I am here for all of the new comics and books that give me strong women protagonists and super noir vibes! Bury the Lede follows (intern) reporter Madison, who gets wrapped into covering Dahlia Kennedy, accused murderer of her husband and son. And of course, conspiracy and a darker story emerge! The graphic novel is beautifully drawn and perfectly colored to match the story - just because it's noir doesn't mean it needs to be void of color, and the reliance on purples and blues gives emotional weight to Madison's narrative. There is POC and LGBTQIA+ representation, and characters are well developed. With a little bit of Legally Blonde (Brooke Taylor Windham anybody?), some sarcasm, and a driven lead (see what I did there?), this is a fast and engaging read. As other reviewers have pointed out, there were times when I was a bit confused about what was happening and who all of the characters were, but I think this is a common challenge with the medium of graphic novels, and allowing it to develop slowly only means that hopefully there is a lot more to come!

3.5/5 Star

Madison Jackson, a 21 year old intern for the Boston Lede, is trying to get her first headline in the paper. She gets her opportunity when a socialite named Dahlia Kennedy, murdering her husband and son comes to light. Dahlia, who refused to talk to any other reporter, confesses to Madison and thus shoves her into the limelight.

This was quite a short graphic novel, but it was enjoyable for what it was. I loved the colour scheme chosen for this, there were a lot of purple and blue tones that made the book feel very dark and eerie. The representation was also great, there were many LGBTQ+ and POC characters included, without it being a vocal point. The biggest complaint I have for this would be that at times the plot felt rushed and under-developed. It almost felt like I had picked the book up in the middle of the series and was missing information. But overall, I did enjoy the story and wanted to keep reading to discover the conclusion.

Madison Jackson is a new intern at the Boston Lede, one of the largest papers in the Northeast… she wants to be known as real reporter, acknowledged by the editor and her fellow reporters, not just a coffee-getting gofer. Maddison is driven, yet understands the grey that comes with reporting the news.

One night a call comes across the police scanner that thrusts her right into the public eye. High-powered socialite Dahlia Kennedy is found covered in blood with her husband’s body hanging above her… and their young child has gone missing. Madison wants this story, this scoop, badly, but Dahlia won’t talk to anyone until Madison tries. Little by little, Dahlia gives Madison clues towards a dark conspiracy reaching all to people high in the city government.

Madison is a character torn in so many ways… she feels compelled to help her colleagues at the newspaper and yet, she is also tied to a cop friend who occasionally gives her tips. She wants to be that great reporter, wants to do it on her own, and is stuck with the guilt of needing others’ help. And she’s willing to go a long way to get the information… I was surprised at times where she went morally, but what is a character flaw only makes her more realistic. There’s well-written sexual tension inside her, and a completely normalized example of bisexuality. Something I’m now happily seeing in all genres of literature.

The pacing is near-perfect as Dunn makes sure to give away just enough of the mystery to keep the reader turning the pages. And the illustrations highlight the noir feeling of both the criminality of the plot and the anxiousness of Madison’s mind. I also liked the palette of dark blues and oranges and the select bright colors that symbolize the dramatic moments in the piece. Great choices to highlight the atmosphere.

A raw and poignant look at a young reporter quickly pulled into the murky world of crime.

4 out of 5 stars.

Go to the Boom Studios website here for a free preview.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boom Studios, and the authors for an advanced copy for review.

Nice a little murder mystery from the perspective of the journalist. It's a story about a corrupt city, the politicians, who run it, and the determination of a reporter, who wants to discover the truth. Madison Jackson is an intern at the Boston Lede, where she has pretty much existed unnoticed. However, this all changes one night when Madison arrives at the scene of a crime and meets the socialite, Dahlia Kennedy. Dahlia confesses to killing her husband and son to only Madison, but the truth is much more complicated. Definitely worth the read and it had a diverse set of characters.

Apart from some questionable character decisions I did enjoy reading this story, however it did have some flaws. I think the ending was too abrupt and at times I had to go back and refresh myself with what had just happened as the plot was confusing at times. Other than that I loved the artwork and enjoyed the anticipation for answers.

