As a long term fan of both Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips I’m always keen to read and see more of their work.

A boarding house full of druggies. A neglected housewife. A young girl who thinks shes a superhero. A cop who wants to be left alone. And a private detective looking for a runaway girl. These stories collide one fateful summer in WHERE THE BODY WAS, a tale of love and murder in the suburbs, told from a dozen different points of view. All the neighbors on the block have an opinion about the murder and how it happened, but which of them is telling the truth?

I’ve loved Brubaker since his days at DC & Marvel and his Daredevil and Captain America runs are legendary but it’s his work on Gotham Central that captured my imagination, I even own some original artwork from that run.

In recent years Brubaker has started to work with Sean Phillips almost exclusively and between them they have created a real line in Noirish graphic novels. As a big fan I think I have everything they’ve done and quite a few books with sketches by Phillips. So it’s fair to say I was looking forward to this!

The book feels both familiar as their partnership has a strong visual style but it also feels slightly different. There is something about their partnership which always gives a vibe of high quality TV miniseries.

I enjoyed the flashback nature of the story and how it unfolded, Brubaker does a nice line in exaggerated realism and it works for this. It was maybe a little more explicit than some of their stuff but it didn’t bother me too much.

It did feel different to their other works like Criminal or Fatale but it had a similar dark sense of humour and often unlikeable characters.

It might not be for everyone but if you’ve enjoyed their past work you’ll probably really like it!

A dark, funny and nourish story set in the 80’s with Phillips excellent, stylistic art – give it a shot!

Definitely had no idea what the ending was going to be. Also, this feels vastly different from Brubaker and Phillips's other works. I've read part of Criminal, and loved it, so when I noticed this was available, I jumped at the chance. It is for sure a murder mystery, but not in the way you think. The story starts off with what becomes the Sid and Nancy event and was a pure rollercoaster until the end. I love Brubaker's story telling, it's dark, it's gritty, it's hard to read sometimes because it's scary too, but it is so so good I will always come back to it. And Phillips art is raw, emotional, gritty, and *chef's kiss* perfect for dark stories. If you like the darker Batman stories, or grittier mystery/thrillers, this is the comic for you.

This was so good I loved every minute of it. The multiple characters. The flash forwards and the past. All trying to solve and who killed who. It had the perfect amount of mystery for me. Great read. Great art.

A quick, intriguing read.

I loved the colours of this one - perfect for the 80s setting.

The story takes its time getting to 'the body' which I really liked - it becomes a character study, looking at the lives of a small group of people at a specific place in time. I really enjoyed the way it played out.

Clever title, in that it creates the mystery then and there and we spend the whole time wondering who did it before the body even turns up.

Really clever and the artwork complements the story beautifully. Highly recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley for a copy

I probably should have done more background reading before starting this work - I went in expecting a humorous murder mystery based on the title and that is decidedly not what this is. Instead, it’s a convoluted story (in the best way) about a death on a suburban block. Everyone has a different perspective, and it isn’t at all clear who, if anyone, is right. There are some explicit panels early in the work, you’ll know right away if it is or isn’t for you. While it wasn’t for me, I can see it being a solid choice for anyone who prefers gritty murder mysteries. My rating is based on my personal enjoyment (2/5) and the skill and artistry displayed by the creators (4/5).

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.

I was screening this for a high school library, but I stopped after a few pages due to inappropriate content.

Yeah, there’s a dead body, and yes, there are more than a few unscrupulous characters, but the latest graphic novel from this superstar creative team is more of a slice-of-life story, a stylistic fusion of Anne Tyler and S.A. Cosby. Made for me, in other words.

Despite its title, it’s actually less concerned with the body, and more interrogating the lives of the people living on the picturesque street of Pelican Road in the summer of 1984. There’s a real hodgepodge of characters here, exquisitely rendered in Sean Phillips’ inimitable style: a cheating wife and her husband; the checkout guy at the local liquor store who masquerades as a cop with his dead father’s badge; two juvenile delinquents in a tempestuous sometimes-romantic relationship; a masked roller-skating eleven-year-old; the homeless man she has befriended; and a private detective searching for a missing person.

“Where the Body Was” is framed as a true crime documentary, with characters (decades later) recounting their memories of that fateful summer on the street. Brubaker deftly establishes his characters and their relationships, then sets off the key chain of events pivotal to the story’s plot.

But actually, it’s the quieter moments I most enjoyed here, ruminations on young love and choices made, and the subtle changes in Phillips’ presentation of the characters as they recount their memories of the summer. We don’t get much exposition about their current lives; instead, Phillips’ artwork does the talking. You can tell a lot about a person by the sadness in their eyes, and there is no artist better equipped to show this. Infused with an elegiac and wistful tone, “Where the Body Was” is a quintessential Brubaker/Phillips production.

