Hanco would explain to his audience that he was an ex-convict and had learned the tools of his trade while in jail. He was known for his escapes and his unique wardrobe, which was that of a prison convict. Houdini: The Handcuff King is really a charming little story and I would pleasantly recommend it to anyone with an hour to kill.Hanco (c.1871-1906), born Theodore Bernstein, billed himself as "Hanco the Handcuff King" in the early 1900’s. And a snapshot of the people Houdini relied upon to feed that greatness. Instead the narrative picks up on a morning nearly a full decade before his mortality asserted itself and climaxes later that same day, presenting a slice of Houdini’s life, a splash of what made him great. With the blue note set by Lutes’ prior works, I thought this might be an exploration of Houdini’s last days and unforeseen death. When initially approaching the book, I did not know what to expect. I closed the back cover satisfied with a mid-morning snack of graphic reading. Wholly apart from disappointing, the brisk pace of the story was refreshing. There is plenty to look at but little text per page, which makes it a fairly quick read. Surprise #2: I had brought a book to busy me during the ninety-minute drive, but finished it within forty-five minutes. Bertozzi does a stand-up job of directing the reader’s eye and conveying the tension of the moments-moments that could easily have been lost had the artist been too detailed or too simplistic in his execution. And even in the midst of these ink-saturated pages, it is never difficult to see where the action is. But after my initial shock, I came to appreciate Bertozzi’s line and recognized that he really was a good choice for the book.īertozzi does do some fantastic work in the book, managing crowd scene after crowd scene with enough visual grace that the reader never suspects just how terribly dull it must have been to compose these pages. At first, this surprise was a disappointment to me-like when you think your glass has Pepsi in it but your first sip reveals apple juice instead. Really this should not have been a surprise as the cover plainly says Nick Bertozzi immediately beneath Lutes’ own name and the art on the cover is plainly not the work of Lutes’ established style.
Surprise #1: While Jason Lutes penned the story that comprises the book’s narrative, he did not contribute to its art. There were, however, two surprises for me. And really, this book did not disappoint. I was excited because I love Jason Lutes’ work (as previously seen in Jar of Fools and Berlin). From my to-read pile I pulled the recently purchased Houdini: The Handcuff King. On a recent busride down to San Diego to view the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the natural history museum, I figured it’d be good to bring some reading material.
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