⭐️⭐️ 2 Stars

A forgettable soiree into a bland crime graphic novel. This book either needed to be longer and develop the characters and concept more or shorter and be more focused on either the crime story or the romantic subplot. There isn't enough of either.

The only thing I enjoyed about this book was the number of Queer characters and the discussion about bisexuality. That and the stunning art is the only reason that this book isn't one star. Because there was also casual use of date rape drugs in this book and the character that does it is never punished for it. Which may be excused by the flimsiness of the plot itself.

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley📚 in exchange for an honest review.

★★✰✰✰ 2 stars

While I loved the artwork of Bury the Lede, the story and characters lacked cohesion. What could been a modern-take on those noir stories featuring a journalist investigator, Bury the Lede gives us a storyline that tries to be gritty and clever while failing to maintain any sort of sense. The rookie journalist protagonist of the story has a great connection in the police department, does more or less what she wants (from roofing her sources to stealing police files) in order to talk to laughably theatrical Dahlia Kennedy who stands accused of the murder of her own husband and child. Madison, our protagonist, had that type of wet-personality that really does the story no favours. Her self-centredness and obsession were grating. The other characters were recycled clichés of the typical characters featuring in a hard-boiled stories.

An intriguing mystery, Bury the Lede follows Madison - an intern at the Boston Lede - and her attempts to find out the truth about the murder of a prominent Boston businessman. I loved the art, which was very noir in style and the representation of race and LGBTQ identities that is not commonly found in graphic novels. However, the story itself was rather flimsy and I had a difficult time empathizing with Madison and her choices. Even so, I would definitely continue with this character's journey if this was ever made into a series!

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This had such great potential to be a fantastic graphic novel. I thought the set up was great and the mystery was intriguing. But as the story moved along, I realized that the mystery was very flimsy. And that's partly due to the fact that we really don't get fleshed out characters. I know nothing about them and therefore don't have any interest in them. I think this graphic novel could've done with more pages to flesh out the story more.

Having said that, the art is really the saving grace of this book. I loved it and it was such a cool art style. I'll be checking out Claire Roe's work!

I was not the hugest fan of this one. The art style was great, but I found the plot to be extremely disjointed and hard to follow. Also there was a scene in which the main character (a journalist) roofies someone to get information and then never faces any consequences and I just??????????? This was unfortunately just not for me.

hank you to Netgalley for the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. When I requested this ARC, I didn’t expect for it to be as dark and gory as it was. That wasn’t something that made me turn away from it, but it definitely would’ve been nice to have a heads up to know exactly what I was getting myself into.

As you can see above, the trigger warnings are out of the wazoo for this book. Because it’s a graphic novel all of the things mentioned above are pictured, so please please please be careful when reading this. They didn’t pull any punches here. It gets dark immediately as your thrown into a world of murder and newspaper journalism.

Madison, a newspaper intern, is working hard to earn a permanent space at The Boston Lede. After a prominent socialite is arrested for the murder of her family and refuses to talk to anyone except Madison, it seems as though she may have found her way in. What she doesn’t realize is that she is in for a story that has just as many twists as it has turns, not to mention lies, political ambitions and some deep dark secrets.

I’ll admit that it was a bit of a confusing story to follow once it got going. I’m still not entirely sure of the full reasoning or endgame involved in the story or the plot line, but it was a hell of a read and a quick one at that. I loved the illustrations in this and everything felt so gritty and raw. POC and LGBTQ characters were included and didn’t feel like they were there just to be props, which I loved. Overall, it was….interesting and not in a bad way. If the fact that it’s super gory and possibly triggering doesn’t turn you off, I suggest giving it a read.

A dark, atmospheric queer neo-noir with beautiful art by Claire Roe and a diverse cast of characters who I wish we could have spent more time with (loved the story in this, but wish it had been a little longer in order to delve deeper into the motivations of the guilty party/ies and into the fall out of the love triangle). As others have noted, this graphic novel includes excellent representation for queer people of color, but the story IS also an unremittingly dark crime drama with depictions of gore, child molestation, and suicide, so if you have difficulty with any of those subjects, be warned.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boom! Studios for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is fantastic! The book is all about Madison, an intern for the Boston Lede and her quest to land a front page story. She gets her opportunity in the form of Dahlia Kennedy; a socialite accused of killing her husband and possibly her son as well. The newspaper sends more seasoned reporters to the jail to talk to her and get a story but she won't talk to anyone. Except Madison.

