Written David Hazan
Art by Sami Kivelä,
Ellie Wright, Simon Bowland
Published by Mad Cave Studios
Mad Cave Studios has been putting out some of the more interesting comic book stories in recent years.
I love the Dick Tracy and Flash Gordon revivals and what the creative teams have done with those titles. I hadn’t really dove into any of their original series as of yet, but if this book is an example of their library, I might find myself reading more from them! This is really a hell of a time!
I also love comics with Jewish themes and this is pretty great overall.
The creators do a strong job of putting those themes in and making a book of real quality. It is pretty great to read about Jewish gangsters on the eve of World War II.
The book starts off in Cleveland, Ohio in the year 1936 (the same exact place that the creators of Superman are from!). We get to meet our main character whose name is Howard Berkowicz. Howard is an interesting and well developed character, right from the start. He is an accountant who is working for the Jewish Mob. While that would probably be enough for an entire series to focus on, Harold finds himself in a different set of circumstances than what we might think. It gets pretty dark.
Writer David Hazan does a great job digging into the story while showing what Judaism is about. Some people might do this heavy-handedly, but Hazan doesn’t overdo it. He gives us exactly the details we need without making it confusing or unreadable. He does the opposite and manages to make the story intimate and relatable and not a chore to read. That isn’t very easy to do, especially when the subject matter can be more than a little bit dense.
The opening scenes of the book show Ephraim Gold going to Howard’s house for a visit. He’s a part of the Kosher Nostra, yet he shows up to Howard’s house with a gun in his hand. Gold starts having a conversation with Howard’s wife but we can see that the situation is pretty tense. Things might get out of hand quick. There is a real sense of dread in this opening scene that really informs the rest of the book. It only gets wilder and crazier from this point on.
Ephraim and Howard stumble across something together that gives this book a huge twist. Once that happens, the two of them have to put their differences aside for the greater good and have to work together. They even take their fight to the German American Bund. They are looking for answers and a way to stop a very big and real threat to the Jewish community. If they can’t stop it, lives will be lost and the community may possibly be destroyed.
As the story goes on, a lot of things happen. The craziest part of the book is when Ephraim is ex-communicated for something that he did in Little Italy. Together with Howard, he has to try to get to the Kosher Nostra territory before sundown and the start of Yom Kippur. This leads to a harrowing part of the story. I had no idea during this part what was going to happens and the excitement level was ratcheted up to the max.
Howard has to plead Ephraim’s case for him to the bosses. Can he get Ephraim off the hook? Are they both going to face bigger consequences than they originally thought? All of this is happening on the holiest day of the year.
Eventually, Howard’s family join the mix and they are put in some real Jeopardy? Can Howard save them? Or is he going to try to burn the whole enterprise down? The answers are incredibly wild as this book flies to the inevitable conclusion.
I loved where this book ended up. It is a bit melancholic, but that was okay by me. The writing on this book by David Hazan is incredibly sharp. I loved the different places he took us both physically and emotionally. The artwork by Sami is top notch as well. Kivela always does a strong job and is a bit underrated in my opinion.
This is a great book and I enjoyed every part of it.
RATING: A
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