On a slow Sunday in the store, I got a chance to sit down and read this adaptation of Richard Starks Parker.  Wow.  I mean, I love Darwyn Cooke’s art, and I think he’s a solid writer, as well.  But I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I have.

This is what every noirish comic from the last few years wishes it was.  100 Bullets, Incognito, that whole spectrum of crime comics that are good, but not excellent.  This story deilvers.  In every way. 

The story opens with a lot of silence.  Beautiful wordless art.  And then, bam, story.  Amzing plots and pacing.  And, unlike most of the recent noir comics, there is a satisfying logical ending.  No “let”s go all Tarantino and kill all the characters” or “oh crap, the ending deadline is sneaking up, let’s throw something together”.  Richard Stark wrote an excellent story, and Darwyn Cooke adapted it flawlessly.  Says the guy who has never read the Stark novel.  But I enjoyed this so much, I am going to go to the library and see if the original grabs me as much as this version.