The Hunting Accident: A True Story of Crime and Poetry

by David L. Carlson, Landis Blair (Illustrator)

Overview

The amazing true story of Matt Rizzo, an uneducated blind criminal who received a classical education in prison from his cellmate, Nathan Leopold Jr., of the infamous Leopold and Loeb duo.

It was a hunting accident—that much Charlie is sure of. That's how his father, Matt Rizzo—a gentle intellectual who writes epic poems in Braille—had lost his vision. It’s not until Charlie’s troubled teenage years, when he’s facing time for his petty crimes, that he learns the truth.

Matt Rizzo was blinded by a shotgun blast to the face—but it was while participating in an armed robbery.

Newly blind and without hope, Matt began his bleak new life at Stateville Prison. But in this unlikely place, Matt's life and very soul were saved by one of America's most notorious killers: Nathan Leopold Jr., of the infamous Leopold and Loeb.

From David L. Carlson and Landis Blair comes the unbelievable true story of a father, a son, and remarkable journey from despair to enlightenment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626726765
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	1,144,001
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

David L. Carlson has been a filmmaker, musician, car salesman, experience designer, and is the co-founder of Opera-Matic, a nonprofit street opera company in Chicago. The Hunting Accident is his first book.

Landis Blair is the author and illustrator of The Envious Siblings: and Other Morbid Nursery Rhymes, as well as the illustrator of the New York Times bestseller From Here to Eternity and the graphic novel The Hunting Accident, which won the 2021 Fauve d’Or and the 2020 Quai des Bulles prize. He has published illustrations in numerous print and online periodicals including The New Yorker, the New York Times, Chicago magazine, VQR, and Medium. He lives in Chicago.

Editorial Reviews

…drawn with graphomaniacal fervor…Blair's artwork…slathers on patterns, scribbles and frantically detailed cross-hatching of various densities, with only a few flashes of light to breathe air into most pages.

The New York Times Book Review - Douglas Wolk

★ 08/14/2017
The subtitle barely captures the scope of this ambitious debut graphic novel, a mix of biography, history, social commentary, literary analysis, and more. It’s a multilayered exploration of the lives of Charlie Rizzo and his father Matt, a blind man with secrets. Charlie’s parents separated when he was young, but his mother’s death brings him back into his father’s life in Chicago. When Charlie becomes involved with petty criminals, Matt begins to reveal his past to his son, and this sweeps through the book like a tsunami of surprises and pure, dark emotion. Matt’s story involves a world of gangsters, too, but also jail, the truth of how he was blinded, and an unexpected pivotal person: thrill killer Nathan Leopold Jr., who shared his jail cell. Blair’s exceptional pen-and-ink work, which mixes the tangible world with the psychological, brings all the strands together seamlessly and powerfully. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

A Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2017

"In The Hunting Accident, light comes from darkness, crime leads to redemption, and killers save lives. It'll probably be a movie or Netflix show in a couple years, but for now, it's a damn great comic book." —GQ

"The subtitle barely captures the scope of this ambitious debut graphic novel, a mix of biography, history, social commentary, literary analysis, and more...Blair’s exceptional pen-and-ink work, which mixes the tangible world with the psychological, brings all the strands together seamlessly and powerfully." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A true story epic in scope and arrestingly told." —Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

03/01/2018
After his mother died, young Charlie Rizzo moved in with Matt, his blind, insurance-selling father in Chicago. When Charlie discovered as a teenager that his father wasn't blinded in a hunting accident, as he'd always thought, Matt decided to come clean and reveal the real story, which involved the Chicago mafia and armed robbery. Matt told Charlie that he eventually went to prison in 1931, where, under the guidance of infamous murderer Nathan Leopold Jr. (who, with Richard Loeb in 1924, kidnapped and killed a teenage boy), he developed a love of literature. This true account of gangster Matt Rizzo includes some of his prison artifacts, as well as snippets of his writing. The comic pays homage to Dante's Inferno and other works, showing how those allegories are still relevant. Blair's illustrations are stark and extremely detailed, and the book design is a masterpiece, complete with a ribbon marker and the title duplicated in braille on the cover. VERDICT While some teens may skim over the more "literary" portions, others will delight in this graphic homage to Dante. Perfect for inclusion on AP or college reading lists.—Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL

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