Review: CROSSROAD BLUES OGN

In 1998, the book Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins was released to immense acclaim for the debut novelist. This was what would be the first in a series of stories about Nick Travers, an ex- pro football player who is also a researcher and historian of blues and part time teacher at Tulane University. The novel deals with a fellow professor who went missing while researching the life of the almost mythical blues legend Robert Johnson. Nick finds himself in the middle of a full-blown mystery and danger seems to be lurking in every shadow.

Fast forward to 2018 and Image Comics is now releasing a graphic novel version of the celebrated book. The new release reads like a down home noir thriller steeped in the muddy waters of the Mississippi Delta, with her sweet music as a perfect soundtrack to the images on the pages. The story has all the classic pulp feel of a crime drama, with a unique setting. We find ourselves trading the foggy, dimly lit streets of places like New York or San Francisco, for the sultry streets of New Orleans. This, along with trips to the back woods of the Delta, make for a perfect backdrop to what has puzzled music historians for decades. What exactly happened to Robert Johnson?

Writer Ace Atkins took on the task of bringing his classic novel to life by translating it into this long form comic, and for the most part, it works. The story is easy to follow, but as I read the entire book in less than 40 minutes, I felt there was a lot that got erased from the original work. A novel, which surpassed 300 pages in length, has been shortened to a graphic novel of less than 150 pages. This, along with the fact that multiple pages are simply a single panel, make me wonder what I“m missing. I feel that all the high points of the story were there, but character development lacked for everyone other than the most important players.
The mood was set well by artist Marco Finnegan. The art suits the content of the story quite well, as it“s got a dark, steamy feel to it. The understated black and white work plays well off the story. For me, this made the lack of character development easier to digest, because the art was so well done.

If Crossroad Blues did one thing, it made me want to read the novel of the same name. I can tell there is a really good story here, but I feel in this format it was under developed. If there ever is an extended version, I would be interested in having a look, because I would really like to dig deeper into this world. If you“re looking for a graphic novel that you can start and finish in one lunch hour, this would be a pretty good one to explore. I wasn“t blown away, but I wasn“t disappointed either.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) Ace Atkins (A) Marco Finnegan (CA) Chris Brunner

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Bryan Spaulding

In his free time, other than reading comic books, Bryan enjoys listening to his ever growing record collection and driving his 27 year old roadster named Mingo.