This book is going to be hard for me to describe, because I'm having a hard time getting the gist of just what exactly is going on here. Apparently this Crime Bible has been around for quite a while. But, there's only supposed to be three copies in existence, " . . the Prophet's Codex, the Sana'a edition, and the high madame's binding" But this Professor, Stanton T Carlyle, has put out a book about it, where he describes the bible in pretty accurate detail. It's called, A Blasphemous Mythology: the Religion of Crime. Because of that, someone is questioning his motives. Apparently it's the Question, who according to prophesy plays some kind of role in everything that this crime bible is attempting to bring about. "You publish a book pretending to debunk the religion of crime . . . but really it's a means to introduce key passages of the black book to the widest possible audience. Of course a little scandal would help that along nicely . . . like the murder of your wife and your son by adherents angry at you for spilling their secrets. The scissors are a nice touch. Several of Peter Kurten's victims were stabbed to death with scissors, weren't they? And whatever happens . . if you're caught, if you blame it on the religion . . the scandal alone sells a couple million extra copies. That's a lot of people learning the vile word without even knowing it." But the one thing she's got wrong, that's explained to her by one of the Order of the Stone that tries to prevent her intervention in their plans, is that it wasn't Stanton that was going to kill his wife. It was his wife, Giselle, that would prove to be the murderer. And after she kills Stanton, she goes after her son. But the Question is quick enough to stop that from happening. So now, after rereading it, and commenting on it, I think this is more a book about the Question, with the Crime Bible as the motivation. Which is good, because we haven't seen her since the end of 52. It's indeed an interesting book, by Greg Rucka. Really my only complaint is in their pick for artist . . Tom Mandrake. And really that complaint is just a personal preference. Tom's a good artist. And over the course of this book, there are some panels that are beautiful. But, there's more panels that are just . . . . muddy. I just don't really like the way he does his inks and shading. But, like I said, that's just my preference. As far as the book goes, this is just the first issue, so I'll have to save my opinion for a few more installments. But it's a decent start.
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