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A review by mattaukamp
The Butcher of Paris by Stephanie Phillips
3.0
The story was an interesting one that I had never heard before, and it was told humanely. The books leaves a lot to be desired, however.
The art style is reminiscent of 90s Vertigo comics, blocky and dark, with an attempt at realism. Not nearly as expressive or stylized as I think this story deserved. As it is, it was mostly people in rooms talking to each other.
The writing was also a little underwhelming. It was clearly a deliberate choice to avoid crude sensationalism, which i can respect. However, instead of approaching it, then, with creativity which could have glorified the humanity of the victims or the thematic ties the crimes had to the era or anything of depth, most of the scenes were tropey thriller moments which could be seen in any war or detective movie.
Its not fair to compare this against From Hell, so I'm going to do it only in exemplar. There are many ways to do stories like this without glorifying violence or titillating true crime audiences or dehumanizing victims. Flattening the story out probably isn't the *best* way. From Hell shows poetry, style, creativity, and artistry that I could have used more of here. I won't deign to say I know a better way it should have been told, I'm just saying I think there is a vast canyon between these two works and I wish it had gone a bit further across.
ALL THAT SAID: I would not have known the story of Marcel Petiot had it not been for Phillips and Kotz. I immediately leapt onto my phone to do more research. The foreword was also incredibly impactful and probably my favorite part of the book. It, plus the research, makes me want to read more of Stephanie Phillips' work.
The art style is reminiscent of 90s Vertigo comics, blocky and dark, with an attempt at realism. Not nearly as expressive or stylized as I think this story deserved. As it is, it was mostly people in rooms talking to each other.
The writing was also a little underwhelming. It was clearly a deliberate choice to avoid crude sensationalism, which i can respect. However, instead of approaching it, then, with creativity which could have glorified the humanity of the victims or the thematic ties the crimes had to the era or anything of depth, most of the scenes were tropey thriller moments which could be seen in any war or detective movie.
Its not fair to compare this against From Hell, so I'm going to do it only in exemplar. There are many ways to do stories like this without glorifying violence or titillating true crime audiences or dehumanizing victims. Flattening the story out probably isn't the *best* way. From Hell shows poetry, style, creativity, and artistry that I could have used more of here. I won't deign to say I know a better way it should have been told, I'm just saying I think there is a vast canyon between these two works and I wish it had gone a bit further across.
ALL THAT SAID: I would not have known the story of Marcel Petiot had it not been for Phillips and Kotz. I immediately leapt onto my phone to do more research. The foreword was also incredibly impactful and probably my favorite part of the book. It, plus the research, makes me want to read more of Stephanie Phillips' work.