Dead, She Said

Detective Coogan knows well that there are some pretty shady freaks out there in the big city... but he doesn’t know that some of those freaks aren’t human! He learns it the hard way, and ends up on the wrong side of a bullet in this new series that mixes horror and noir into a tightly wound nightmare of twists and turns. An all-new story by comic book legends Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson.

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up–Private-eye Coogan wakes up one morning battered, bruised, shot, and, yes, dead. Fully zombified, he no longer feels pain but suffers from the normal deterioration and rot every dead body goes through. He quickly sets out on the most bizarre case of his career as he tries to uncover who killed him and why. What starts as a slightly twisted noir story soon lurches into H.P. Lovecraft territory when he discovers a mad scientist creating giant insects and reassembling dead humans into monstrosities in a crazed plot to take over the world. Niles does a fair job of tossing this Sam Spade-esque character into a world of fantastically over-the-top horror. Packed with plenty of dark twists and violent turns, the story also has some darkly comic moments, such as when Coogan embalms himself in an effort to slow down his body&'s decomposition. Wrightson flaunts his pedigree as a horror illustrator with grisly, macabre images that are not for the faint of heart. The volume includes a wonderful set of bonus artwork showcasing his range and skill over the last 35 years. Dead, She Said develops into a fine twist on a classic horror tale that genre fans will love.–Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

After years of tailing cheating husbands and murderous thugs, private detective Joe Coogan has developed a lot of enemies, including one who burdens him with a rather curious problem. One morning, Coogan wakes up dead, quite literally. After fighting off the rigor mortis and taping up the gaping gunshot wound in his stomach, Coogan hits the streets to find out who murdered him and why. With a detour at the local police station, where he finds he is a suspect in a series of grisly murders, the trail quickly leads to the macabre laboratory of Doc Baxter. There the megalomaniac scientist is plotting world domination by deploying an army of mutant insects. Coogan’s consultations with a dinosaur expert and a comely mortician might be all he needs to foil Baxter’s plans before it’s too late—if, that is, his rapidly decaying flesh doesn’t finish him first. Niles’ script astutely keeps the focus on gratuitous thrills, and legendary horror artist Wrightson’s superbly detailed drawings are, as usual, strikingly gruesome. --Carl Hays

About the Author

Steve Niles is a comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society and Batman: Gotham County Line. He is credited among other contemporary writers as bringing horror comics back to prominence.

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