Written by Michael Calero
Drawn by Piotr Kowalski
Published by Sumerian Comics/Massive Publishing
American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis is probably my favorite stand-alone novel (whatever that says about me). I also thoroughly enjoyed the 2000 film adaptation starring Christian Bale. So naturally I was intrigued when I heard of this comic book, which was published a few weeks ago.
I’m just going to say from the start that this comic is for fans of the book or the novel, or both. Probably more the movie, as it uses the likeness of Bale as Patrick Bateman, as well as other actors from the film, which I’ll get to in a minute. But this story doesn’t add any background details of events from the film or novel, so you’ll probably be lost if you don’t already know the story.
The comic is divided into two parts, first it opens in 1987, during the time of the events from the original story. Our focus is on Donald Kimble, the private detective who was played by Willem Dafoe in the film, and appears briefly in the novel, as he was hired to investigate the disappearance of one of Patrick’s victims. We see that Kimble is in many ways a mirror of Bateman. Through an internal monologue, he also describes a strict disciplined daily routine, which he studiously maintains to project a false image of himself to the outside world. The major difference is that his lifestyle is conspicuously “average,” in stark contrast to Bateman’s affluence and obsession with name brands and image. As Kimble is getting dressed in the morning, we see that his body is covered in what looks like cuts and bruises, which is the first hint that there’s more to him than meets the eye.
Kimble goes out at night and begins stalking a woman. It’s unclear at first if this woman is the subject of an ongoing investigation, or if she was chosen at random. But he follows as she goes out for drinks at a bar, and then heads home. He has something planned for this woman, but then is surprised when he sees her run into Patrick Bateman (in a scene taken straight from the movie). Bateman takes the woman back to his apartment, where they have sex, and then afterward he murders her with an axe (her implied murder happened off-camera in the film), all the while Kimble watches through a window with the aid of binoculars.
The comic then flashes forward to 2011. A young woman is in a nightclub, everyone’s dancing, drinking, and doing drugs. She goes into a bathroom stall with some man, although she’s clearly drunk (or high, or both), and he starts taking down her pants even though she’s telling him to stop. Then she throws up on his head, and her friend, a woman named Ashley, comes in and drags her away from the man and out of the club. There’s a plot twist cliffhanger at the end, which I won’t spoil, but it’s revealed that the young woman is named Charlene Rawlinson Carruthers, so is the daughter of Louis Carruthers and Courtney Rawlinson, who were engaged (despite Louis being a closet homosexual who was in love with Patrick) by the end of the original story. Thee’s also a hint that Charlene may have a darker side, as well.
So this is an interesting concept, it seems like it’s doing two versions of an American Psycho adaption at once. One is a retelling of the original story, just told from the POV of a supporting character, while the other is a sequel to the original story, featuring the child of a supporting character. How writer Michael Calero ties these two stories together remains to be seen. I could nitpick on some details, like it seems unlikely to me that Bateman would leave his apartment window open when he’s planning to kill someone, but I’ll overlook it.
I think if you’re a fan of American Psycho, you’ll enjoy this comic.
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