SOURCE: Russell, Jeremy. “True Crime.” American Book Review 23, no. 2 (January-February 2002): 18.

In the following review, Russell lauds Brian Michael Bendis's Torso: A True Crime Graphic Novel as “a tour de force of graphic storytelling,” complimenting Bendis's use of photographs, collage, and realistic art.

“Find the heads.”

It seems at first a simple investigation. If the two Cleveland homicide detectives who form the backbone to Torso's morbid tale can find the heads to two dismembered bodies, they figure that will give them enough clues to at least discover the identities of the victims if not the motive for the crimes. Unfortunately, from the moment that Eliot Ness is brought to town to root out corruption as Cleveland's new Safety Commissioner, nothing will go according to routine. Part by part, corpses will make continuous appearances, one with a direct challenge to Ness carved in its skin. Soon it begins to...