Guns in the Gutters

Not Quite Dead

2010-06-21T18:47:00.000-04:00

It's been forever since I last posted anything substantial here at Guns in The Gutters, but I haven't abandoned the site completely. I simply have way too much on my plate, frankly. But I do have a bunch of cool stuff (literally) on my desk to review here when I have the time to give the material the attention it requires, and hope that I'll be able to do so soon.

Not much in the way of new books though - lack of money, as well as time, has been fatal to any thoughts I may have once had about keeping this site even remotely current. I haven't even seen any of the recent Vertigo crime books, for instance.

To everyone who's e-mailed me about this site (and messaged me on Facebook), thanks! Hang in there.

News: Dick Tracy Tribute Site Launches

2010-06-21T14:33:00.001-04:00

I received an e-mail in the wee hours of this morning from Jim Doherty informing me that a new tribute site to the great Dick Tracy, Plainclothes, has just been launched. In his words:

It includes a Tracy comic book story, "Fireworks," written by Max Allan Collins and illustrated by Joe Staton. Originally intended for DISNEY ADVENTURES but never actually printed, it was intended to cash in on the then-hot DICK TRACY movie. Collins, of course, was then the writer of the Tracy strip, and was also the creator of such comics sleuths as MS. TREE, a Chicago private eye who took over her husband's P.I. agency after his murder, MIKE MIST, another Chicago shamus who starred in a series of "solve-them-yourself" whodunits, as well as the writer of ROAD TO PERDITION, the first graphic novel ever to make it to the New York TIMES best-seller list.

It also includes two prose stories about Tracy. "The Treasure of Captain Cannonsmoke," by the aptly-named Tracy Kazaleh, is set in the world of the UPA animated TRACY cartoons, and features more humorous takes on Tracy's famous Rogues' Gallery, together on a cruise ship in search of hidden treasure.

"Murder Is My Hobby," by Jim Doherty, pits Tracy against a serial killer.

The centerpiece of the site is a new comics story in newspaper strip format, "Major Crimes Squad," illustrated by Staton and written by Mike Curtis, publisher of Shandafa Comics. It features the return of that long-ago villain Willie "The Fifth" Millyun and his odious lawyer Flyface, and answers the question that has baffled Tracy fans for decades:

"Whatever happened to the Space Coupe?"

Dick Tracy, Joe Staton, Max Allan Collins, previously-unpublished stories... yeah, I'm definitely on my way. You should be, too. See you there!

News: Last Days of American Crime due in December

2009-11-13T17:12:00.005-05:00

Not a particularly timely news item, as this book was solicited in last month's Previews, but Radical Publishing sent me a pdf preview of the first issue, and it looks really promising. The art is gorgeous, and although the only thing I've ever read by Rick Remender disappointed me (Sea of Red) what I read of Last Days was quite good.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

In the not-too-distant future, as a final response to terrorism and crime, the U.S. government plans in secret to broadcast a signal making it impossible for anyone to knowingly commit unlawful acts. To keep this from the public, the government creates a distraction, installing a new currency system using digital charge cards.

Radical Publishing is excited to announce the December 2009 debut of The Last Days of American Crime, created and written by critically acclaimed author Rick Remender (Punisher, Fear Agent) and Illustrated by Greg Tocchini (Thor, 1602: New World). The bi-monthly, three-issue miniseries will be the latest in Radical Publishing’s 64-page bookshelf format with a low $4.99 price point.

The Last Days of American Crime tells the story of Graham Brick, a petty criminal never quite able to hit the big score. In a grand scheme, Graham intends to steal one of the charging stations, skip the country and live off unlimited funds for the rest of his life. But the media has leaked news of the anti-crime signal one week before it was to go live... and now Graham and his team have just a few days to turn the heist of the century into the last crime in American history.

The Last Days of American Crime #1 was solicited in the October 2009 issue of Diamond Previews and features two separate covers, one by Alex Maleev (DCD# OCT091056) and another by series artist Greg Tocchini (DCD# OCT091057). With those codes, your favorite retailer should still ahve no problem ordering it for you.

Here's the official site.

You Have Killed Me

2009-10-22T16:14:00.002-04:00

Written by Jamie S. Rich
Illustrated by Joelle Jones
B&W, Hardcover Graphic Novel
Oni Press, 2009

Modern authors who attempt period private eye stories often end up turning out pale pastiche or unintentional parody. Or their stories are so heavily infused with the author's historical research that they read dry and artificial. What is often forgotten is that the private eye mystery - regardless of period - revolves around character more than plot. This is different from most other sub-genres of mystery fiction, where plot is all; a puzzle to be solved. In a P.I. story, it's all about people; their secrets, their motives, their passions.

Jamie Rich and Joelle Jones' You Have Killed Me is a private eye tale that remembers that, and is filled with deftly-drawn (in all senses of the word), richly-developed characters.

Private investigator Antonio Mercer is hired to find an old flame, a high society gal from his past, who has gone missing on the eve of her wedding to a down-on-his-luck gambler. It's no surprise that Mercer's investigation leads through smoky jazz clubs and dark back alleys, to various and sundry unsavory individuals, nor that it ultimately becomes very personal for our protagonist.

Rich's script is sharp, with terse dialogue and narrative captions that don't fall into the trap of trying to emulate Chandler's distinctive - and easily parodied - flair for simile. Instead, the first-person captions are employed sparsely and used to provide a bit of insight into Mercer's private worldview. The story treads very familiar ground, but that's okay - while familiar, it is feels fresh and is skillfully constructed.

Jones' art is clean and well-composed. Backgrounds are occasionally sketchy, but the characters are all distinctive and expressive, and her storytelling is clear and cinematic. Overall, it's beautiful stuff.

Oni Press has done a really nice job on the production of the book, with striking, attractive graphic design and high-quality paper and binding. It's a truly gorgeous book.

You Have Killed Me is an excellent period P.I. tale, extremely well told. Highly recommended.

Six Out of Six Bullets.

You Have Killed Me can be purchased through Amazon and other retailers.

Site News: New Reviews Coming Soon

2009-08-27T23:25:00.003-04:00

Just a quick note to let you folks know that I am working on a handful of new reviews that should be posted shortly. Courtesy of the fine folks at Oni Press, I've gotten my hands on the You Have Killed Me hardcover graphic novel by Jamie Rich and Joelle Jones and The Damned TPB by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt. And Fantagraphics recently sent me the Eurocrime graphic novel, West Coast Blues -- so look for all of these to be covered here in the very near future.

I've also got a few older books on the review pile -- including one or two that I hadn't gotten around to reading yet, like Boom! Studios' spy thriller, Left On Mission -- and intend to write them up here soon.

Stay tuned....

News: Whiteout Movie Coming At Last

2009-08-18T16:50:00.008-04:00

The long-anticipated film adaptation of Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber's awesome graphic novel, Whiteout, is finally coming out, and will be hitting theaters on September 11.

In the movie, Kate Beckinsale (Underworld) stars as Carrie Stetko, the lone U.S. Marshal assigned to Antarctica, whose investigation of the continent’s first murder draws her into a shocking mystery. Now, with only three days until winter, Carrie must solve the crime before Antarctica is plunged into darkness and she is stranded with the killer.

The Warner Brothers film, directed by Dominic Sena, has been completed for quite some time now, and has changed release dates several times. It looks like this one is the real thing, though!

I'm really looking forward to the movie, and hope it does Greg and Steve's work justice (and helps sell lots more copies of the books!).

I will be reviewing the original graphic novels here over the next couple of weeks.

The Hunter

2009-08-14T02:36:00.006-04:00

Written & Illustrated by Darwyn Cooke
From the novel by Richard Stark
Duotone, Hardcover
IDW Publishing, 2009

Undoubtedly the most anticipated crime comic in years (around here, anyway), Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of Richard Stark's (the late Donald E. Westlake) first "Parker" crime novel, The Hunter, is a truly beautiful piece of narrative art, and exceedingly faithful to its source material.

After a successful heist, professional thief Parker (no other name) was betrayed by his partner, shot by his wife, and left to die in a burning house. He survived, though, and now he's out for revenge – and to get his share of the money from the heist. To accomplish this, he'll have to go head-to-head with the Outfit, and nothing – or nobody – is going to stand in his way.

I pretty much knew I was going to love this. I'm a huge fan of the Parker novels (which should surprise no one who's read my Gravedigger comic) and I'm a long-time admirer of Darwyn Cooke's comic book work. With Richard Stark's Parker, Book One: The Hunter, Cooke employs his usual, deceptively simple, retro art style to fine effect. In fact, it suits the material perfectly, visually evoking the era in which the story was written and effectively setting the proper noir tone. Cooke's use of blue-gray duotone heps, too. Graphically, The Hunter is a triumph.

Narratively, the graphic novel follows Stark's book almost too religiously. In some places, it seems almost more of an illustrated transcription than an adaptation... but overall, it's quite a pleasant reading experience. Cooke's smart enough and talented enough as an artist to let his drawings carry long stretches of the story without text, and he successfully manages to duplicate the original novel's relentless, driving pace.

IDW's publications are nearly always impeccably designed, and The Hunter is no exception. Everything about the book indicates class and quality, from the slickly-designed dust jacket, to the heavy interior paper stock. It's a gorgeous book.

It's been quite the commercial hit, too, with IDW already going back to press for a second printing. I couldn't be happier; the book deserves its success.

Cooke is scheduled to write and draw at least three more Stark adaptations. Personally, I can't wait for The Man With The Getaway Face.

Six out of Six Bullets.

Richard Stark's Parker, Book One: The Hunter can be purchased through most comic shops, booksellers and Amazon.com.

DVD Review: Angel of Death

2009-08-14T01:44:00.008-04:00

I don't make a habit of reviewing movies here in the Gutters, but since this particular flick was written by comics scribe Ed Brubaker (Criminal, Scene of the Crime) I thought this one was relevant and worth covering here.

Originally serialized online, Ed Brubaker’s Angel of Death is an entertaining B-action flick vehicle for Kiwi stuntwoman Zoe Bell (Death Proof, Kill Bill), directed by Paul Etheridge.

Bell portrays a professional hit woman named Eve, who, during a botched assassination attempt, is stabbed in the head. She survives, but finds herself haunted by visions of one of her victims, and compelled to hunt down and execute the ones who originally commissioned the hit. Of course, this doesn’t sit well with her bosses, who send other hit men to put her down. Carnage ensues.

The story is pretty straightforward and full of comic book-styled action, with characterizations and dialogue that are somewhat better than usual for a movie of this type. Performances range from very good to, well, pretty bad. Bell is fantastic in the action scenes – as should be expected – but her acting is rather unimpressive. Doug Jones (Hellboy 2) is excellent as the doctor who removes the knife from her brain, and Lucy Lawless (Xena, Battlestar Galactica) has small, but sympathetic role as Eve’s neighbor (her Southern accent’s a bit too broad, though).

Etheridge’s direction is moderately stylish, and sets a dark, gritty tone to the film. And, to his great credit, he shoots the action scenes really well; none of that over-edited shaky-cam crap here – Angel of Death lets its action scenes play out clearly and with the camera at a decent distance so that all of the extremely well-executed stuntwork can be followed and enjoyed by the audience.

Sony presents the short (78 minute) feature on DVD in a perfect 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer with stereo sound. Special features include a commentary track by writer Brubaker and star Bell, a "Making Of" doc, featurettes on the writing, casting, and stunts of the production, and "Eve’s Tips for Killing."

Angel of Death is a solid little crime/action thriller and worth checking out, if only for the exceptionally well-done action sequences and stunts. If you're a fan of Brubaker's Criminal, you'll probably enjoy this, too.

Four out of Six Bullets.

Angel of Death can be purchased through Amazon and other video dealers.

NEWS: Ms. Tree Returns (At Last!)

2009-08-10T22:54:00.008-04:00

At the San Diego Comic Con (maybe you've heard of it?), it was announced that Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty would be producing both a (yet another) sequel to Road To Perdition for DC/Vertigo's new crime line and a new Ms. Tree miniseries or graphic novel for IDW Publishing.

