Iron Bound

"It's not every day you see a graphic novel set in Newark, New Jersey, let alone Newark in 1961. For all the changes of the last fifty years - from riots to revitalization, from Sharpe James to Cory Booker - a Newark of greasers and ice skating rinks seems almost mythological. And yet, there it is, in the bold black and white illustrations of Brendan Leach's graphic novel Iron Bound. This Newark is a gritty industrial town, filled with classic cars, working stiffs and long shadows - a gristmill where young toughs in leather jackets mix with old crooks. The result is a bitter meal of crime and regret." - Medium

"Iron Bound is a focused book. The scope of the story is small and the group of people within is likewise intimate. One could call it provincial, or maybe it's just about provincialism. It's about the desire to get out of your small hometown and make something of yourself, and the way your friends keep pulling you back into the tar pit." - Paste Magazine

"Leach uses tightly closed spaces well in establishing angst and alienation, and Benny's temper explodes on a bus, in dark, cramped bar rooms, and more. All of Iron Bound's grit and grease makes for a fast read, as this grainy-paged pulp speeds down the turnpike toward its inevitably bleak showdown." - Pop Matters

"In this pitiless arena, any attempt to get ahead faces obstacle after obstacle, trust comes at a premium, and good intentions are likely not good enough. Iron Bound reads like a delicious amalgam of a vintage Jim Thompson crime noir novel with illustrations reminiscent of (mutant) Ben Katchor fused with a hint of Lynda Barry's early punky-scrawly-scratchy style... ...At any rate, with this gripping, skillfully wrought noir, Leach continues his winning streak. Should he decide he wants to make crime comics a thing again he'd be well suited for the job." - The Comics Journal

"It's an ageless morality tale staged within a moral vacuum; try as one may to leave behind a life of mortal sin, violence and crime is a vicious and self-perpetuating cycle which has a natural tendency to close in on itself, with switchblade precision." - IndieReader

"Overall, this is a sharp, strong book, a smart follow-up to Hunters and proof that Leach is a cartoonist to watch. The book even comes with a flexi-disc record to play during the story's big fight/climax, a really terrific conceit, even if the nerd in me is hesitant to play it, for fear of damaging the book's "mint" condition (you never know what might be worth money some day)." - CBR