THE WORLD OF RICHARD SALA, Pt. 4

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Sala's site

If I had to blame someone for my current obsession with pulpy crime and mystery, I'd point the finger straight at Richard Sala. Chuckling Whatsit and Mad Night are his twin mystery magna opera, stuffed to bursting with nosy sleuths, masked arch-villains, criminal conspiracies, and serial slaughterers. Not only did I enjoy the hell out of them, but I felt a sudden, seemingly bottomless hunger for more similar fare. I started by trying to feed that hunger with the hardboiled adventures of a department store detective, and the rest is history.

Sala himself has at least one further volume I can highly recommend for anyone else desperate to scratch that itch--Maniac Killer Strikes Again! This collection of early pieces doesn't add up to a single big story the way Sala's aforementioned graphic novels do, but consistency of style and tone give it the feel of a series of glimpses into a single demented world. It's clear that Sala's art and writing have come a long way since these stories, but it's just as clear that he was really starting to hit his stride here, and even if these are a bit less polished than the later stuff, they're every bit as fun to read and look at.

The heart of this book is the Mr. Murmur stuff. Mr. Murmur is the masked and fedora'd crime fighter who does more skulking than anything else. For want of a better term, I guess you could call him the protagonist of the stories that feature him, though he does so little to merit the label.

Thirteen O'Clock opens the book, and it most clearly anticipates the big serialized mysteries Sala would go on to create. It's got Web, the man without the getaway face; a nefarious cabal of mad scientists; the living severed head of an evil hypnotist; and of course, the eponymous maniac killer. Talk about a Rogues Gallery!

Diabolical Dr. Q. is the other Mr. Murmur story. Of course, it riffs on Jess Franco's loopy black-and-white masterpiece, Diabolical Dr. Z, with even loopier and more bizarre elements thrown in, if you can believe it!

We also get the debut story of Judy Drood, Girl Detective, who would go on to "star" in Mad Night and Grave Robber's Daughter. (Eve E. Vee, the nosy blonde reporter in Thirteen O'Clock, seems to be an early incarnation.)

There are seven other little yarns, vignettes--call them what you will--and I'd be hard pressed to pick any one over any other, they're all that good. Here's a completely idiosyncratic highlight reel, with an image taken from each:








Yep, if any of this looks the least bit like your kind of thing, trust me--it's an absolute must-have. Want a second opinion? Here's four of them!