In addition, IDW will be (finally!) collecting all of the original issues of Ms. Tree in high-end, uniform trade paperbacks.

Here's the word from Max the man himself, from his website:

Before I get into a blog-ish report, let me repeat announcements regarding M.A.C. that made some news at the con: Vertigo Crime Line will be doing Return To Perdition, a graphic novel sequel to Road To Paradise and the last story, chronologically anyway, in the Perdition saga. Terry Beatty was announced as artist, which means the Ms. Tree team is back. The Vertigo Crime Line books are lovely little hardcovers of about 200 pages.

Although the ink hasn't dried (actually, hasn't been applied), informally it was announced that Ms. Tree would be reprinted in uniform volumes with a new graphic novel. This will (if all goes well, and it will) be a Comics Mix/IDW affair. Lots of great comments from people about this, all around the con.

Color me thrilled.

NEWS: Welcome to Stumptown

2009-08-07T00:00:00.003-04:00

The first issue of Greg Rucka's (Whiteout, Felon) new private eye comic, Stumptown is being solicited in this month's Diamond Comics Distribution PREVIEWS catalog from Oni Press. It's due out in October.

It's been a long time coming; all the way back in the Summer of 2007, he talked to the Comic Book Resources website about it:

"It's a single individual detective, in the honor of all great private-eye novels. As opposed to there being an actual agency, the agency is one person with a desk. And, you know, this is about as realistic as most private eye stories are going to be, which is to say not at all. Because, frankly, actual investigation work is pretty tedious and undramatic."

The series was inspired in no small part by the P.I. television series of Rucka's youth, like "Magnum, P.I.," "Simon and Simon," and "The Rockford Files."

"It's my love letter to 'The Rockford Files,'" he said. "It's taking those things that I love in 'Rockford' and retooling them for my own purposes for a book set in a world that's 30 years later. And, you know, I want it to be fun. I want it to have that sense of joy that I got from 'Rockford.'"

Sounds right up my alley... and probably yours, too.

Site News: Not Quite Dead Yet

2009-08-06T16:50:00.005-04:00

It's been ages since I posted a news item or review on the site, and I apologize. Obviously, life has been keeping me busy elsewhere. But I have not abandoned this blog.

There are a lot of exciting comics and graphic novels coming out that fall under the purview of this blog, and I very much want to cover them. I also want to continue to promote the genre and help bring awareness to quality works, both old and new.

But... I've been busy.

Also, I'm broke, so there are numerous books I'd like to review that I simply haven't gotten my hands on yet. Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of The Hunter, the last two Criminal trades, Jamie Rich and Joelle Jones' You Have Killed Me, the trade collection of Steven Grant's 2 Guns... and I'm sure there are lots more.

And I've been having difficulty keeping up with all the news lately. I completely missed the initial announcement that the acclaimed European comic, Bla cksad , was going to be published by Dark Horse comics. I've wanted to read this for years. I also didn't know that there were new editions of Abuli & Bernet's Torpedo on the way.

(Not to mention the recent announcement by DC/Vertigo of a new dedicated crime comics line!)

I don't see my financial situation changing any time soon, but I will make more of an effort to keep up with the news. And I'll dig back into my longboxes for some more of the older stuff to review. Those reviews don't seem to get as much reaction, but they're worth doing, I guess, if only to bring some obscure – or forgotten material – back into the light.

If you're a creator, publisher or PR person for a publisher, and would like to have me print your press release or review your crime, espionage, or adventure graphic novel/comic book, just drop me a line. I'll be happy to read your book and share my reaction to it here, where it will be read (hopefully) by an audience specifically interested in the genre.

Finally, some shameless self promotion. The long-awaited trade paperback collection of Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries, written by yours truly, illustrated by Joe Staton, and aided and abetted by a talented group of accomplices, was published in May. It is available now through better comic book shops, directly from the publisher, and (at a discount) from online retailers like In-Stock Trades.

It includes all four issues of the miniseries, two additional stories, concept art, a foreword by Max Allan Collins of Ms. Tree and Road To Perdition fame, and an afterword by Kevin Burton Smith of the Thrilling Detective website.

I don't just read crime comics – I write 'em too!

Tell Them Johnny Wadd Is Here

2009-02-01T15:47:00.004-05:00

Written by Tony Fleecs
Illustrated by Dave Wachter
Color, Comics Format
Terminal Press, 2009

I posted about this a couple of days ago, and decided to take a chance on ordering a copy. The publisher has only a very small number in print, and are offering them only at conventions and through their website. I got my copy Friday.

Tell Them Johnny Wadd Is Here is a very surprising comic book.

First of all, despite the source material – a series of hardcore sex films from the 1970's directed by Bob Chinn and starring John Holmes – this comic contains no graphic sexual images. There is sex, and it's erotic, but there are no drawings of Holmes' legendary weapon, nor any actual full nudity shown. Secondly, there is an actual, intelligent plot.

Thirdly, it's damned good.

Private investigator Johnny Wadd is in Mexico looking for the wife of a traffic cop friend of his, who has been missing for six weeks, and may have been kidnapped. As Wadd makes inquiries around the small town of Ensenada, he inadvertently provokes a local drug dealer, and discovers that the truth about the woman's disappearance may not be quite what he was led to believe.

Frankly, this is a great little book. It's short – only 18 pages of story, and it's a POD product, so the price is too high... but damn, it's a nice piece of work.

The story isn't 100% original – then, how many are? – and suffers a bit from the short page count, but Fleecs' dialogue is really strong. It's suitably hard-boiled and sounds quite natural. His storytelling is good, too, using the comics format well and playing to his artist's strengths masterfully.

And his artist has many strengths. The art by Dave Wachter is excellent, easily on par with most of the stuff being published by the big companies. Everything is well-drawn – characters, settings, props – and the storytelling is appropriately cinematic. The coloring by Narek Gevorgian complements his illustrations perfectly, setting the appropriate mood for this Mexican-based noir.

I recommend Tell Them Johnny Wadd Is Here with only a few reservations. One: the idea of using a porn film for the source is kinda weird, and considering how much new that Fleecs brought to it, I wonder if it might have worked better as an original creation, and two, the POD nature of the book, and its limited edition nature makes it a pretty steep investment for such a short story. Yes, the story's good and the art is great, but it's still too damned pricey. That's gonna cost them a Bullet.

Five out of Six Bullets.

Tell Them Johnny Wadd Is Here can be purchased directly from the publisher at Terminal Press.

The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics

2009-01-29T23:12:00.006-05:00

Written by Various
Illustrated by Various
B&W, Trade Paperback
Running Press, 2007

I first mentioned this book last October, and actually bought a copy shortly after posting that item, with the intention of reading it while on a two week vacation with my wife.

Yet, here it is, almost February, and I'm only just now finishing reading it. There's an awful lot of fine material between those covers!

I had intended to do detailed reviews of all the stories in the book, maybe a few at a time, but frankly, I don't have the time for that mammoth (pun intended) an endeavor, so I'll take the easy way out and review the book as a whole.

This weighty, 480 page tome, edited by Paul Gravett, contains twenty-four stories, ranging from Golden Age shorts, complete newspaper strip continuities, and full-length comic book issues. Creators include Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins, Terry Beatty, Dashiell Hammett, Jack Cole, Alex Raymond, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Bernie Krigstein, Will Eisner, Alex Toth, Sanchez Abuli, Jordi Bernet, Bill Everett, Paul Grist, Harry Sahle, Warren Pleece, and Johnny Craig. Surprisingly, considering the impact he's made on the genre, there's nothing here by Frank Miller.

Several familiar series characters also make appearances: Hammet & Raymond's Secret Agent X-9, Collins & Beatty's Ms. Tree, Eisner's Spirit, Spillane's Mike Lancer (nee Danger) and Mike Hammer, Abuli & Bernet's Torpedo, and Paul Grist's Kane. In fact, the only major crime comics creation conspicuous by his absence is Dick Tracy.

Most of the stories are excellent (this is a "Best" collection, after all), and there are a few bonafide classics in these pages, as well. Mickey Spillane's "Dark City," from the Mike Hammer newspaper strip is one, and Jack Cole's infamous "Murder, Morphine and Me" is another. Eisner's "The Portier Fortune" is a superior Spirit story (featuring the sultry P'Gell), while Johnny Craig's "The Sewer," from Crime Suspenstories #5, is a genuine EC masterpiece. The tales run the gamut of crime fiction sub-genres from "true crime," to private eye capers, to police procedurals and fair-play mysteries, and represent over a half-century of exceptional work by creators from all over the world.

All the stories are presented in black & white, and the art reproduction is generally excellent. It's likely that some serious restoration work was done on some of the older material, and much of it looks to have been reproduced directly from original art. The overall design of the book is quite nice, though I wish they'd found a better way to place the type on the cover, rather than obscuring the main figure's face with the title. Bernet's art deserves a bit more respect, and I doubt Luca Torelli would be amused.

If you're reading this blog, it follows that you have an interest in the crime comics genre, and if you have an interest in the crime comics genre, then this book is an essential purchase and should be in your library. It is a comprehensive overview of the history of the genre, and provides many, many hours of mystery, chills and lurid thrills.

Six out of Six Bullets.

The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics can be ordered from Amazon and other booksellers.

Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective: Dark Star of Death

2009-01-29T01:50:00.003-05:00

Written by John Wooley
Illustrated by Kevin Tuma & Gary Dumm
B&W, Comics Format
Eternity Comics, 1991

This was the first of at least four oneshots from Eternity Comics, based on the long-running pulp peeper, Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, created by prolific pulpster Robert Leslie Bellem. Each issue featured an adaptation of a classic Turner pulp tale and a vintage comic reprint from the 1930's.

For the uninitiated, Turner was one of a long line of sleazy, wiseass dicks working the L.A. beat. What separated him from the crowd was the show-biz background of his stories (often using thinly-veiled shades of well-known Tinsletown celebs) and his creator's penchant for over-the-top, often bizarre, hardboiled patter, riddled with bizarre slang terms (many invented by Bellem whole-cloth).

"I shook the geraniums from my sniffer and lit out after those gams!"

"All right, toots, how'd you like to be punctured a few?"

"The hell you utter!"

This particular issue presents an adaptation of the Bellem story, "Dark Star of Death," originally published in Hollywood Detective, April, 1934.

Turner is hired by a has-been actor to find his "best friend," Paravox Studios bigwig, Kane Fewster. He finds the terrified Brewster hiding out from a bookie in a small cottage. While the two men talk, Turner hears a noise outside, and, investigating, finds a beautiful girl listening at the window. As he chases after her, a shot rings out inside, and returns to find Brewster murdered.

The twisty story is full of eccentric characters and wanton, willing women. There are no real surprises, but it's a fairly solid little murder mystery. Wooley's script is faithful to Bellem's prose, but suffers the fate of most prose-to-comics adaptations of private eye stories: lots of talking heads. Since most private eye tales are basically a series of interrogations, sorting through the collected data and then pulling it all together at the end, it means lots and lots of dialogue. This is, of course, no problem with a prose tale, but comics are a visual medium, and it takes a very skilled artist to make all that talking look interesting.

Unfortunately, artists Kevin Tuma and Gary Dumm, aren't the guys to do it. The layouts are straight-forward and bland, the Thirties setting is only vaguely sketched in (a couple of cars, fedoras) and there's very little in the way of atmosphere; a black & white noir comic should be loaded with black shadow, but these guys seem awful stingy on the ink. I personally find Tuma's faces and figure work atrocious, although others might argue that it's a stylistic choice. And, as mentioned above, much of the team's artwork is crammed in under bloated word balloons packed with copious text.

All that said, it's still a fairly fun comic because Dan Turner is a fun character, and Bellem's bizarre language is a kick to read (and decipher). You might still find this – and the other Eternity Comics Dan Turner specials – in the back issue bins.

Two out of Six Bullets.

NEWS: Porn's Premiere P.I.