This is an amazing crime comic. I have read my fair shape of graphic novels and comic books and this one had me hooked pretty much right from the beginning. I really liked the pacing of this comic book. It pretty much starts off at a break neck speed and doesn't let up. I also really loved the representation that is in this comic book as well. Not only do we have a bi MC, we also have a bi, Catholic, Boston cop (which I have yet to see in a comic book), gay characters, and plenty of other rep that you will have to discover yourself. I would definitely recommend this comic book to anyone but especially fans of mystery or noir type books.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I have always been a fan of the proverbial murder mystery especially in graphic novel form, and this dark crime thriller set in a newspaper fits the bill. An intern lands the story of her career interviewing a woman who murdered her husband and son, but did she... interesting plot lines and characters, I am interested to see where this graphic novel goes.

Thanks Boom! Studios for this arc for review.

I was really excited to get a copy of this arc after seeing an early review of it on YouTube & learning it was written by YouTube creator Gaby Dunn. Artist Claire Roe’s style is quite interesting and dark, & in combination with the storyline I think it was well done, however, I think the story could have used a bit more editing. I found it a bit disjointed and the pacing to be too slow. I also didn’t connect with the characters but I think if there are more volumes to follow, this story could evolve into something more polished and would be worth continuing.

2.90 stars ⭐

I wanted it the story to go a little further in the themes presented here but it has its qualities.

What I DIDN'T like:
- It left me confused at some points(plot-wise), somethings felt a little too convenient.
- Maddy(the MC) is pretty selfish the way that she [ just used the sweet Detective, when you could clearly see that he is one of the good guys, literally broke my heart. (hide spoiler)]

What I LIKED:
- The amazing representation made me extremely happy!!
- The murder suspect was quite a nice character, she gave me major Dexter vibes.
- You don't often see bi men represented in media and here Gaby gave us the cutest one.

A dark and captivating rendition of Supergirl !

This graphic novel follows the uncertain navigation of Reporter Intern Madison Jackson through her first big murder lead, relationship and feelings and family drama.

I loved the art style and the colours so much! Purple undertones made sure I was Waud at the edge of my seat when reading this one.

The representation in this graphic novel is actually so subtle and I loved when they chucked in some Spanish in the sentences.

Overall this was a thrilling read so make sure to grab yourself a copy in Oct!

Twenty-one-year-old Madison T. Jackson is an intern at The Boston Lede. When a Boston businessman is murdered she runs to the crime scene. But it ´s when his wife, arrested for murder, decides to talk to Madison, that finds herself in a world of danger after discovering and horrible cover-up.

A great read, that kept me guessing to the end.

Gaby Dunn, is the author of this great graphic novel that takes on journalism, the relations between its players (witnesses, journalists, editor, policemen, politicians...) and, in a superficial way, the ethics of it.

The author, introduces rich characters, including much-needed visibility for the queer and color communities, without that being a focal point. They are just a reflection of the diversity that exists in the world.

#BuryTheLede #NetGalley

Whoa, darker and deeper than I thought and there were warnings about that! For that, I am so grateful.

The artwork is stark and beautiful. I can't count the amount of times I stopped focusing on the story to just admire how well done and stylistic the art is.

The story is confusing a bit and I felt that it should have been much longer, however I get it and it wasn't hard to get into the swing of things as you kept reading. QUEER and POC representation galore! I love it and I love that we're getting so much of this steadily.It's a really nice thing to read and see honestly. I hope we get more out of Gaby Dunn and Claire Roe. Everything here is very promising.

Thanks much to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy of my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a good graphic novel, I loved the art and the story line was SO engaging. The book opens with the main character working as an intern at a Boston paper and getting caught up in a murder investigation since she is the only person the killer will talk to. This book had me so engaged with all of the twists and turns but trigger warning for violence (murder, etc.) and sexual assault/abuse.