I read this one online last night, and thought it was pretty darned good:
SUMMARY:
When unassuming candy store owner Ike Hopper dies of a heart attack, he leaves behind a bombshell that rocks his small Australian town. His confession of guilt to a 27-year old murder—the savage stabbing of local girl Lee Duncan—brings his brother Greg, accused of the crime, out of the bush where he''s been hiding. But Greg, returning to his hometown of Dubbo to tie up loose ends, finds not all ghosts go quietly to the grave. For instance, he seems to see his ex-wife Lee taunting him wherever he wanders... A hard-hitting, guilt-ridden, sun-drenched slice of outback noir.
A 64-page complete one-shot story, it's a quietly great story, of a guy in Australia who returns to his small town 27 years after his wife was murdered and he was accused of it. There is remarkable compassion and sympathy for him, even from the grieving. And I love the sheriff, likeably irritable, but who projects a great deal of strength, compassion, and unspoken wisdom. Despite there was a murder, there is a great deal of love and bond between the characters. Though more recently written, it is set in the year 1969. Isolated from the rest of the world, there is something of a timelessness to the story. I also like what appears to be his dead wife talking to him, and it is done in a way that she could be imagined by him, or that her ghost is actually there with him.
In a comics field of episodic escapist genre entertainment, this is a refreshing story that is more about the interaction between people, and unresolved emotions of the long absent main character with his family and friends, and is a story that is told completely.
While it's set in Australia, it was apparently published in France by French creators, and then translated into English. So it's about Australians, it portrays people and social culture in a small Australian town, but it's not an Australian comic.
I hope Australia-Dave is still lurking here and enjoys it. And even if it portrays Australian life accurately to some degree, there is probably as much regional variation in Australian culture as there is in American culture. Life in New South Wales vs. Perth or Melbourne or Queensland or Sydney, is probably as varied as life in New York City is from that in Atlanta or L.A. or Topeka or West Palm Beach.
Here's the full 64-page story to read online:
https://comiconlinefree.com/comic/a-hell-of-an-innocent