2009-01-29T00:56:00.004-05:00

Oh my.

Independent publisher Terminal Press is bringing the notorious Seventies hardcore porn private eye character Johnny Wadd, portrayed by the late John Holmes in a series of XXX films, to comics, with a color oneshot "adaptation" of the first in the series, Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here.

Here's the press release:

The infamous 70's film classic Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here, from Arrow Productions, is the latest to undergo the "HARD/CORE" treatment, in Terminal Press' line of limited-run comic books doing artistic takes on iconic adult cinema.

Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here takes the cult classic Johnny Wadd character made famous by John Holmes and transports him into a gritty crime drama set in present-day Mexico. For the uninitiated, the Johnny Wadd character and John Holmes himself were most recently the basis of Marc Wahlberg’s lead in Boogie Nights with Val Kilmer portraying Holmes as well in the film Wonderland.

Director Bob Chinn said that he wrote the script for the first Johnny Wadd film on the back of an envelope. So, what would’ve Holmes and Chinn come up with if they had really shot for the moon with their script? What if they had to make people pay attention without showing them Holmes’ legendary 13 inches? They’d have done a hard boiled, tough as nails crime story with twists and turns and interesting characters, tough guys and sexy dames. They’d have done on film what we’ve done in this comic.

Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here is written by Tony Fleecs (In My Lifetime, Wonderlost, Li'l FireBreather), with art by Dave Wachter (Scar Tissue, The Guns of Shadow Valley), colors by Narek Gevorgian (Silent Assassin) and Separations by Joe Frazzetta.

I'll have to admit – I'm intrigued, and that cover art is pretty decent. I'll have to order a copy and review it. If you're intrigued, you can buy your own copy from the Terminal Press website, here. I'm certain it will arrive in a plain brown envelope.

NEWS: IDW to Reprint Rip Kirby

2009-01-28T02:21:00.004-05:00

IDW Publishing is looking to be the place for classic crime comic strips. In addition to their ongoing, beautifully-designed Dick Tracy reprint books, they'll soon be publishing high-end volumes of Alex Raymond's long-running detective strip, Rip Kirby.

I'm really beginning to wish I could find a job; there's so much awesome stuff coming out these days!

Here's the press release:

Following the Eisner-award winning Terry and the Pirates, IDW’s Library of American Comics will present Alex Raymond’s modernist classic Rip Kirby in a definitive five-volume archival hardcover series.
Edited and designed by Dean Mullaney, Rip Kirby will contain every daily from the strip’s inception in 1946 through Alex Raymond’s tragic death in 1956. “It’s going to look gorgeous,” Mullaney says. “We are reproducing the strips from pristine syndicate proofs that will allow readers to see, for the first time, the full luxurious detail of Raymond’s brushwork.”

Rip Kirby was the first hip and cool detective in newspaper comics. Created by Alex Raymond when he was deactivated from the Marines after World War II, it was a fresh approach to the genre, a departure from the prevailing hard-boiled style of detective fiction. Rip Kirby was urbane and cerebral, and used scientific methods as often as he used his fists when solving crimes and mysteries. But there was still plenty of action — Kirby was an All-American athlete and decorated war hero.

Co-written with Ward Greene, Rip Kirby often addressed contemporary issues, including trafficking in black market babies and the attempt to limit the proliferation of atomic and biological weapons. The supporting cast was comprised of Rip’s valet and assistant, Desmond, and plenty of breathtaking women, particularly Rip’s girlfriend, Honey Dorian, and the raven-haired and aptly-named Pagan Lee. Highly conscious of the fashions of the day, Raymond brought post-war and early-50s chic and fashion to the comics page, dressing his female characters in ultra-chic clothes obviously inspired by Dior’s “New Look.”

The strip also signified a grand departure, both thematically and artistically, from Raymond’s first major creation, Flash Gordon. With Rip Kirby, Raymond wedded his incomparable brushwork to a sweeping approach to storytelling and camera movement that was missing in the more static Flash. He promulgated a new art style — one of cinematic photo-realism — that influenced such artists to follow as Stan Drake, Leonard Starr, Al Williamson, and Neal Adams.

Biographical and historic essays will be written by Brian Walker, author of the best-selling Comics Before 1945 and Comics After 1945. The first volume will have an introduction by Raymond biographer and authority Tom Roberts.

I know I've mostly been running news items here lately, but I assure you that new reviews will be coming along soon.

Site News: #46 With A Bullet!

2009-01-23T00:12:00.004-05:00

This is interesting: the e-Justice blog, just announced their Top 50 Detective Blogs, and this one made the list at #46!

Pretty cool!

I guess this means I really should update this thing more often.

First Look: The Hunter

2009-01-08T13:53:00.003-05:00

IDW has released the cover art for Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of the first Parker novel by Richard Stark (the late Donald E. Westlake), The Hunter (a/k/a Point Blank and Payback). No surprise that it looks great! I am very much looking forward to this series of graphic novels, even though I'm not usually a fan of graphic adaptations of prose work, especially in the crime field. The Byron Preiss-edited Raymond Chandler adaptations a few years back were really disappointing, despite having some very accomplished creators involved.

I have confidence in Cooke, though.

In site news, I have several reviews in the works, including a look at the Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective adaptations (staying on topic, here) that John Wooley did for Eternity Comics back in the 90's. You probably won't see them before February, though, as I have a very heavy workload this month.

Thanks for your patience, and I'll keep trying to post here as often as possible with crime/adventure comics news and reviews.

NEWS: XIII to NBC

2008-12-09T16:35:00.004-05:00

The long-running European graphic novel series (and popular video game franchise) XIII is coming to NBC television as a 2-part movie in February starring Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff.

Here's a synopsis:

The first female US President Sally Sheridan is shot dead by a sniper during her Independence Day speech. Her assassin narrowly escapes the scene with his life, national security hot on his heels - or so it seems. Three months later, an elderly couple discover the body of a wounded man washed up on a beach. The young man (Dorff) cannot remember the slightest thing about his own identity. The only clue is a tattoo on his neck, "XIII".

More details at Newsarama.

I read the first installment of Catalan's XIII back in the 90's, and it could make for a very interesting, Bourne Identity-sort of international thriller. Mark me down as curious about this new production.

Hotel Harbor View

2008-10-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

Written by Natsuo Sekikawa
Illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi
B&W, Graphic Novel
Viz Communications, 1990

This Japanese graphic novel actually contains two stories, the titular tale and a longer story, "Brief Encounter." Both are marvelously executed examples of illustrated crime fiction.

A man sits in the lounge of the declining "Hotel Harbor View" in Hong Kong, waiting for his killer. He's been there a while – by day holding down a bar stool, drinking Scotch, then spending his nights with an attractive hooker, whom he photographs in explicit poses before having sex with her. When his beautiful female assassin finally arrives, he will finally know the truth about himself.

In Paris, the same female assassin is hired to kill a legendary hitman. This target is more than just another contract, though, as she once enjoyed a "Brief Encounter" with the man... who also first taught her how to use a gun.

Plot-wise, there's not much more to the stories than those brief synopses above. But the way those plots are related, the sheer artistry and visual poetry of their telling, is what makes Hotel Harbor View a genuine crime comics classic.

Both stories contain page after page of "silent" storytelling, without narrative captions or dialogue balloons. Sekikawa and Taniguchi brilliantly use the uniqueness of the comics medium – a series of static images in narrative sequence – to manipulate the reader's perception of the passage of time, at one point "slowing down" the action to literally follow a bullet over several panels as it travels through space, flying straight and true to its target. Characterization is built through expertly conveyed body language and facial expressions, rather than clunky expository narration. It's violence as visual poetry.

Taniguchi's art is astounding, its style owing much to European comics, while still firmly rooted in the Japanese manga traditions. It's slick and detailed, and his storytelling is extraordinary. Every page is a masterpiece, perfectly composed.

It's strictly "Adults Only," though, due to some graphic sexual scenes.

I still occasionally see this in comics shops, and if you should stumble across a copy, I highly recommend picking it up. Some online retailers carry it, as well – as far as I can tell, it's never been out of print.

Six out of Six Bullets.

Hotel Harbor View can be ordered through Amazon and other online retailers.

Falls The Gotham Rain

2008-10-29T00:00:00.003-04:00

Written by Devin O'Leary
Illustrated by Jason Waskey
2 Color, Graphic Novel
Comico, 1992

This slender, 48-page graphic novel from '92 is a bit of an oddity. It's a 40's-styled film noir pastiche with subtle sci-fi overtones that possesses some minor similarities to Alex Proyas' 1998 motion picture, Dark City.

Trench coat-clad P.I. Vin Dressler searches for a missing girl in an unnamed city/police state divided into a red sector and a blue sector, where it "rains every day." Like the aforementioned Dark City, the town has numerous billboards scattered around, advertising luxurious, tropical vacations, but no one seems to have ever left the city, nor does there appear to be any world beyond its borders.

The plot is thin and straightforward, the script by O'Leary rife with captions and dialogue loaded with the stereotyped similes and metaphors generally associated with private eye voice-overs. So loaded, in fact, that it's almost a parody of the Raymond Chandler style, though I somehow doubt that was the intent. The writer tries for a Kafka-esque tone of surreality, but is only partially successful. It's not terrible, just kind of half-baked.

The art by Waskey, apparently rendered in black & white pastels with occasional spots of red, is nicely done, atmospheric and moody, although there's a heavy reliance on photo reference. In fact, various noir icons make appearances in the book – copied directly from classic film stills – including Peter Lorre, Ingrid Bergman and Alfred Hitchcock. Some panels (the heavily referenced ones) are nicer than others, but the overall effect is quite pleasing, and is the book's main selling point.

For fans of classic film noir, Falls The Gotham Rain is a decent homage, but offers very little in the way of anything new. Its sci-fi elements are so slight as to be easily missed, and have little effect on the story itself, effectively amounting to nothing. Still, the art is nice, it's a quick read, and its heart seems to be in the right place.

If you stumble across a copy, its worth picking up.

Three out of Six Bullets.

Golgo 13

2008-10-27T00:00:00.004-04:00

Written & Illustrated by Takao Saito
B&W, Color, Comics Format
Lead Publishing, 1989 & 1990

Antihero hitman Duke Togo, alias Golgo 13, star of a long-running (it began in 1969) manga series by Takao Saito, has had a spotty publishing record in the United States, despite a popularity in his native Japan that has seen the character showcased in live-action motion pictures (where he was once portrayed by legendary badass Sonny Chiba), anime features and television series, and videogames.

Golgo 13 is the ultimate assassin, an expert marksman who never fails to complete his mission, no matter how well-protected the target. He is a freelancer of apparent Eurasian heritage, who can speak 13 languages and is a master of "several of the more lethal Oriental martial arts." The main interest and enjoyment in this manga series is in seeing how he sets up and – uh, executes – his executions.

Lead Publishing Co., Ltd. – sometimes in partnership with various American companies – have released Golgo 13 comics titles in various formats in the U.S. over the years, but the issues I'm dealing with here were released in 1989 and 1990, to tie in with video game cartridges manufactured for the original Nintendo Entertainment System.

The first issue, "The Impossible Hit," brings our stoic killer to New York City, where he is hired by a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (!) to assassinate a Wall Street broker with Mafia ties. Unfortunately, the only time and place that the broker is vulnerable is when he's in his Seventh Avenue office – on the 31st floor of his building. It's not a spoiler to say that it isn't long before the broker is found dead in his office with a bullet hole in his window and his forehead. The main thrust of the story is the NYPD's investigation of the killing and the realization that the shot had to have been fired from over 500 yards away!

Issue #2, "Hopper The Border," finds five desperate characters waiting in a small cabin in the Bernese Mountains in Switzerland, waiting for the arrival of "The Hopper," a man who can smuggle them into Italy illegally. When a blizzard hits, tensions rise – only to be further ramped up by the unexpected arrival of a stranger – Togo - out of the snow. Who is he there for, and why? Even though Togo doesn't actually show up at the cabin until more than halfway through the story, the interpersonal conflicts and dark secrets of the other characters make for a compelling, suspenseful story.

