Here’s the thing. I love Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series. Love it – and both beautiful hardback volumes – Parker: The Hunter and Parker: The Outfit are on the bookshelf.

I thought the idea in summer 2010 to put the first chapter of The Outfit out as a preview comic – The Man With The Getaway Face – was a great way to make the long wait between volumes more bearable, with an attractive and affordable solution. When The Outfit did eventually come out I had no complaint that I’d already spent a couple of quid for the first chapter.

But now they’ve gone the other way. Instead of a cheap comic to promote and preview the next hardback, we get The Martini Edition:

“IDW Publishing announced that Darwyn Cooke’s first two adapted Parker books, THE HUNTER and THE OUTFIT, will be collected in a tremendous, oversized hardcover edition, with an additional 65 pages of Cooke content. Packaged in a beautiful slipcase, The Martini Edition debuts in July and features a brand new Parker short story by Darwyn Cooke.” IDW Press Release 1st April 2011.

Okay, it certainly looks nice. But consider this – the additional 65 pages of Cooke content actually translates into an extended art gallery and 8 pages of a completely new Parker story. That’s an 8 page completely new Parker story unique to The Martini Edition which costs $75, or the best part of £40.

So my reward from IDW, my loyalty bonus for getting the Parker books as they were published is that I get to spend £40 for 8 pages I haven’t seen before? And although we’ve already seen a precedent for the oversized republication with DC Absolute editions and Marvel Omnibus editions – most of those are for books which have had a respectable gap between initial publication and oversized reprint. Parker: The Outfit will have been out less than 12 months by the time The Martini Edition hits the shelves.

Thanks a lot IDW, but no thanks. That’s not the way to make me feel positive towards a company. I’ll stick with my hardbacks. I’m sure I’ll see those 8 pages somewhere, at some point.

Graphic novel adaptation by Darwyn Cooke, based on the novels of Donald Westlake/ Richard Stark.

IDW Publishing

Total, absolute, pure, wonderful noir escapism – this second Parker graphic novel from Darwyn Cooke builds on everything he did in the first volume (The Hunter - reviewed here), where he grabbed the very essence of Richard Stark’s Parker stories – squeezed every last bit of brutal, action packed, very cool stylish noir and faithfully adapted it into comics.

This Parker series of graphic novels is well on it’s way to being considered amongst the finest hard boiled crime comics ever committed to the page.

The Hunter saw Parker; a smart but uncompromisingly vicious career criminal return following a violent betrayal by his partners in a heist. They’d left him for dead and over the course of the book he tracks them down to exact cold, brutal and murderous revenge.

When the mob / The Outfit protects one of them, Parker finds himself at odds with this very moneyed and very organised bit of organised crime in Parker’s world of the 50s.

And that’s about where we begin in The Outfit. After the events of The Hunter Parker figured he’d managed to broker some kind of truce with the Outfit. But, even after buying himself a completely new face, Parker finds himself on the receiving end of an attempted Outfit hit. And it’s then he decides that if the Outfit wont going to leave him alone, then maybe it’s time to take the play to The Outfit itself.

(Parker’s new face unveiled – so simple, yet so utterly beautiful – I found myself entranced by simple things such as the perfection of that extending mirror – absolute wonder – from Parker: The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke, published by IDW)

Once Parker decides to take on The Outfit we’re treated to a perfect crime caper tale. Parker’s audacity knows no bounds, he decides the best way to truly hit back at the Outfit and ensure his continued safety is to destabilise the whole operation by calling in favours from fellow independents and asking them to hit Outfit operations in one, hugely damaging, highly focused crime wave.

He’s the perfect organiser, coordinating multiple attacks on the Outfit, hitting them hard and fast, and hitting them deep, turning the tables on the boss of the Outfit who wants him dead, all the time manoeuvring and manipulating events to ensure his safety, negotiating with the man who’ll assume the reins of power once Parker takes out the current boss. Parker’s cold, calculated, obsessive cunning is breathtaking to watch unfold.

(Cold, calculating, brutal Parker. Although Cooke, like Stark lets us think of him as cool and breathtakingly good at what he does, they never let us forget he’s just another cruel killer, who’ll do most anything to save his own skin. From Parker: The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke, published by IDW.)

It’s a classic noir crime thriller. And Cooke does everything exactly right in it. Cooke never allows his portrayal of Parker to become heroic. You might admire Parker’s efficiency and his sheer chutpah but there’s no chance to forget just how cold, how calculating, how dangerous a killer we’re dealing with. Parker is a man who looks after noone but himself and lets nothing and noone stand in his way. Taking every last bit of brilliance in Stark’s words and playing them out over the course of possibly the best graphic novel you’ll see this year.

Personally I enjoyed it more than The Hunter, but that’s possibly because it does what I really love in crime caper movies – the middle act extended setup sequence. That part of a novel/comic/film where the setup becomes hugely important, and is minutely detailed for the viewer/reader. Often montaged, always beloved. In The Outfit there’s a beautifully done extended sequence where Cooke recounts for us a selection of the jobs Parker’s associates are pulling on The Outfit. If he’d have done these simply in the style of the rest of the book they’d have been lovely, but Cooke really pulls out all the stops with this one and each new heist is told in a new style – illustrated prose pulp magazine, gag digest 50s cartooning and more. It’s beautiful, and incredible to see Cooke having so much sheer fun doing these books.

(Just two examples of the many different styles Cooke uses so effectively in Parker: The Outfit.)

