Bury the Lede

October 14, 2019
A modern take on crime noir, this elaborate thriller stars the ambitious, bisexual, and occasionally devious Madison Jackson, a news intern at the Boston Lede. While the gig starts out as making coffee or grabbing quotes for senior staff, Madison is both shaken and elated when she happens to stumble in as one of the first reporters on the scene of a crime. Dahlia Kennedy, the wife of a wealthy man, is being arrested for the murder of her husband and won’t reveal the location of her missing son. Every newspaper in the city is clamoring to get the scoop from the stoic Dahlia; inexplicably, she decides to “confess” to Madison, and refuses to talk to anyone else. Unprepared for the spotlight, Madison tries to solve the mystery from within the middle of the scandal, unsure if she’s reporting the story or part of it. Between chasing plot-twisting leads, she tries not to fall for the flirtations of Dahlia (while also diving into dalliances both with a senior reporter and one of her best sources, a cop). Dunn delivers a script packed with a diverse cast with distinctive personalities, while Roe’s angled, organic renderings of characters’ body language are starkly framed in the panel design, recalling classic noir cinema. Fans of the genre will be sucked in by this fast-paced tale of manipulation, intrigue, and self-discovery.

October 25, 2019

In a story that is something of a cross between the films The Silence of the Lambs and Spotlight, writer Dunn (coauthor, I Hate Everyone but You), with artist Roe (Batgirl and the Birds of Prey) and colorist Muerto, highlights a manipulative relationship between an incarcerated murder suspect and an ambitious female journalist that is further complicated by heightened sexual tension. Boston Lede intern Madison Jackson has piqued the interest of prisoner Dahlia Kennedy, leading her to information that exposes a cover-up involving the sexual abuse of children by a high-profile public official. Over the course of the book, Madison becomes involved romantically with a woman and a man, yet these relationships are mostly undeveloped, and while ostensibly told over a three-month period, the events seem to take place over only a few weeks, making the plot feel rushed. VERDICT Featuring graphic sex, nudity, some gory violence, and disturbing themes, this is an overall flawed but ultimately promising comics debut from a popular multimedia creator.--Michael Dudley, Univ. of Winnipeg Lib., Man.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2019
Interning for a semester at the Boston Lede, journalism student Madison stumbles into a high-profile story: a man was found gruesomely murdered, and his young son is missing, presumed dead. Dahlia, the victim's wife, is in jail and refusing to talk . . . until Madison visits, and Dahlia freely confesses to her. Madison doesn't believe her, though?she thinks she's covering for someone else?but when she shares Dahlia's confession, Madison becomes newsworthy herself. Determined to prove herself, she forges ahead even as her tenacity might get her into trouble, and she finds something more sinister lurking behind every lead. This twisty, one-sitting read, with an excitingly diverse cast of queer characters and characters of color, could please comics aficionados and newbies alike. Roe's super-stylish, old-school-noir-leaning illustrations are appealingly colored by Muerto in a saturated, high-contrast aesthetic that's heavy on moody purples and blues. A comedian, podcast host, and adult and YA author, Dunn also formerly wrote for the Boston Globe, which is evident in her realistic play-by-play of all the players (and favors) involved in breaking a story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)