Issue #1 was printed in black & white, while the second issue was released in color.

Saito's art and storytelling is amazing. His architecture and hardware – including the lovingly- rendered weaponry – are almost photo realistic, while his characters are quite cartoony. Still, it works exceedingly well. His art style is distinctive, clear and does not really fall into what Western readers tend to think of as the manga "style." His visual storytelling is so cinematic and easy to follow, that many pages are completely devoid of text.

As to the writing, all Golgo 13 stories are intricately plotted and grounded in reality, only occasionally pushing the limits of believability. The dialogue is sometimes stilted or choppy, but I lay that at the feet of the translators, rather than Saito's scripting. The stories in both of these particular issues focus more on the characters that intersect with Togo's assignment than on the hitman himself, and that's because Togo is deliberately kept a cypher.

Togo's past is a mystery, and Saito gives the reader absolutely no insight whatsoever into Togo's thoughts or feelings. (In fact, a frequent touch in the stories are thought balloons floating over Togo's head containing nothing but ellipses!) The character is instead defined solely by his actions, which demonstrate only the assassin's unwavering professionalism and exceptionally lethal skills. We never see the character when he isn't working, so we have no idea what his personal life – if he has one – is like. But considering how well paid he is for his talents, he can certainly afford to live well.

I'll be reviewing other Golgo 13 books here at some point. As for these particular comics, if you can find them, they're very good examples of the series and Takao Saito's talents. (I'm knocking off one bullet for the crappy printing on Issue #1, which does a real disservice to the art.)

Five out of Six Bullets.

First Issue Special #4: Lady Cop

2008-10-24T00:00:00.007-04:00

Written by Robert Kanigher
Pencilled by John Rosenberg
Inked by Vince Colletta
Color, Comics Format
DC Comics, 1975

In the mid-70s, DC Comics published a short-lived "try-out" series, confusingly titled First Issue Special. Each of these "first issues" featured a different, new comic book property. Of the handful of issues published, only one of these properties – Mike Grell's The Warlord – would actually graduate to its own monthly series. Of the others, one – Lady Cop – was an attempt at a more-or-less real world crime story, even if the results are rather laughable.

The issue opens with a prologue where we are introduced to our protagonist, Liza Warner, as she cowers beneath a bed, watching her roommates being brutally murdered by a serial killer in cowboy boots, who leaves a playing card – the ace of spades – next to each corpse. Unfortunately, Liza never sees the killer's face and is unable to identify him. Clearly suffering survivor's guilt, she decides to join the police force in hopes of someday finding the murderer and bringing him to justice.

Her career as a Lady Cop gets off to an explosive start, when, during her academy graduation ceremony, she single-handedly takes on a loon with a live grenade, saving her fellow graduates. Whatta gal!

The story proper, "Poisoned Love," opens with our heroine breaking up an apparent gang rape attempt on a rooftop. She makes short work of the would-be rapists, but their intended victim runs off. Over the next few pages, she captures a smash and grab artist, meets her hunky boyfriend for a tryst on a convenient beach, and eventually finds the girl who had run off – standing on a pier contemplating suicide. She has V.D. and is afraid to face her longshoreman father! Needless to say, Liza helps her talk with her brutish dad (taking a sock to the jaw for her trouble!), and even manages to collar one more thug before the fade-out.

The script, by veteran comics scribe Kanigher, is pretty dopey, even by 70's standards. It's episodic, preachy, and thanks to the Comics Code, maddeningly ambiguous. It sets up a character with V.D. (what variety is never established), yet never informs its presumably adolescent audience what "V.D." is, or how it's contracted... because it can't! The dialogue is corny, romance comics stuff, overblown when its not mired in even-then-outdated slang.

Artwise, the book fares slightly better, with a competent pencil job by John Rosenberger, who I'm not familiar with, but I'm guessing probably specialized in drawing romance comics. Vince Colletta provides his usual clean-if-basic brushwork.

I don't know what the editorial thinking behind this particular project was, whether it was inspired by the Angie Dickinson television series Police Woman, or if it was a long-shot attempt to hold on to whatever female readership that the then-floundering romance titles still possessed, but it turned out as just an example of particularly goofy Seventies kitsch.

Two out of Six Bullets.

The Human Target Special

2008-10-22T00:00:00.001-04:00

Written by Mark Verheiden
Pencilled by Rick Burchett
Inked by Dick Giordano
Color, Comics Format
DC Comics, 1991

Christopher Chance, a/k/a The Human Target, was a crime series character created by writer Len Wein and artist Carmine Infantino as a back-up feature in Action Comics in 1972. He was a private detective and bodyguard with a unique gimmick – he was a master of disguise who would impersonate his clients in order to ferret out and eliminate those who threatened them.

Around 1990, the character was optioned for an ABC network television series, starring Rick Springfield. This prompted DC Comics to produce a one-shot comic book tie-in – the first comic to headline the character – incorporating new supporting characters and gimmicks invented for the show.

Unfortunately, the TV series – which only ran 7 episodes – was delayed by the network and ultimately debuted as a mid-season replacement almost a year after the comic book special had left the stands.

Written by TV scribe/screenwriter Mark Verheiden, "The Mack Attack Contract" has a very late-80's/early 90's topical theme, with Chance being hired to impersonate a Miami-based drug enforcement officer who has been targeted by a ruthless drug dealer. Before long, though, Chance discovers that his client has been less than forthcoming about the situation, and finds himself fending off assassination attempts from more than one source.

The script has a very Miami Vice flavor, and would have made a great television pilot, which probably should come as no surprise, considering Verheiden's Tinseltown credentials. It's well-constructed, has a couple of good twists and great action sequences.

Rick Burchett's art is great, as usual, possessing the smooth, cinematic storytelling that he excels at. His characters are all distinctive and expressive, and thank goodness someone decided to keep Chance looking like he had in his earlier back-up features – white temples and all – rather than like Rick Springfield. Inker Dick Giordano – who had drawn most of the character's previous appearances – delivers his typically solid, slick job, although, to my eyes, the inks look a bit rushed, light on details and blacks.

The show bombed, and Christopher Chance was relegated to guest shots in other heroes' books for eight years or so, before eventually resurfacing in several successful miniseries and graphic novels written by Peter Milligan for DC's Vertigo imprint beginning in '99.

I'll get around to those Milligan Target comics one of these days, but for now, let me just say that if you should run across a copy of The Human Target Special in back issue bin, it's definitely worth picking up.

Five out of six Bullets.

Word Warriors

2008-10-20T00:00:00.003-04:00

Written & Illustrated by Various
B&W, Comics Format
Literacy Volunteers of Chicago, 1987

Three 80's crime comic heroes – Max Collins & Terry Beatty's Ms. Tree, Mike Grell's Jon Sable, Freelance, and Mark Wayne Harris' Street Wolf – team up for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure in this one-shot benefit "jam" book, published by the Literacy Volunteers of Chicago.

The story has those three characters working together (although Sable never actually meets the other two) to help poor Cambodian immigrants who are being used and exploited by a corrupt alderman and a conniving slumlord. The surprisingly violent and somewhat complicated story is rather choppy, due to the fact that several writers worked on the script, although Max Collins' editing assistance helps hold it together. Its message – that being able to read can help one avoid being exploited – is gotten across well, and is not too heavy-handed.

The art – by such talents as Michael Gilbert and William Messner Loebs, Grell, Dennis Francis, Terry Beatty, Gary Kato, Tim Truman and others – covers a wide variety of styles, as one might expect, but the overall effect, unfortunately, is rather rough and rushed-looking, as if everyone involved were working with very tight deadlines. The book's look is further hurt by awful lettering, executed in an ugly typeface that looks like it was printed out on an old dot-matrix computer printer and pasted down on the art boards.

Still, it's a pleasure to see all three of these characters in the same book, and the front cover illustration by Howard Chaykin is a real treat for this 80's comics fan.

The book is filled out with an informative text page, creator bios, and six, single-page, "public service"-styled comics by Trina Robbins, Mark Nelson, Mike Vosburg and others. Mitch O'Connell provides the back cover pin-up of a smiling Sable, Tree and Wolf.

Since this was a benefit comic, I'm going to cut it some slack. The art, script and production may leave a bit to be desired, quality-wise, but the cause is main thing here, and the story is actually pretty decent.

Three out of Six Bullets.

Tough Guys And Wild Women #1 (The Saint)

2008-10-18T23:40:00.007-04:00

Written & Illustrated by Various
B&W, Comics Format
Eternity Comics, 1989

Beneath a nicely-designed cover, this comic reprints four adventures of Leslie Charteris' Simon Templar, a/k/a The Saint, originally published within the pages of the popular character's eponymous comic book series back in the late Forties.

The first story, "Suite Number 13," (The Saint #7, 1949) solely credited to Walter Johnson, finds the legendary gentleman adventurer and his muscular sidekick, Hoppy, at a French Riviera resort, where he tangles with a sultry baroness, duels with a snotty count, and recovers a stolen treasure – all in 8 pages. The story is typical pulp, and the artwork is rather pedestrian, with a constantly smiling, square-jawed Templar. In fact, he rather presciently resembles actor Roger Moore, who took on the Templar role some years later on British television.

The second story, "The Blackmail Beauty," (The Saint #7, 1949) appears to be the work of the same creators, and has Templar back in London, involved with sexy blackmailer. Story number three, "The Diamond of Death," (The Saint #5, 1949) is the work of a different, better artist, one who's clearly influenced by Milton Caniff. In fact, the Oriental femme fatale of the tale is a dead ringer for Terry And The Pirates' Dragon Lady.

The issue wraps up with "The Saint Breaks A Spell, "(The Saint #5, 1949), which features yet another artist and an energetic, two-fisted Templar with a perpetual toothy grin – even in the most inappropriate situations. The Saint is pitted against an evil cult out to scare an heiress to death.

The four stories in this comic are pretty standard, unremarkable Golden Age stuff, with decent art and serviceable writing. But they don't hold a candle to The Saint newspaper strip (which Eternity also reprinted some of in their Private Eyes title), which was witty as well as exciting.

I found this in a bargain bin for 50¢, and don't regret picking it up, but I wouldn't recommend making an effort to hunt down a copy, unless you're a die-hard Saint completist and can't afford the 40's originals.

Two Out of Six Bullets.

NEWS: Headshot to Film

2008-10-18T16:51:00.008-04:00

Warner Bros has acquired the feature film rights to a French three-issue graphic novel series called Headshot ( or, more precisely, Du plomb dans la tête, which roughly translates to "Lead in the Head"), by Alexis Nolent (aka "Matz").

It's about a hit man and cop who, when their partners are killed, form an uneasy alliance to get revenge on the powers that set them up.

Producer turned screenwriter Alessandro Camon has been hired to write the screenplay. Camon is also attached to the Paramount Pictures/David Fincher adaptation of Matz’ The Killer.

SlashFilm has the story, as well as some additional art from this European crime comic. The art looks great, and I hope there's an English language version available here in the States eventually.

Thanks to Zablo for the head's up!

NEWS: The Mammoth Book of Crime Comics

2008-10-18T16:20:00.011-04:00

Since this site hasn't been updated in damn near forever, I missed it when this book actually came out, and while I still haven't actually picked up a copy (short of funds), I figured it really deserved to be mentioned here, as this is the "crime comics blog."

The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics, edited by Paul Gravett, was published back in August by Running Press. It's a massive – and rather clunky titled – tome that spans pretty much the entire history of comic books and strips, and features full-length reprints of 25 classic stories, including tales created by Mickey Spillane (Mike Hammer), Will Eisner (the Spirit), Dashiell Hammett, Alex Raymond (Secret Agent X-9), Max Allan Collins, Terry Beatty, Johnny Craig, Jack Kirby, Jordi Bernet, Alex Toth, Jack Cole, Bernie Kriegstein, Charles Burns, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore and Paul Grist.