I absolutely loved this graphic novel. It reminded me of an older detective show. Beautiful story and beautiful illustrations that depicted the year 1984, its setting, well.

This is my first book by these authors and I really liked it I liked that the narrative was told from multiple points of view and that they were interconnected. It worked!
Many thanks to ImageComics and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Where the Body Was isn't the crime of a century. It's a tale of secrets, two-faced lives, and how messy romance can be.

Brubaker and Phillips deliver another amazing read. Delve into the 1980s with a cast of characters as varied and developed as a high-end drama. From a child dressed up as a superhero to a woman tricking her husband only to be tricked in return.

Another day, another graphic novel from the incomparable duo that is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Where the Body Was feels a bit like a minor work compared to something like The Fade Out. However, its ’80s-set tale of suburban ennui, bored housewives and illicit affairs, young romance and heartache, and — because this is Ed Brubaker we’re talking about — a shocking murder mystery that undoes everyone’s lives (for better or worse) is not without its affecting moments. Particularly when Brubaker has the characters’ older selves break the fourth wall to reflect on that tumultuous period in their lives.

I was able to read this as an arc via NetGalley.
I don't think this is one for me. I read through it quite quickly and it's based on the premise that a body is discovered in a neighbourhood in the 1980s.
Much prefer a proper book to comics but that's a personal choice....thanks to NetGalley and the authors

Reading multiple points of view was key to my enjoyment of the story. It kept the action moving in a way that kept me engaged. The various reveals were spread out enough that I was always wondering what would happen next and wanted to keep reading. It was interesting to see the characters interact with each other, and even break the fourth wall, as we get to know them from different perspectives. I would recommend this book comic book and mystery fans alike.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

Where the Body Was is a unique graphic novel that shares a story from multiple neighbor’s perspectives. Each story line adds new elements of love, addiction, and the search for belonging.

I enjoyed the fast paced plot, as well as the great artwork to accompany the story. If anything, I would love for the comic to be longer just to develop some of the characters even more.

I’m definitely interested in picking up more books by Ed Brubaker in the future.

This book was like a contemporary noir short story in graphic novel form. We meet a wide variety of characters: young junkies in love, a neglected housewife and her lover (who is juggling more than just their affair), a kick-ass 11 year old super-hero-wannabe, a veteran experiencing homelessness, and more suburbanites from their neighborhood.

The mystery of who was actually responsible for the murder of this body is really secondary to the messy lives of our characters, but I had no problem with that. Overall, it was a quick, entertaining read, although I wouldn’t have minded spending more time with a few of these characters. There was nothing wrong with this book, but nothing worth shouting from the rooftops for me either.

I am not a huge fan of graphic novels, but the description drew my interest so I thought I would check it out. What I found was a story that I compare to “click bait.” It seemed to promise something it never delivered. The ending was not supported by the information provided in the story.

The drawings were graphic and explicit, with sex acts and one drawing of male frontal nudity. I would describe them as hard R-rated, or maybe even soft X-rated. Definitely not for children. If this book is purchased by a library, it should be kept in the adult section.

I cannot recommend this book, and will likely not read others by this author.

This was fine, nothing that was particularly interesting to me. I had hoped it would be a shoo-in for my library, but I don't think it would be a good fit.

Thanks to NetGalley & Image for a review copy!

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have combined to produce so many classic graphic novels. Their newest title, Where the Body Was, is another enjoyable mystery that doesn't quite reach the heights of some of their other work.

Brubaker's characters feel real and have their own secrets, and Phillips's art (with colors by Jacob Phillips) looks amazing as always, yet the actual mystery didn't really land for me. I found myself more interested in the interconnected lives of the characters than in actually solving the mystery, and when the mystery was solved, it seemed like it was done as an afterthought. Still, this was an enjoyable story from one of the best teams in comics, but one that does not quite measure up to their past works.

I really enjoyed the way this graphic novel was told. I liked how the narrative flipped between the future and present, sometimes within the same page. Brubaker did a great job at introducing and getting us to care about the characters and their position in the story even before the mystery is introduced (probably about 80% in). Normally introducing the mystery so late in the story would bother me but I was so invested in the characters and their relationships that it wasn't until I was halfway through that I even remembered there was supposed to be a murder happening at some point. At the moment, I can't think of any weak points. It was a great standalone story and solidifies Brubaker as one of my favorite graphic novel writers.

This book reminds me of Blacksad in the best way possible. This little moment in time noir is so satisfying to read. It is beautifully illustrated, the story is so simple, and yet when given the option to reveal the crime, I found myself wanting to leave it open ended. A very quick read and satisfying.