Comics I Bought This Week: March 6, 2010

Mar06
on March 6, 2010 at 6:00 am
Posted In: Comics I Bought This Week

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got three new comic plus a hard cover collection:

  • Sparta U.S.A. – 1

  • True Story Swear to God – 12

  • Buffy Season 8 – 33

  • Strange Tales HC

    • And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

  • “Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter” by Darwyn Cooke

    • I had never heard of author Richard Stark before but it turns out that is the pen name of Donald Westlake. He’s an author I have heard of before and I even read a few of his books many years ago. All in all Cooke picked some good source material.

    Parker is the lead character in this story which could be described as a hard boiled detective story except for the fact that Parker is a criminal and not a detective. He’s a small time criminal who enjoyed life by pulling a few jobs a year and living in new cities with the proceeds. He was careful and stayed off the police’s radar. Then he pulled a job, was betrayed by another criminal, shot, and left for dead. This is the story of him getting revenge.

    There is a lot more plot going on in this book than in the average comic. That probably has to do with it’s source material being a novel but all the plot is handled well and the book isn’t overburdened by it. Parker finds a lot of twists and turns as he tries to hunt down the man who betrayed him.

    As a protagonist Parker isn’t easy to like because he’s a criminal and a bit of a sociopath. But I ended up being on his side for the most part because he’s up against guys who are also criminals and not easy to like. It’s Parker’s go it alone and get it done attitude that wins you over. If only we all could be so focused and efficient.

    For some reason Darwyn Cooke’s art leaves me a little cold. I don’t know why. He draws well, tells a good story, and generally makes good comics. It took me a little while to get into this book but once I did everything read smooth and sweet. I have no real criticism or critique of his art so I’m guessing its just some taste thing in me that I can’t even articulate. Which is weird for me.

    So check out “Parker: The Hunter” if you’re in the mood for some smart, tough guy, crime comics. All in all I’d like to see more novels adapted into comic form if they could be done this well.