Series characters are well represented, with Torpedo, Ms. Tree, and The Spirit –among many others – all making appearances.

With luck, I'll be able to pick up a copy soon, and I'll write up a full review then.

The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics can be purchased for around fifteen bucks from Amazon and most book retailers.

Parker Art by Cooke

2008-08-04T14:21:00.004-04:00

Here are the sample art cards for Darwyn Cooke's Parker project (based on the novels of Richard Stark/Donald Westlake) that IDW Publishing made available to the press at San Diego Comicon.

NEWS: Parker coming to IDW

2008-07-24T15:50:00.006-04:00

I haven't posted here in a while, but this was crime comics news too big to ignore. Artist/writer Darwyn Cooke of DC's The Spirit, Selina's Big Score and Justice League: New Frontier, will be doing adaptations of Richard Stark's first four Parker novels – The Hunter, The Man With the Getaway Face, The Outfit and The Mourner – for IDW Publishing.

The series is fully authorized by Donald E. Westlake (a/k/a Richard Stark). These B&W graphic novels will be coming out over the next couple of years. For the full story, here's the Newsarama article.

NEWS: Dixon Re-Releases Mad Dogs

2008-03-31T00:52:00.007-04:00

Here's some potentially interesting news for fans of crime and action-adventure comics.

Chuck Dixon announced over on his blog last week that his 1992 Eclipse crime comics miniseries, Mad Dogs (which I reviewed last year) was about to be reprinted, under the new title of Philly NARCO. That property would be sharing a flip-book with another 90's Dixon project.

Here's the announcement from Dixon's site:

"(This is) my first publication under my own Bruno Books imprint. Two books in one published in a “flip book” style like the old ACE Double editions of the 60s. A digest sized 170 page comic with black and white interiors for 9.95
Cardstock covers.

Jungle Rules (formerly entitled War Man) by me and Juan Zanotto. Action in the Amazon rain forest as a cocaine cartel sends a team of killers to murder the survivors of a jumbo jet crash. And Philly NARCO (formerly entitled Mad Dogs) a story of police corruption and intrigue set in 1980’s Philadelphia.

If this one’s successful, look for more reprint material as well as some all-new titles!"

War Man was a two-issue miniseries published by Marvel's Epic imprint in 1993.

According to Dixon, "Once the book is ready (a week or so) it'll be available through ComiXpress and Amazon."

I'll post an update once the book is available, with detailed ordering information.

Dodge's Bullets

2008-03-29T22:55:00.004-04:00

Written by Jay Faerber
Illustrated by James K. Francis
B&W, Graphic Novel
Image Comics, 2004

Writer Jay Faerber clearly loves the crime genre. Sure, most of his comics work is in the superhero field, but he's managed a few notable crime comics credits, too, with The Hat Squad for Moonstone and his private eye graphic novel, Dodge's Bullets from Image.

Webster Dodge is a young Seattle private eye, who lives on an old houseboat and plays guitar in a struggling bar band. He doesn't have an office, instead meeting his clients at a local coffee shop with convenient Internet access. One of those clients hires Dodge to find his long lost father, a picture of whom he's spotted in a newspaper photo of a Seattle marathon. Dodge takes on the seemingly-simple job, but soon finds himself – as is to be expected in a good private eye story – embroiled in a twisted case of false identities, stolen money and kidnapping.

Faerber's script is excellent, with a twisty yet logical mystery that keeps both his protagonist and his readers perpetually off-balance. The character of Webster Dodge is an inspired creation – an utterly believable contemporary shamus with a satisfying slew of insecurities and personal issues that keep him rooted in reality. He's not a perfect TV eye, nor a film noir cliche.

The black and white art by James Francis is suitably gritty, with an appealingly organic aesthetic and clear storytelling. Some of the backgrounds are a little too sketchy for my tastes, but at least they're there. Faces are distinctive and expressive, and the overall effect is very pleasing. it's nice stuff.

Dodge's Bullets is most notable for attempting – and rather successfully – to tell a modern private eye story, set in contemporary world of cellphones, PDA's, and laptop PCs, rather than being another pastiche of 40's genre tropes. There's no trenchcoats or scarfaced gangsters here, just a good mystery in a recognizably realistic 21st Century Seattle. Sure, the modern approach is common in prose fiction, but comics creators can often cling tenaciously to the comfort and safety of pastiche, and it's nice to see Faerber and Francis break free of the tired noir trappings.

(Says the genius behind Femme Noir! Ah, irony!)

When Jay saw that I had Dodge's listed as an upcoming review, he offered to share some background information on the creation and history of the project. Here's what he sent along:

I've been a private eye fan for as long as I can remember. It probably started with Magnum PI, which I used to watch religiously with my dad. From there, I discovered Spenser: For Hire (and that, in turn, led me to discover the Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker). It wasn't until I was in my 20s that I discovered The Rockford Files, but those three PI characters served as the main three inspirations for Dodge's Bullets, which remains a project of which I'm immensely proud.

The original plan was to do a three (or was it four?) issue mini-series, but once work got under way, Image convinced me to just make it a full-fledged "graphic novella." The original artist was Mike Norton, who has since gone on to make a name for himself at DC Comics. Mike was the first artist to actually draw Webster Dodge, and he even drew a 5-page sequence. Eventually, he had to back out due to being overcommitted. But he recommended an artist named Tom Feister, who was doing a lot of work with Tony Harris. Tom drew some pages, and brought his own sensibilities to the book before he, too, had to back out due to being overworked. Like Mike, he's gone on to bigger and better things at DC.

I then came across James Francis, a (fairly) local artist who had graduated from the Kubert School but hadn't done much in the way of comics. The book was to be set in Seattle, which is where I live, and James lived on the Washington coast, so he was much more of a local than Mike or Tom ever was. He at least got the Pacific Northwest "vibe" we were going for. At any rate, James signed on to draw the book, and we started over. That is, we weren't going to use any of the stuff Mike or Tom drew.

James did an amazing job with the book. That double-page title spread is still one of my favorite pieces of art from any of my projects. I served as a bit of a "location scout" for the book, tolling around Seattle and taking photos of various landmarks and locations for James to incorporate into the book. Sure, he lived in Washington, but Washington's a big state, and he was a good 90 minutes away from downtown Seattle, where most of the action from the book took place. So I'd email him photos and he'd use them for reference.

In addition to the artwork, my favorite thing about Dodge is the relationship between Dodge his policeman father. I'm not sure the rest of the supporting cast is as strong as it could've been, and if I ever revisit the character, I may tweak things in that regard.

James and I came really close to doing a follow-up mini-series at Moonstone Books. Image didn't really have any interest in a Dodge sequel, but Moonstone was eager to do something. James's band (yes, James is a musician, and so is Mike Norton and Tom Feister -- I'm the only one who isn't musically inclined) ended up getting more and more gigs, and he seems to have faded away from the comic book scene, and the sequel never took root.

I'm currently developing a new graphic novel in the crime genre, and while it won't be a straight Dodge follow-up, there's a chance he may play a role in some sort of ensemble cast.

Thanks for sharing, Jay.

Dodge's Bullets is a solid contemporary PI tale that deftly sidesteps, or finds new angles for, most of the common cliches of the genre, and is well worth picking up.

Five out of Six Bullets.

Dodge's Bullets may still be available through Amazon and other online dealers.

Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles Vol. 3

2008-03-03T22:39:00.005-05:00

Written by Max Allan Collins
Illustrated by Rick Fletcher
B&W, Trade Paperback
Checker Books, 2004

Today is Max Allan Collins' birthday. To celebrate, let's take a look at this third – and, to date, final – collection of the Collins/Fletcher Dick Tracy newspaper strip continuities from 1980 and '81.

Unsurprisingly, this trade paperback is right in line with the previous volumes from Checker Books: great stories, great art, poor design and somewhat overpriced. As in prior volumes, the Collins scripts are top-notch, and Rick Fletcher's cartooning is masterful. Also like the earlier volumes, Checker has chosen to put only three daily strips on each page when there's room for five, pumping up the page count and price.

This time, Checker has collected three complete continuities in this volume. Unlike some of Collins' earlier tales, which alternated classic Gould villians with new malefactors, all three of these stories introduce new villians to the Tracy mythos.

The first storyline, "Dick Tracy Meets Art Dekko," pits our favorite plain-clothes copper and his Major Crime Squad against a stylish art thief named Art Dekko, and his moustached girl Friday, Sue Real. This adventure also introduces the Tom Selleck-lookalike detective Johnny Adonis to Tracy's supporting cast.

The second continuity, "Dick Tracy Meets Breakdown," has Tracy's billionaire buddy Diet Smith kidnapped by his own former security chief, the anxiety-ridden Bernard Breakdown. Tracy is chosen to deliver the million-dollar ransom, but the situation is complicated by a teenaged, roller-skating pickpocket who steals the ransom briefcase right out of Dick's hands!

Finally, in "Dick Tracy Meets Torcher," a slumlord hires a professional arsonist to torch his condemned tenements, and the case falls to Tracy's task force to solve.

All three stories are fast-moving and smart, with Collin's usual strong plotting and clever wit. Fletcher's at his peak here, with some marvelous draftsmanship and storytelling – the climax of "Art Dekko," a shootout in a dark art gallery, is a visual tour de force under Fletcher's talented hands.

As I said above, the sparse layout and high price are definite drawbacks, but the quality of the material makes up for a lot of that.

Five out of Six Bullets.

Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles Vol. 3 is available from Amazon and other book dealers.

NEWS: The Detectives Shipping Update

2008-02-14T22:39:00.006-05:00

I've received a half-dozen orders for copies of The Detectives. The weather has been pretty nasty here this week, with yet another foot of snow and then sleet and freezing rain, and that's kept me from getting to the post office to ship them out yet. I apologize for the delay.

I will try to get them into the mail tomorrow – Monday at the latest.

I still have plenty of copies, by the way, if any one else is interested!

UPDATE (2/20): I shipped everyone's orders Tuesday afternoon (I forgot Monday was a holiday). They're on the way!

Tony Bravado, Trouble-Shooter

2008-02-10T15:17:00.001-05:00

Written by Dave Darrigo
Illustrated by Steve LeBlanc, Louis Paradis
B&W, Comics Format
Renegade Press/Special Studios, 1988-89

Poor Tony Bravado. His short comics career was, ironically, plagued with troubles, and he never really had a shot. Which is a shame, because the character had a lot of potential.

Created by writer Dave Darrigo, whose acclaimed Wordsmith series chronicled the hard-luck life of a working pulp writer during the Depression, Tony Bravado, Trouble-Shooter was originally concieved for a proposed series of men's paperback adventure novels.

The concept behind the character and series was innovative and, frankly ripe with possibilities. In fact, here's that concept, as described by Darrigo himself in the title's introductory pages:

"Who is Tony Bravado? he's not a cop -- but he's been one. He's not a private eye -- but he's got a P.I. license. He's not a security consultant -- but that's what he calls himself at tax time. Bravado is a bodyguard and very personal agent for multi-millionaire businessman Lance Palmer. Palmer's business holdings made him famous among Wall Street watchers, but when he developed the 'Eden' concept he became a world-class celebrity. And a lot wealthier."

(Millionaire Palmer's 'Eden ' concept combines high-class resorts with an upscale magazine of erotica aimed at married couples. )

The first issue, "Dirty Jobs," chronicles a single day in the life of the Italian-American Trouble-Shooter as he flies from New York to the Eden Club resort in Jamaica, where he has to deal with a discharged club manager who's selling cocaine on company property.

Issue #2 contains the first part of "Point of No Return," which sends Bravado to Mexico City to handle a malevolent street gang that's terrorizing the local Eden Club's patrons. Meanwhile, his boss Lance Palmer's on a book tour, and becoming paranoid, terrified that someone's going to make an attempt on his life. He tries to recall Bravado from Mexico, but Tony refuses to return to the States until his current assignment is finished.

In issue #4's conclusion to "Point of No Return," Bravado leads an Eden security team into a violent confrontation with the Mexican street toughs before returning to States, where he must face his employer's wrath – and maybe save his life, too.

