The Black Monday Murders: Issue 01

I recently went to pick up my weekly cache of comics and the owner had dropped a copy of this new graphic novel in with my usual collection, assuming it would be something I would enjoy. I was hesitant, so I left it in the folder until the following week, figuring I would research the comic online and read about it before committing. What I read piqued my interest, to say the least. So I purchased it the next week and just now read it. I was not disappointed!

Basically, this is a story about occult forces manipulating global investment banking. While this in and of itself is more than enough to warrant taking on yet another reading commitment, there is much more to this tale that promises a deep exploration of who we are as a society.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are addicted to money and power. We might like to tell ourselves that we are detached from our material things, but are we really? I used to feel that way until I was living on Miami Beach and Hurricane Andrew was bearing down. I had to evacuate, and as I looked around my apartment at all my “material things,” suddenly, everything took on new meaning. My books, my records, my instruments, my photo albums, my games, my keepsakes—all this I assumed would be lost, and I cried. And I had to accept that I was attached to my things.

Anyway, this first issue asks readers to take an honest look at their relationship with money.

The oldest relationship in the world is the one man has with money. It’s the dirty little secret we all share . . . just how much we love it. It’s a better life. It’s living in a better world. For money is power, it is influence. So when someone asks, do you have a price? Everyone — and I mean everyone — knows the answer is yes . . . The only question remaining is . . . what are they gonna have to pay?

The installment concludes with definitions of money, power, and magic, and the connection between the definitions of these words portends what we can expect in subsequent issues.

Power

• the ability to influence the behavior of others or alter the course of events: having power over another | she had me under her power.

Money

• a medium of exchange | substitution of coin for something of similar value.
• a physical manifestation of influence or power.

Magic

• the power to influence using supernatural forces: do you believe in magic? | suddenly, as if by magic, the words appeared.

I’m looking forward to the next installment. As soon as it is published, you can expect my thoughts to follow shortly afterward.

“All Hail God Mammon.”