There is something very special about graphic novels. And this in particular, developed from the story of Dashiell hammett contributes that magical compendium of some illustrations by Hans Hillmann at the service of the suggestive plot.
The idea is to adorn, complement, even tell the story through snapshots that seem to come to life to the beat of the reading.
For many years, illustrators have probed all kinds of genres to achieve that final effect of insertion in the reading imagination, so powerful that it is capable of giving life to those powerful snapshots that the illustrators themselves rescue from history. The result is a three-way game between writer, illustrator and reader.
The arrival of illustration to the crime novel managed to fill the narrative proposals of the noir genre with a peculiar sensation. The representation of evil, anti-heroes, drama… The idea came together perfectly and after the natural illustrations of children's and young people's books, it managed to reach surprising levels of readership.
In this case, the dark illustrations, with sepia notes, almost always against the light, accompany the story of Sue Hambleton, the girl fed up with living a bland life under the protection of the powerful home.
The deepest america, the busiest nights in which the infamous types, the criminals and the most wicked minds make their lives. Sue Hambleton seems to fear nothing from this exciting, fast-paced new underworld. The adventure of risk seems to make his rebellious heart beat. Until the darkness of the night seems to swallow her up.
A new case for the Continental agent where the mere idea of a disappearance smelling of a dismal ending turns into a convoluted case that will turn everything upside down.
Hans Hillmann took it upon himself to transfer this story to the touch of watercolor, where the lines are drawn directly from the pulse of the illustrator, a pulse that outlines the sinister and that traces the characters wrapped in shadows of doubt and psychological terror.
In short, a graphic novel to enjoy the great Hammett while presenting us with captivating scenes from history itself. A wonderful proposal from the publishing house Libros del Zorro Rojo to the glory of two great disappeared geniuses.
You can now buy the graphic novel Matamoscas, by Dashiell Hammett and Hans Hillmann, here: