The Brownout Murders

The Jacksons (Two Week Wait), married educators and comics writers, deliver a historical true crime story that skillfully connects a little-known 1940s serial murder case to still-relevant questions about society’s exploitation of violence against women. In WWII-era Australia, Beatrice, a telephone operator, volunteers as an air raid warden to protect her community, especially her sisters Lizzie and June. Her dedication to the war effort is tested when rowdy American soldiers pour into town, scandalizing older Australians with their drinking, dancing, and passes at local women. A string of strangulations, with women’s bodies stripped and left exposed, adds horror to the moral panic. As Beatrice points out, the hunt for the murderer provides an excuse to curb young women’s freedoms: “They blamed alcohol. They blamed men. But they blamed women most of all.” When the so-called Brownout Strangler, named after the electricity outages that characterized the wartime experience, targets one of their friends, who survives, Beatrice and her sisters take action to locate the killer. Graham’s loose, retro-style black-and-white art is sometimes short on detail, but it captures the claustrophobic mood as terror sets in, including grotesque moments like the police displaying a mannequin dressed in a victim’s clothes “to help jog people’s memories.” Crime and history buffs alike will be drawn into this layered real-life mystery. (June)