The Saga of the Bloody Benders

[rick]

Over the last decade or so, comic artist Rick Geary has graced the comic world with his wonderful, Treasury of Victorian Murder series. He has written tomes on Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper, HH Mudd and several other horrible crimes from the early industrial age. All of them written in a quiet, slightly distant manner, with calm and cool illustrations.

And to a one, they have all been wonderful comic reads.

His latest edition is about the infamous murderous family of the American prairie, The Bloody Benders.

The Benders, before their mysterious disappearance, ran a small inn and grocery along a busily traveled road midway through the prairie in Kansas. Led by the youngest “daughter” Kate, the Benders would take in their customers, make them feel at home and then bash their brains out with a sledge hammer.

Geary, as always takes this rough violent tale and weaves a subtle, creepy telling of the facts and I can not recommend it highly enough.

Here’s a couple of scans to give you a taste…….


http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1852/benders1er6.jpg



http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4499/benders2wm0.jpg

[Petersen]

I absolutely LOVE Geary's work both as a draftsman and as a storyteller.

The Bloody Benders had a very creepy vibe to it. The horrors of what happened in the home and who exactly was ringleading was only part of the facination for me...the "who were they..really?" question that is explored with some rumors and a few facts really caught my attention.

All of Geary's Victorian Murder books are great, but the Beast of Chicago and the Lizze Borden books really hooked me!!

[rick]

I absolutely LOVE Geary's work both as a draftsman and as a storyteller.

The Bloody Benders had a very creepy vibe to it. The horrors of what happened in the home and who exactly was ringleading was only part of the facination for me...the "who were they..really?" question that is explored with some rumors and a few facts really caught my attention.

All of Geary's Victorian Murder books are great, but the Beast of Chicago and the Lizze Borden books really hooked me!!


I really do enjoy these books.

And I have to say that as much as I enjoyed the Bordon and Ripper books, it's the ones about the lessor known crimes like the Beast and Mary Rogers that really have brabbed me the most.

I think that this has more to do with my relatvie unfamiliarity with the cases, but somehow the less well known ones come across as more creepy.

[Petersen]

I know what you mean Rick. Mary Rogers was my first Geary book, and it certainly hooked me. The Beast of Chicago's horrific storyline mixed with 'this isn't a case you hear about' is one that stays with you.

The Lizzie Borden case is one that I had some familiarity with, but what has kept with me as unsettling is the book's description of the conditions that summer and how the deceased were layed out overnight and the sisters both slept there in their beds as normal.