Product Description: Mary Rogers was a compellingly beautiful lass employed in a cigar store in New York City in the mid-nineteenth century. She had a few suitors. Then, she suddenly disappeared, her body recovered in the Hudson off the Jersey side. The press had a field day with all the possible shocking possibilities. Rape... her "fooling around" between lovers...even gang rape. Never was this case solved. The hypotheses remain many. Even Edgar Allen Poe thought to have solved the case and presented that in his tale "The Mystery of Mary Roget." Make up your own mind. Geary recreates a fascinating picture of the nascent still somewhat anarchical soon-to-be metropolis of New York.
Perhaps the best in this series This is another in Geary's "Treasury of Victorian Murder" series of graphic documentaries, this time set in New York in 1841 and spilling over onto the rustic shore around Weehawken, New Jersey. Mary Rogers was a "cigar girl" whose mother kept a boardinghouse, and who was either a wide-eyed innocent . . . or a bit of a slut who got herself knocked up by one of her boyfriends. In any case, she turned up floating in the Hudson, apparently murdered -- or maybe the victim of a botched abortion. Virtually everyone she knew came under suspicion, and several she probably didn't know, but the investigation (what there was of it) was dilatory and pretty haphazard. Geary lays out the facts in his usual competent narrative manner, together with some of the prevalent theories. The crime itself was never really solved, but Edgar Allan Poe (who may have met the girl) built one of his Auguste Dupin mystery stories around it. Perhaps the fact that this murder isn't as well known today as the Lincoln assassination or the Jack the Ripper murders, Geary feels more free to wander wherever the story takes him -- but it works.
Stranger than fiction I'm addicted to Geary's true-crime series, "A Treasury of Victorian Murder" and this volume is probably one of the best I've read thus far. The story is that of the well-chronicled but mysterious death of a popular New York cigar seller, Mary Rogers. The circumstances of her death, the people involved and the evidence gathered all make for a seriously bizarre but fascinating true-crime tale. Rick Geary's meticulous black-and-white illustrations are tidy and convey the story wonderfully. An unusual use of the "graphic novel" medium, but an effective one. Highly recommended!
Comics from the cold case file Rick Geary brings the 1840s back to life in this study of an unsolved murder. Mary Rogers was pretty and well known in New York City back then. Her brutal murder splashed across the tabloid pages until interest gradually waned. It never waned completely, though, because Edgar Allan Poe immortalized it in an analysis thinly veiled as fiction.
Geary illustrates this classic mystery in his unique style: black and white pen drawings with no shades of gray, and, static, isolated panels like loosely-related snapshots. It's enjoyable, but more for the afficiando of mysteries or unusual comic styles than for the fan of mainstream comics.
//wiredweird
Everyone's your friend in New York City! It is very unusual for antebellum New York to get any sort of treatment in popular culture, which is a shame, because the whole space between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War features dramatic changes in the city's popular landscape. Institutions for maintaining public order and safety that we take for granted today were less organized and often appropriated by the underworld for its own purposes.
Scorsese's upcoming movie, GANGS OF NEW YORK, looks like it will offer an interesting look into this time. Readers looking for a little less bombast can take in Rick Geary's tight little graphic exploration of THE MYSTERY OF MARY ROGERS. Geary tells the true tale of a corpse that captured the public imagination in a manner similar to any of today's celebrity victims. He renders useful maps and recreates the known facts of the case with haunting sillhouettes and faces that are remarkably expressive in their cartoonishness. Geary also tosses in a tidy little chunk of social history -- so that we understand the context -- and chronicles the sensationalism that followed this case. As a final service, he puts forth the prominent theories about the case, noting its inspiration of Poe's mystery.
Graphic (as in illustrated) non-fiction is somewhat of an oddity, often represented by simpering auto-bio. True crime stories tend to show up in the BIG BOOK OF ... series. This, however, is a neat and stylistic volume that would put Anne Rule to shame.
Geary Is Amazing! With The Mystery of Mary Rogers, Writer/Illustrator Rick Geary continues his "Treasury of Victorian Murder" Graphic Novel series, this time exploring the facts in the death of Mary Rogers, a well-known "Segar (Cigar) Girl" (She worked in a large Manhattan Tobacco Shop).
Geary's books are laid out incredibly well; most "Mainstream" non-fiction writers could learn a thing or two from him. He presents THE FACTS in the case, and since the murder was nevr really solved (At least officially...), he avoids any supposition; At the end of the book, he gives the reader a few scenarios that MAY have happened, never presenting any one of them as the actual solution. Geary's writing style is very informative, and his illustrations have a depth and resonance that belie their "Cartoony" look.
Overall, this book is a pleasure to read! The hardcover is a very attractive package at a low price, the text is informative and illuminating, and the artwork is superb. In a perfect world, Geary would be a fixture on the best-seller lists.
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