Cooke’s art, presented here in the same black, white and blue used so efficiently and effectively in The Hunter, is simply stunning. There are so many beautiful pages, so much invention in his art, that it’s quite breathtaking. It’s incredibly rare for me to be equally impressed by writing and art, since usually the execution of one far outweighs the other. But with Cooke’s Parker books it’s absolutely equal and each book demands multiple readings to fully absorb just how great a noir crime story he’s telling and just how great the accompanying artwork is.

The multiple stylistic switches could have come off as a silly bit of showboating in the hands of someone less accomplished, but here they, and so many other moments, just leap from the page, evidence of an artist at the height of his skill and having the time of his life. Cooke’s work previously may have been impressive, but with Parker, it seems he’s finally found the one thing he’s always hankered to do. And it shows on every wonderful page. The ultimate compliment is that Cooke’s beginning to approach Eisner in some of his page designs and his storytelling is simply perfection.

(A last, beautiful look at a page from Darwyn Cooke’s Parker; The Outfit, published by IDW)

Parker: The Outfit is almost bound to feature in a lot of best of 2010 lists – it’s definitely in the running for mine. Promise me you’ll ask Santa for this one.

You may recall I liked Darwyn Cooke’s hard boiled adaptation of Parker. A lot:

“Darwyn Cooke has taken Richard Stark’s hard boiled criminal novel and perfectly distilled it’s elements into possibly the best crime graphic novel you’ll have read for a long time. The art’s exceptional, as you may have expected from Cooke. But this beats anything he’s done up to this point. Gone are the nostalgic renderings of books like New Frontier, he even goes past his previous best of his glorious Spirit tales. This is Cooke’s artistic idea honed to a fine point and executed with incredible, minimalist noir style across the page. It’s a truly beautiful book.”

Well it seems the love for the book has gone far and wide and IDW have been overwhelmed with the demand for the first volume. So much so that, after just two weeks of release, it’s sold out at the distributor level. Not quite as impressive as selling out completely, but it does mean that the copies in stroes are it (for now). Get those first printings of this great book whilst they last. IDW are going back to press and a second printing is due in September.

(via CBR)

by Darwyn Cooke

IDW Publishing.

Bloody hell, this is good.

Darwyn Cooke has taken Richard Stark’s hard boiled criminal novel and perfectly distilled it’s elements into possibly the best crime graphic novel you’ll have read for a long time. The art’s exceptional, as you may have expected from Cooke. But this beats anything he’s done up to this point. Gone are the nostalgic renderings of books like New Frontier, he even goes past his previous best of his glorious Spirit tales. This is Cooke’s artistic idea honed to a fine point and executed with incredible, minimalist noir style across the page. It’s a truly beautiful book.

Richard Stark was the pseudonym for Donald E Westlake. You’ve probably seen one of his Parker tales without even realising it was a Parker tale since Westlake never allowed Parker’s name to be used in the adaptations of his work. Point Blank with lee Marvin – that was Parker. Payback with Mel Gibson – Parker. But tellingly, with Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation Westlake finally gave his permission. Sadly Westlake died in 2008 never knowing what a marvellous job Darwyn Cooke was to make of Parker.

This is real hard boiled noir. Parker is the epitome of the cold hearted bastard. Betrayed on an arms deal by his woman and his partners in crime, he’s left for dead. But he makes his way back, single minded and bent on revenge against those who’ve wronged him and stolen his ill gotten gains. I’m not going to give any of the plot away – it’s one of those books you really need to read and me blowing the story would only spoil it for you. And in truth, it’s hardly revolutionary storytelling. You’ve seen the plot many, many times over. Indeed, if you’ve watched either movie you’ll recognise elements of them here, particularly in Point Blank. But the plot is almost incidental to Parker. It’s an inexorable march towards revenge and retribution, with Parker leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake, cold, heartless, driven and utterly amoral. Pure hard boiled stuff.

(Parker gets himself together, ready to take back what he considers rightfully his. Darwyn Cooke’s artwork just perfectly encapsulating the sheer will for revenge of the man. From The Hunter.)

Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation must have ditched huge amounts of the source material to have condensed a book into 140 pages, but you won’t notice, such is the perfection of storytelling that Cooke pulls off here. It’s split into four books, each incredibly impressive in it’s own way. There’s a preview of the first few pages at the IDW site and it will give you some idea of just how good Parker is. Those first 20 pages, almost wordless, with Parker making his way back into New York, regaining his life, getting himself ready for the job at hand are quite brilliant examples of how to tell a story on a comics page. After that the tale is told of betrayals and revenge, with Parker single-mindedly working his way through those who have wronged him, stopping at nothing to extract revenge and recover the ill gotten gains he considers rightfully his. If I had to pick a moment though it would be the almost heartstopping scene where Parker finally tracks down the cause of all his ills:

(“That’s when he saw Parker coming through the bedroom window”. Chilling storytelling from Cooke in Parker: The Hunter.)

The one thing that did jar slightly is that cover. Compared with some of the stellar artwork inside the book it’s actually not that good. A minor quibble perhaps. Because once you get inside the art is just sublime; black, white and blue throughout. The purist in me was wondering all the way through what this might have been like in strict noir black and white, but the blue adds something extra, something quite wonderful.

It’s July and this may well be the book of the year. A must for anyone with a penchant for Chandler-esque heroes and hard boiled storytelling. The great news is that this is just the first of four planned Parker graphic novels by Cooke. Book 2 is out in 2010 – I’ve no idea when, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting it. Something this near perfect will no doubt be worth the wait.

Parker: The Hunter is released on July 22nd. A real must buy.

Richard Bruton.