On the Comics Pile

I recently picked up Darwyn Cooke's Parker books -- Cooke has adapted and illustrated the first few of Richard Stark's Parker stories.

I confess I hadn't really known about these stories, although I've seen at least one movie adaptation -- the 1999 adaptation called Payback starring Mel Gibson as the Parker-like character. Payback is an adaptation of The Hunter, the first Parker story. The start of that story is almost standard fare, though: after the heist, our anti-hero's partner betrays him and leaves him for dead. You see much the same shtick in The Italian Job. I also recently saw a film called Setup that was structurally very similar.

Anyway, Cooke's Parker stories are firmly set in the early 60s, and his art style resembles 60s advertising. It's much the same style as he used in DC's The New Frontier -- although I confess that I never really got into New Frontier.

The Parker stories are done in a neat black, white and blue style -- if I had to guess, I say it's ink and gouache, but I'm not 100% sure. But the three-colour style really reminds me of the stuff that Michael Cho does. I confess that I'm a bit curious about how Cooke's, Michael Cho's and J. Bone's styles are so similar. I think that all three of those artists live in or near Toronto. Do they know each other? Have they influenced each other?

Other than that, I picked up the first three collections of Ex-Machina, which I'd never heard anything about. It's interesting enough that it's keeping my attention, but I'm finding the "villains" of each story seem a bit forced.

And I rounded all this out with some Tardi: West Coast Blues. Tardi has a really nice black-and-white art style that I admire, although it feels a little dated. I liked this part of the opening:

George Gerfaut is driving 90 m.p.h.

George Gerfaut is not yet 40 years old.

His car is a steel gray Mercedes.

The color of its upholstery is mahogany, as are the rest of its interiors.

George Gerfaut's interiors are murky and confused; one can make out left-leaning tendencies within.

The main character is a bit strange, but it's an interesting story.