In the last issue, "The All-American Nightmare," Tony is assigned to protect a beautiful blonde model-actress from her jealous, abusive, and possibly homicidal pro football player husband.

Darrigo's scripts are a little rough in places, and sometimes too text-heavy, but his plotting and characterizations are excellent. He really captures Bravado's hedonistic, high-living milieu perfectly, and effectively contrasts that apparent luxury with the often brutal, gritty street violence that Bravado frequently finds himself embroiled in. While he carries a gun, Bravado prefers to deal with Palmer's problems with fists, and rarely involves the authorities, as his employer insists on avoiding negative publiscity or scandal.

Artist Steve LeBlanc – inked on the first two issues by Louis Paradis – was clearly learning on the job. His figure work, faces and backgrounds are very rough and frequently problematic, but over the course of the four isues, he did improve somewhat, especially once he began inking his own pencils. Still, his work was never more than just servicable.

As I mentioned above, the book was plagued with problems. The first issue was published by Deni Loubert's Renegade Press, which also published Ms. Tree. Unfortunately, a crash in the comics market had her shutting down her company soon after the first issue was shipped. Creator Darrigo ended up paying the printing bill on the second issue and self-distributing it, before assuming full publishing responsibilities on the following issues. Unfortunately, the damge had been done, and low sales did not justify continuing the book.

The character made at least two more appearances in short stories drawn by Peter Grau – a much better and suitable artist than LeBlanc – before fading away. One appeared as a back-up story in the Darrigo published title Piranha Is Loose!, the other in the Alpha Productions anthology, The Detectives.

To this day, Tony Bravado, Trouble-Shooter is one of my favorite characters and comics of the genre. I really wish that Dave had been able to revive the book at some point – preferably with Grau on the art – because the concept had so much going for it, and could have resulted in some pretty unique crime and adventure stories.

Four out of Six Bullets.

GITG Special Offer: The Detectives

2008-02-03T16:08:00.000-05:00

Back in 1993, while I was Editorial Director of a small, B&W comics company called Alpha Productions, I persuaded the publisher to allow me to put together a 48-page, squarebound comics anthology featuring new stories of some of comics' greatest private eye characters. I originally wanted to call it Shamus, but it eventually saw print as The Detectives.

Counting the 1923 publication of the first "Race Williams" story by Carroll John Daly and the first "Continental Op" story by Dashiell Hammett as the birth of the private eye genre, I called the book a 70th Anniversary Celebration, and set out to include as many creators and characters as I could fit in.

Beneath a cover by fan-favorite artist Adam Hughes, there was a text introduction by mystery writer Ed Gorman, a new Michael Mauser, Private Eye adventure by Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton, a new MAZE Agency mystery by Mike W.Barr, Paul Pelletier and Bob Cram, a Tony Bravado, Trouble-Shooter story by Dave Darrigo and Peter Grau, and – in the volume's only reprint – a Johnny Dynamite story from the 1950's. I wanted a Ms. Tree story, but that character was tied up by DC Comics at the time, so Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty contributed a new Mike Mist Mist-ery instead. Filling out the last page in the book was a pin-up drawing of Ted Slampyak's P.I. character, Ace Mifflin, of The Jazz Age Chronicles.

There were two versions of the book – it was the 90's, after all – a standard edition with a red logo, and a "limited" edition with the logo printed in metallic gold ink. If memory serves, it was one of the best-selling books the company ever published, and I've recently found online dealers selling the standard edition for around $10 and the gold edition for twice that.

So what prompted this little stroll down Nostalgia Avenue?

Well, last night I found a box full of gold edition copies of The Detectives in my parents' basement. And, since the book's both kinda hard to find these days and, apparently, expensive if you can, I thought I'd make this once-in-a-lifetime gathering of comic book P.I.'s available again to GITG readers. So, if you're interested in getting your mitts on a mint-condition copy, I'm letting 'em go for just five bucks each, postage included. While supplies last, natch.

Orders can be made via Paypal sent to atomicpulp@gmail.com. If you don't do PayPal, and want to make other payment arrangements, contact me at the same address, and we'll work something out.

True Crime

2008-02-03T12:24:00.000-05:00

Written by Jenny Proctor, Dave Robison & Valarie Jones
Illustrated by Dan Spiegel
B&W, Comics Format
Eclipse Comics, 1993

In the early Nineties, Eclipse Comics had some success with a series of controversial trading cards sets. These cards featured portraits of notorious serial killers, mass murderers and gangsters, with brief biographies and "statistics" on the back. Despite some negative press and allegations by parents' groups that the company was using a children's medium to glorify serial killers and exploit the victims of violent crime, the cards were a surprising commercial success for the company.

Based on that success, they soon announced that they were establishing a comics imprint called "Eclipse Noir," and that the first title under that label would be a comic book version of their True Crime trading cards.

They ended up publishing two issues of True Crime, each containing two stories. All of the stories in these books were drawn by veteran comic book artist Dan Spiegel, who is probably best-known for the many Gold Key children's titles he illustrated in the 60's and 70's, as well as his collaborations with writer Mark Evanier in the 80's on adventure books like Crossfire and DC's Blackhawk.

Issue #1 contains "The Made Man," scripted by Jenny Proctor and Dave Robison, is a 13-page dramatization of John Gotti's rise in the New York underworld of the 1970's, and his involvement in the execution of Irish crimeboss James McBratney. The second feature, "The Aileen Wournos Story," scripted by Valarie Jones, is a fairly dry recitation of the career of Florida's notorious murderer – often credited as the "first" recognized female serial killer. This issue also features a single-page article on "genetic fingerprinting," by Peggy Collier and a "True Crime Q&A" letters column.

Issue #2 begins with "Bugs," by Proctor & Robison, dealing with the FBI's successful surveillance of Mafioso "Big Paulie" Castellano in the early 80's and the subsequent arrests of a number of the New York organization's top men. The second story, scripted by Jones, is "Amy Fisher: Psycho Seductress or Naive Nymphet?," a 14-page retelling of the tabloid darling's shooting of Mary Jo Buttafucco in 1992. Accompanying these two stories is another article on forensic science by Collier, an article on the media's role in the Amy Fisher phenomenon by Elayne Rapping, and another "True Crime Q&A" column.

There was also a stand-alone True Crime Special, about the death of Superman actor George Reeves and drawn by Jim Mooney, which I don't have.

Now, the comics field has a long and sordid history of sensationalist "true crime" comics , going back at least to Lev Gleason's Crime Does Not Pay and its many imitators in the 40's and 50's. Unfortunately, True Crime's continuation of that tradition is, despite the excellent artwork of the always-excellent Spiegel, unbearably dull. In an apparent effort to minimize charges of being exploitative, Eclipses' handling of the material is dry, strictly factual and unfortunately, boring.

Perhaps that was unavoidable, though. In 1993, a comics company wouldn't have been able to get away with the wholesale invention and dramatic license of the 40's "true crime" titles. Even back then, that freewheeling approach to the material eventually backfired on the publishers, and led to government attention and industry self-censorship. But while Eclipse's approach was undoubtably more responsible, it didn't provide a whole lot of entertainment... and it didn't sell. The series was cancelled after two issues and a single Special, and the company was itself gone soon after.

Three out of Six Bullets.

Back Issue #26

2008-01-31T21:44:00.001-05:00

The latest issue of Back Issue magazine from TwoMorrows Publishing, #26, is their "Spies & Tough Guys" issue.

The cover features a striking portrait of Marvel's super spy, The Black Widow, as drawn by Paul Gulacy.

Articles include a profile and history of the aforementioned Widow, an interview with long-time collaborators Gulacy and Doug Moench of Master of Kung Fu and James Bond fame, a history of James Bond in comics, an overview of writer Don McGregor's private eye comics: Detectives Inc. and Nathaniel Dusk, a retrospective of Max Collins & Terry Beatty's Ms. Tree, and a number of other articles covering such non-superhero comics as Sgt. Rock, Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Chuck Dixon's 80's updating of aviation adventurer Airboy.

There's also a look at the short-lived 70's publishing house Atlas Comics, and a feature article on DC's Suicide Squad.

Readers of this blog will definitely want to pick up this issue. Back Issue is one of the best magazines about comics out there, and this edition is particularly great.

Five out of Six Bullets.

NEWS: Time For A Crime Spree!

2008-01-17T23:34:00.001-05:00

Not a bad start for the new year.

So far this month, I've managed to knock out seven new reviews, and I've got a couple more in draft form that should be posted soon; clearly, I'm managing to keep to my resolution to update this blog more frequently... for now, anyway.

My goal is a minimum of one new review a week. We'll see how it goes.

Let's see... any news?

Greg Rucka (Felon) is apparently working on a new project called Stumptown, which he says is inspired by his love for the TV series, The Rockford Files. I hope this means that it's going to be a P.I. comic - there hasn't been a serious one published in a good long time. Can't wait. In other Rucka news, a feature film based on the crime graphic novel he did with Steve Lieber, Whiteout, is due in theaters later this year, with Kate Beckinsale in the lead role. (Hmmm.... maybe I should review the graphic novel when the movie comes out...)

Steven Grant's 2 Guns from BOOM! Studios is finally finished – turns out that it was a 5-issue miniseries, something that I never clearly understood from the way it was promoted. I was very excited about this book last Spring, but it's taken so long for the issues to come out that my enthusiasm's been a bit diminished. Nonetheless, I'm ordering #5 this weekend, and once I've had a chance to sit down and read the series all the way through, I'll review it here.

I also just found out that Fantagraphics' Hard Boiled Comics imprint published at least one comic book other than their Torpedo reprints – something called Mike Regan. I'm going to try and track down a copy of that and review it, too.

A few more crime comics creators have dropped me notes after discovering my reviews of their books in this blog. Robert Sodaro, writer/creator of Agent Unknown, felt I was bit hard on his book, but tells me that he's working on a revival of the series with new characters and a new artist. I'm pleased to hear it, as I thought the premise was solid and interesting, and I'm looking forward to reading the new version.

Don Mangus, creator of the worst-reviewed comic on this site, Crime And Passion, also dropped me a note recently. Although he called my review "savage," he seemed to have a sense of humor about it, and doesn't seem to be holding a grudge.

And I'm glad. I'm not here to hurt people's feelings or tear down anybody's hard work, but I really care about this genre, and feel that I have an obligation to be honest and fair in my evaluation of the titles I review. I want more crime comics out there, and even more importantly, more good ones. I also try to unearth some time-lost gems, in the hopes that fans of the genre will hunt them down and enjoy them too – and maybe new creators will be inspired to craft some cool new books of their own.

In fact, I'm always pleased to hear from any creator of crime, espionage or action-adventure comics, and willing to give them some space here to comment on their work or plug their projects.

And speaking of plugging projects, my own crime comics are coming along. It looks like Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries, drawn by Joe Staton, will be shipping from Ape Entertainment around June, and Rick Burchett and Fred Harper are hard at work on the art for the new Gravedigger graphic novel now. Look for it in late '08-early '09.

The illustration accompanying this post is another uncropped Grackle cover drawing by Paul Gulacy. Man, I love his stuff.

Somerset Holmes

2008-01-17T16:47:00.000-05:00

Written by Bruce Jones
Illustrated by Brent Anderson
6-Issues, Color, Comic Format
Pacific/Eclipse, 1983

Publishing a comic book as a means of pitching a movie story is very popular right now. For some publishers, such as BOOM! Studios and Platinum, it's their entire business model. But while it's very trendy now, it's not a new idea at all.

Bruce Jones' (Luger) Somerset Holmes is one early example, a Hitchcock-styled suspense thriller that was clearly intended to be a film screenplay – a pitch that was apparently bought by Hollywood, although no film was ever made.

