Bud Fiske is sent to do a profile of Hector Lassiter, larger-than-life crime writer. In a cantina, the pair find themselves face to face with history... literally. On the table between them is the head of Pancho Villa, and the prospect of a deal worth eighty grand.

It sounds like easy money... take the head to a guy. But such a legendary piece of history is never going to be traded that easily. Gun, girls and car chases ensue "on the road to hell with a trunk full of skulls".

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I saw this on Netgalley, I'm always looking for new graphic novels, and the description of this one jumped out at me. That being said, I don't think this was what I expected it to be from the description.

Noir, pulp fiction, whatever you want to call it, this book falls squarely in that genre. This is the first time I've ever read anything in that area, which is surprising considering I love crime fiction in general. But I have watched a lot of it... does that count?!

The illustration of the story was excellent, and the colour choices really worked. In the page spread above you can see a quick glimpse of a flashback, in the simple black and white, and the main story line in black, white and ochre.

I really liked the story line, although I did find some of it a little confusing at times. I would think that this was only because of the abridging from the complete novel. Even with the confusing bits in there I could really see the story in my head. I had the voices and all the mannerisms playing in my head for each character. That was almost entirely due to the short snappy text.

I know that my waffling makes it sound a bit up and down, but honestly this was an enjoyable read. It was something completely different to anything I'd read before, and after finishing it I'm intrigued to see what the unabridged novel holds.