Murder will out
I was drawn to this book for what one might call a bad reason- it had the word "murder" in the title. However, this comic is much more than the sum of its title. Let's break it down:
First off, the stories themselves are fantastic. They're short and sweet, which is really to their benefit. They don't bother getting into anything more than they absolutely need to. In the first story, we know almost nothing about the main characters aside from their names and their hometown. Everything that we know is revealed in casual, natural dialogue. The "villain," if you can call him that, is quietly sinister but not outright evil. We watch his machinations with fascination, worrying for his friend but at the same time waiting with bated breath to see what he will do. He embodies the sort of characterization of crime that we might call the "banality of evil"- he isn't in this because evil "feels good", or because he's sick or twisted. He is resignedly evil, a criminal, but a human one. The second story is much the same. We know almost nothing about the main character, except that he's addicted to cocaine, runs a cafe, and is something of a badass. He isn't a good person, far from it, but since when do we need someone to be good in order to empathize with them? We get a little glimpse at his past, a look at his subtle hypocrisy, and we get a feeling for the character that we wouldn't get if we were subjected to a maudlin description of some tragic past or other.
The art is beautiful; simplistic and stylish and just really, really nice. I'm generally not a huge fan of black and white comics, because I like colourful things, but in this case it really works. The black and white lends itself to a sort of film noir-ish quality that enhances both stories and, though I'm probably reading too much into it, contributes to a sense of the moral grey area in which most of these characters seem to live.
On the whole, this is a great comic. I would absolutely recommend it. The stories are just really interesting and very well-written; the first is pretty clever and the second has a crazy ending that I honestly didn't see coming. If you get the chance (or even if you have to seek it out), definitely give it a look.