Publisher: Titan Comics/Hard Case
Release Date: June 28, 2017
Price: $19.99
Creator(s): Christa Faust & Gary Phillips (writers); Andrea Camerini (artist)
Format: 128 pgs., Full-Color, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-7704-6293-9
Age Rating: Mature
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Peepland is a gritty crime story, a tale about New York City at its worst. In 1986, at that intersection in time between traditional vice and new technologies, a new-style pornographer stumbles across an old-fashioned crime, and things spiral downward. By the end of the story, the real question is how many of the characters will survive the outcome.
The story takes place in a world of strippers, peep shows, crooked politics, crooked police, and a whole lot of not-at-all-nice characters. Almost anyone in the story would sell any other character for a very low price, and the exceptions are just that, surprisingly different from the rest. The story is very, very dark and bloody, in the best traditions of noir crime stories.
In this case, the artwork by Camerini is outstanding, whether it’s portraying a simple street scene or a violent crime, a stripper or a blood splatter. All are given a weight which horrifies and fascinates the reader at the same time, also just right for the noir genre.
The violence is so graphic that some potential readers will put it down for that reason alone. The sexual content is high, because many of the characters work in various areas of the sex trade. Thus, this is really for adults in terms of both sex and violence.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.