An attractive young redhead is run down on a remote country road by a hit and run driver. She wakes up bruised and battered in a muddy ditch, her purse missing, with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She staggers off and comes across the home office of an elderly physician. Before she can be treated, though, he keels over in front of her with a knife in his back, whispering "nickles" with his dying breath. She dresses quickly and flees, soon finding herself in possession of a mysterious key and pursued by a horde of violent individuals, some of who appear to work for the government. She takes a name from a housing development billboard ("Somerset Homes"), and sets out to unravel the mystery of her identity, her past, and why so many people seem to be out to get her.

Suspense stories in the vein of North by Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much are particularly hard to pull off in comics, but Jones and co-plotter/editor April Campbell (who also modeled for the lead character of Somerset) do a pretty good job of it. The pacing is good, dialogue rings true, and the main character's completely understandable paranoia is almost palpable.

The art by Brent Anderson (Astro City) is heavily photo-referenced and very cinematic. In fact, the pages could easily be used as film storyboards, as Anderson's storytelling employs a variety of movie-like angles, lighting effects and atmospherics. Unfortunately, the coloring undercuts the fine art somewhat, with hand-painted hues that are often splotchy or inconsistent due to the primitive reproduction technologies of the era.

All six issues feature a chapter of the delightful back-up feature, Cliff Hanger, written by Jones and illustrated by the legendary Al Williamson. As the title implies, this is a loving and lovely homage to the old Saturday afternoon movie serials, complete with square-jawed hero Cliff, a beautiful damsel in distress, jungle thrills, diamonds, Nazis, and nail-biting cliffhangers. Great stuff!

The first four issues of the miniseries were published by Pacific Comics, one of the first independent comics publisher to take advantage of the then-new direct sales market. Their company was short-lived, though, and when they folded, the remaining two issues were published by Eclipse Comics. Eclipse also collected the series into a graphic album format.

It'd be nice if someone would reprint this with new coloring. It's a solid mystery-suspense thriller with strong work by talented creators.

Five Out of Six Bullets.

Gil Kane's Savage!

2008-01-16T01:11:00.001-05:00

Story by Gil Kane & Archie Goodwin
Art by Gil Kane
B&W, Magazine Format
Fantagraphics, 1982

Back in the mid-Nineties, I was editing a handful of comic books for a South Florida publisher, among them, Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger. While working there, I had the great fortune to meet a few of my creative heroes. The two most memorable meetings – both over meals – were with the aforementioned Mickey Spillane and with legendary comics artist Gil Kane. Sadly, neither of these men are with us any longer, so I'm even more grateful that I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with each of them.

I've always loved the dynamism and explosive energy in Gil Kane's work, and admired him for constantly pushing against the limitations of the medium, both creatively and commercially. Back in the Sixties, he'd attempted to break away from the children's comics market with more adult-oriented material, specifically, the sword & science epic Blackmark and the brutal espionage thriller, Savage!

Originally published in 1968 in magazine form as His Name Is... Savage!, the sole adventure of the titular tough guy, "Return of the Half-Man," introduces Savage (no first name is ever revealed) as an agent of the top secret intelligence agency known as The Committee. The Committee is described as America's "highest priority intelligence group," and is answerable only to the President.

After having Savage released from prison, the anonymous directors of The Committee inform him that his old WWII Army commander, Brigadier General Simon Mace, is (a) still alive after having been supposedly killed by Savage, (b) a cyborg, (c) the head of a group of international mercenaries and assassins, and (d) has been contracted to kill President Lyndon Johnson during an upcoming appearance before the General Assembly of the United Nations! Whew! Needless to say, our man Savage is assigned to hunt down his former commander and prevent the assassination.

In short order, Savage tracks Mace down to his New York penthouse base, is reunited and enjoys a brief tryst with Mace's beautiful daughter, and beats the living hell out of a bunch of Mace's henchmen. He also discovers that Mace has already substituted himself for the President and intends to declare war on Soviet Russia before the U.N.

Then things get interesting.

Savage! is a brutal comic, beautifully drawn by Kane at the top of his game. The action sequences are slickly cinematic and shockingly violent. Teeth are smashed with gun barrels, bullets bore through skulls with the precision of laser beams, bodies are hurled across rooms, through windows and down stairwells. The air is constantly filled with whizzing bullets or shards of shattered glass. Visually, Savage appears to be a combination of Lee Marvin and the young Kane himself; a white-haired, modern barbarian in a stylish suit.

The plot is pretty standard "Men's Adventure" stuff, with some hokey comic-book sci-fi (the cyborg Simon Mace), notable primarily for its inclusion of President Johnson as a character (and Kane nails his likeness). In an attempt to make the product seem more adult, the captions and dialogue are typeset instead of hand-lettered, and Archie Goodwin, one of the best adventure writers in the history of comics, contributes the surprisingly over-written script. Goodwin appears to be emulating – or perhaps slyly parodying? – the paperback spy novels of the era, with verbose captions like:

Savage's fingers locked over Bayard's gun hand, bending it back and up with the force of his leap. A squeal of fear was cut short by a flat, splintering crack as, like a steel-blue battering ram, the pistol barrel smashed through the Captain's teeth to slam against the roof of his mouth!

And:

His shoulder where the bullet had grazed him again began to throb and ache under the stress. The cord cut and dug through the callouses of his palms to the tender flesh beneath. Still Savage climbed with a steady, unbroken motion... Until at last one hand, then the other, clawed and gripped at the hard stone of the balcony's edge.

Wow!

The edition I'm reviewing is a 1982 reprint by Fantagraphics Books, which not only includes the entire, 40-page epic, but an introductory article by comics historian and critic R. C. Harvey, a fascinating interview with the always-thoughtful and opinionated Kane, and a reprint of a transcribed conversation between Kane and Spirit creator Will Eisner.

After that lunch I shared with Kane in '96, I told him how much I loved the book and how disappointed I was that there weren't more adventures published. He told me that the original magazine had flopped miserably due to some distribution problems, and it had cost him a lot of money. But he was, he said, planning a new Savage! project, and looking forward to updating the character for the 90's. Regrettably, aside from a single short story, he never returned to the character before passing away in 2000.

It may be dated and almost comically over-written, but Savage! is a noble attempt at pushing the boundaries of the medium, and its influence shouldn't be underestimated. If you can find a copy of either edition on eBay or at a convention, I strongly recommend picking it up.

Six Out of Six Bullets.

Criminal: Lawless

2008-01-08T12:16:00.001-05:00

Written by Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by Sean Phillips
Colors by Val Staples
Color, Trade Paperback
Marvel/Icon, 2007

The superior crime series by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips continues to chug along, courtesy of Marvel's Icon imprint. The second Criminal trade paperback, "Lawless," (collecting issues 6-10 of the ongoing series) came out just before New Years. As I'm a "wait for the trade" reader with this series, I only just got around to reading this new story arc last night.

"Lawless" appears to be Brubaker's take on the original Get Carter, with a tough, young hood – made even tougher by military stints in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan – returns to the old neighborhood to find out who killed his brother. Going AWOL, Tracy Lawless steals some cash from a mob hand-off, quickly manufactures a new identity and soon infiltrates his late brother's gang, looking for his sibling's murderer. Of course, he also finds himself sleeping with his brother's girlfriend and embroiled in a Christmas Eve heist... and the mobsters he ripped off aren't too pleased with him, either.

As with the first story arc/graphic novel, Brubaker manages to work comfortably within the conventions of the genre while managing to find new wrinkles to explore. I found this story to be somewhat more predictable than "Coward" – the final revelations weren't really all that surprising, unfortunately – but the strong characterizations and sharp dialogue more than compensated for any familiarity of plot. Once again, Brubaker proves crime fiction to be his true forte, and I'm glad he has this regular venue to work in the genre.

As before, Sean Phillips' art is note-perfect, effortlessly illustrating Brubaker's grim underworld with carefully chosen shadows, distinctive character designs, and a solid, naturalistic drawing style. The storytelling is textbook, easy to follow and cinematic. Val Staples muted color palette is a perfect complement to Phillips' gritty line art. Visually, the series remains a pleasure to behold.

As I said, I didn't find the story quite as fresh this time around, but it's still a great piece of work, and the Brubaker/Phillips team continues to do the genre proud.

Five Out of Six Bullets.

Criminal: Lawless is available from Amazon and other comics retailers.

The Complete Chester Gould's DICK TRACY Volume 1

2008-01-08T05:30:00.000-05:00

Written & Illustrated by Chester Gould
B&W, Hardcover
IDW Publishing, 2007

The fine folks at IDW Publishing have been reprinting The Complete Chester Gould's DICK TRACY for a while now. It's an ambitious program to chronologically present, in beautiful, hardbound editions, the entire run of Gould's seminal newspaper adventure strip. The first volume covers the years of 1931 to 1933, and includes nearly 600 daily and Sunday comic strips.

Now, since I love crime comics I'm automatically a Tracy fan, but I can't claim to any great authority regarding the actual strip. It never ran in any of the local Maine papers while I was growing up (still doesn't, actually), so my exposure to the character is limited to a few random comic books, home video versions of the Republic serials of the 30's and the RKO B-movies of the 40's, a couple of reprint volumes... and the Warren Beatty 1990 film (which I actually like quite a bit, despite its weaknesses). Of course, I've also read Max Allan Collins' Tracy novels, which spun out of that film's merchandising.

Therefore, this book was my first exposure to the early strips, and... wow!

No political correctness here! Heinous acts of bloody violence are carried out on almost a daily basis, frequently occurring on-panel. Even the origin story is surprisingly grim: Tracy begins his legendary law enforcement career after his girl, Tess Trueheart's, father is shot, and she is kidnapped by mob boss Big Boy's hoods. All the more shocking, Tess is then pressed into service as the gangster's reluctant moll! Tracy joins up with the police department (being immediately made a plainclothes detective!) to find his abducted girlfriend and avenge her father's death!

Great stuff, and IDW's presentation is astounding. The artwork is clear and crisp, as if shot directly from Gould's original art (and for all I know, it may have been!). There's a fine introduction by the aforementioned Max Collins, as well as a vintage interview with Gould, conducted by Collins and Matt Masterson. The book also includes Gould's original try-out strips, which he called Plainclothes Tracy. ("Dick" was the syndicate's idea.)

I believe that IDW is up to Volume 3 now, but I haven't been able to pick up anything beyond the first volume yet. Nonetheless, if you can afford it, I highly recommend these books to any and all Dick Tracy fans.

Six out of Six Bullets.

The Complete Chester Gould Dick Tracy is available from Amazon and most booksellers.

Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles Vol. 2

2008-01-07T14:25:00.000-05:00

Written by Max Allan Collins
Illustrated by Rick Fletcher
B&W, Trade Paperback
Checker Books, 2004

This second collection of the Max Allan Collins/ Rick Fletcher Dick Tracy newspaper strip continuities from the late 1970's maintains the generally high standards of the previous volume from Checker Books.

With this particular group of stories, both creators appear more comfortable with the material, and their already fine work continues to improve.

The first story in this volume is "The Computer Killer," a tale very much of its time, representing, as it does, the business world's increasing reliance on computer technology in the late 70's. The "Computer Killer" is a file clerk named Z.Z. Rowe, who, after a computer mix-up destroys his credit rating and costs him his job, starts blowing away computers with a shotgun. Tracy's investigation inadvertently threatens to expose a different cyber-criminal (long before such a term was conceived) and soon, computer chaos erupts!

The second continuity, "The Death of Mumbles," brings back another classic Gould villain, Mumbles, who is now posing as his own clone in a confidence game aimed at Tracy's millionaire pal, Diet Smith. This story demonstrates how good Collins was at mining both the day's headlines and the strip's colorful history for his narratives, and begins a trend toward stories with scientific themes.

Next up is "Murder: Starring Bony and Claudine," a long arc that sends Tracy and pregnant wife Tess to the state of Washington to visit daughter Bonnie Braids, who is now a teacher at an Indian school. Arriving in the Pacific Northwest, Tracy and Tess meet Bonnie's new beau (a police detective who's a dead ringer for her dad), do some sight-seeing, and become embroiled in the robbery spree of young punk rockers Bony and Claudine. The motivation for their crimes? Bony needs the money to finance a demo recording. Not the most exciting story Collins & Fletcher did, but it does introduce a new member to the Tracy clan, in the form of infant son, Joe.

