New York Mon Amour

Many years ago, Jacques Tardi was introduced to American audiences with "Manhattan," a grim and grimy story of depression, madness and suicide in New York City. Three decades later, New York Mon Amour collects "Manhattan" and three other tales of the Big Apple spectacular collection is this rendered by Tardi with just as much panache and you-are-there detail as his reworks set in Paris or the trenches of World War I. Aside from "Manhattan," the centerpiece of the book is the graphic novel "Cockroach Killer," written by Benjamin Legrand. This violent, surreal conspiracy thriller, starring a hapless exterminator named Walter, remains one of the cartoonist's most startling, confounding works. The volume is rounded out with two short tales, both written by Dominique Grange: "So Hard" (starring John Lennon - but not that John Lennon), and "The Killing of Hung" (a story of revenge and redemption).