Finally, "Enter Quiver," is a short, punchy tale about Tracy foiling a plane hijacking on his way home from Washington. The hijacker is "Quiver," who may or may not be related to Tracy's old foe, Shaky.

The Collins Casefiles Volume 2, is another fine collection of hardboiled adventures, with strong, witty dialogue and plotting by the always-reliable Collins, and exceptionally fine cartooning by Fletcher. Once again, it's a nicely designed book, and once again, I wish they'd put more strips on each page, shaved off a few pages, and brought the price down a few bucks. On the plus side, though, this volume includes the "Tracy's Rogues Gallery" features from the Sunday installments, collected together as a sort of "bonus feature" in the back of the book.

Now, I just have to scrape up the cash for Volume 3!

Five out of Six Bullets.

Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles Vol. 2 is available from Amazon and other book dealers.

Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles Vol. I

2008-01-07T00:51:00.001-05:00

Written by Max Allan Collins
Illustrated by Rick Fletcher
B&W, Trade Paperback
Checker Books, 2003

This handsome trade paperback collects the first three comic strip continuities written by mystery novelist Max Allan Collins when he took over the writing of the legendary Chester Gould's newspaper adventure strip, Dick Tracy, back in 1978. Although Gould was given a byline on these stories along with Collins and artist Rick Fletcher, Gould's involvement at the time was, according to Collins, only as an informal consultant.

The first story by the new creative team, "Angeltop's Last Stand" pits the intrepid homicide detective against the vengeful offspring of two of his classic villains: Angeltop Jones, the daughter of the infamous Flattop, and the son of The Brow, her lover. The two second-generation felons come very close to succeeding in rubbing Tracy out, too!

The next storyline, 'Return of Haf-and-Haf," finds Gould's acid-scarred villain (who very closely resembles Batman's nemesis, Two-Face) on parole, supposedly reformed, and with his face repaired by plastic surgery. But Tracy isn't convinced that Haf-and-Haf's gone straight, and is soon proved right in his suspicions when the creep attempts kill his ex-wife and kidnaps policewoman Lizz!

The last – and best – tale in this first volume is "Big Boy's Revenge," where Tracy's very first foe, the Al Capone-esque crimeboss Big Boy, offers, from his deathbed, a million-dollar open contract on the lantern-jawed detective! Tracy soon finds himself the target of a slew of would-be hitmen – both amateur and professional – and no one around him is safe, as Junior finds out, to his great sorrow. Collins deftly mixes violent action, unexpected plot twists, and the surprising death of an established supporting player in this uncompromising crime fiction epic.

Collins brought a fan's love and a professional's skill to his scripts, discarding most of the fantastic elements that Gould had introduced during his "Space Coupe/Moon Maid" period, while mining both the strip's rich history and the daily headlines for fresh story material. As the first writer other than Gould to tackle the strip, Collins' initial continuities are remarkably strong and faithful to the long established characterizations and milieu. And he only got better as time went by.

A former Gould assistant, the highly underrated Rick Fletcher not only grasped the proper look and feel of Tracy, he brought a sharp sense of design and clarity to the storytelling (despite the cramped newspaper strip format) that rivalled the best work of Gould in his prime. A consumate cartoonist, his work on these first strips is slick and stylish, every panel executed with crisp, clean brushwork. Amazingly, Fletcher got even better as he went along, too.

Checker's trade paperback collection is attractive, with decent reproduction of the original strips. My only complaint is that they place only three dailies on each page, when there's clearly room for more, and the the Sunday strips are chopped up. I wish they'd been able to format them as they originally ran, rather than chopping off the logo and "Rogues Gallery" headers. But those are minor complaints. Ultimately, it's just great to have these serials collected in a convenient bookshelf format, and they make a fine accompaniment to IDW's reprint collections of the original Chester Gould strips.

Five out of Six Bullets.

Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles Vol. 1 is available from Amazon and other book dealers.

Luger

2008-01-02T00:36:00.001-05:00

Written by Bruce Jones
Illustrated by Bo Hampton & Tom Yeates
3-Issues, Color, Comics Format
Eclipse Comics, 1987

Okay, so I didn't get another review up before the end of 2007. But it's a New Year, and among my resolutions are more regular updates to this blog. Hence – this post!

Talk about a blast from the past! Frankly, I'd forgotten all about this offbeat adventure comic until I was filing away some recent comics purchases in my longboxes over the weekend. Vaguely remembering that I'd enjoyed the book back when I bought it, I dug out the three issues and gave 'em a re-read.

John Charles Luger is a 42-year-old ex-bounty hunter/soldier of fortune, who has some big problems. He's an alcoholic, his sexy, genius sister is an incurable schizophrenic who switches personas and identities at the drop of a hat, and he's missing his right hand – which was lost during his sibling's "knife thrower" phase. When he's approached by an English millionaire, Sir Wilford, who wants to hire him to find his kidnapped daughter, Luger turns him down. Unfortunately, his sister Pidge– having now assumed her brother's identity – sets out to find the girl on her own, and Luger is forced into action.

Wilford provides the soldier of fortune with a prosthetic "handgun" that fires bullets from the pointer finger, and Luger is on the case – a madcap caper that ends up involving microdots, Nazi scientists, daring escapes, killer sharks and a super bomb.

Bruce Jones' story is fun and twisty, with a genuine pulp flavor and a quirky sense of the absurd reminiscent of the early Destroyer novels by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy. Nothing here is played too seriously, but it's sure exciting and a lot of fun. Even the ludicrous "handgun" works in context – especially when it's revealled that Luger doesn't know how many bullets it holds, 'cause he never bothered to ask!

The gorgeous art by Bo Hampton and Thomas Yeates is reminiscent of the classic comic strip art of Roy Crane (Buz Sawyer), with clear storytelling, fantastic figure work, detailed backgrounds, and a deft display of duotone shading (a lost art today, sadly). The painted color by Steve Oliff nicely complements the artwork, contributing greatly to the rich atmosphere and lush backgrounds.

The story ends with a hook for sequels, but I don't believe there were any follow-ups to this miniseries, and that's a shame. I'd really enjoy reading some.

Six out of Six Bullets.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T08:19:00.000-05:00

Have a hardboiled holiday, everyone – and look for at least one new review here before the end of the month.

On my desk at the moment are Bruce Jones' Somerset Holmes and Luger miniseries from the 80s, Mike Baron & Paul Gulacy's The Grackle from the 90s, and Moonstone's The Lone Wolf one-shot.

I also just blew some Christmas dough on the new Criminal trade and a couple of Max Collins Dick Tracy collections.

Among my New Year's resolutions are reading and reviewing a lot more comic books and graphic novels for this blog, so expect at lot more activity here in 2008!

Thanks for reading!

Shut Up And Die!

2007-12-04T23:39:00.000-05:00

Written by James Hudnall
Illustrated by Kevin Stokes
B&W, Comics Format
Image Comics, 1998

Shut Up And Die! was a criminally short-lived comic series from writer James Hudnall (ESPers, Alpha Flight, The Psycho), which took a somewhat different approach to crime comics.

Instead of using professional lawmen or lawbreakers as his protagonists, each story revolved around a more-or-less "normal" person caught up in the web of violence and crime. In fact, even though the book was set in contemporary times and eschewed the usual, cliché trappings, the series was probably one of the most purely noir comics ever. By this, I mean that it really captured the essence of the best noir fiction, where the universe is a malevolent, ruthless place, and no one is immune to its corrupting influence.

Issue #1's story, "Temptation," begins when a couple of Mafia bagmen accidentally leave a briefcase containing a gun and 50 grand – down payment on a hit – in the apartment of a twenty-something, unemployed slacker. When he finds it, he sees an opportunity to escape his dead end existence (not to mention his creditors) and hits the road. Of course, once they realize the mistake, the mobsters start hunting him down, finally tracking him to Las Vegas for a violent denouement.

Issue #2, "A.W.M. (Angry White Man)," follows a middle aged office worker, who becomes homicidal after being fired by his black supervisor for a mistake made by a Hispanic co-worker. Killing the woman he blames for his misfortune, he soon finds himself on the run from the law and his actions branded by the press as a racist hate crime.

In Issue #3, "The Bad Week," money problems have a young couple's marriage on the ropes. When the wife goes into a bookstore looking for a book on credit repair and apparently never comes back out, the husband reports her missing, only to find himself under suspicion by the police.

Each issue is narrated by its respective protagonist, and Hudnall does an excellent job of finding each character's distinctive "voice." The stories are smart and well-paced, each driving relentlessly toward their inevitable, grim conclusions. Like the best noir films – Detour, Double Indemnity, Gun Crazy – the protagonists of these tales find themselves constantly betrayed by their own baser instincts.

It's really good stuff.

All three issues were illustrated by Kevin Stokes, who employed an expressive, almost cartoony (in a good way) style on the series. Apparently reproduced directly from the pencils, there's a gritty quality to his art that serves the material well. My only criticisms would be that sometimes his perspective and figure work could be kinda wonky, and I wish he had put a bit more detail into some of his backgrounds. His architectural drawings, in particular, were lacking; buildings frequently looked like shoe boxes.

It's really a shame that this book came out during one of the worst sales periods in the history of the comics direct sales market and was unable to find its audience. It's damned strong work, and unlike the many comics that ape the noir "look" without capturing the noir essence, Shut Up And Die! was the real thing.

Five out of Six Bullets.

Police Action #1

2007-12-04T03:02:00.000-05:00

Written by Jack Younger & Mike Ploog
Illustrated by Mike Sekowsky, Al McWilliams
Mike Ploog and Frank Springer
Color, Comics Format
Atlas/Seaboard, 1975

Back in the mid-1970's, the founder of Marvel Comics, Martin Goodman, decided to start a new comics company. It wasn't that he really gave much of a damn about the medium – mostly, he was just pissed at Cadence Industries. Cadence had bought Marvel and made Goodman rich(er), but had reneged on a promise to keep Goodman's son, Chip, installed as Marvel's editorial director. So, as an act of revenge, he decided to go head-to-head with Marvel with a new line of comic books.

If Marvel in the 70's was the "House of Ideas," Atlas/Seaboard was the "House of Other People's Ideas." Among their short-lived titles were a couple of barbarian books (Conan was big then), kung-fu and Dracula titles (Marvel's Master of Kung-Fu and Tomb of Dracula were popular at the time, too), comics featuring Spider-Man and Hulk imitations, Planet of the Vampires (which "borrowed" its title from a 60's Mario Bava film, and the plots of Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man), a couple of war books featuring Sgts. Stryker and Hawk, some very derivative monster titles, and Police Action, which tried to emulate the kind of story then popular on network television – i.e. Kojak, Columbo, McCloud, etc.

Each issue of the 3-issue series included installments of two crime features: Lomax, N.Y.PD. and Luke Malone, Manhunter. Issue #1 carried a February, 1975 cover date.

"Big city cops are used to violence from petty heists to wholesale slaughter! But when one of their own ends up in pieces over a hundred foot area... that's when Sam Malone gets called in! He's seen it all in his fifteen years on the force, but this case is different! Sergeant Brooks was an old friend... and that makes it personal!"

The lead Lomax story is untitled, and introduces New York police detective Sam Lomax, a Dirty harry-like cop who's quick on the draw and apparently ignorant of the Miranda warning. In this first story, a fellow police officer (and friend from Lomax's military service in Korea) is blown up by a car bomb. Investigating, Lomax discovers that his pal was working undercover infiltrating the gambling operation of a local gangster, and just may have been dirty.

Written by somebody named Jack Younger and drawn by comics vets Mike Sekowsky and Al McWilliams, this first Lomax story is pure cop melodrama, drowning in overwrought dialogue, thought balloons and captions. Younger trots out virtually every cliche of the genre in its brief ten pages, and even squeezes in a car chase! The Sekowsky-McWilliams artwork is professional and satisfactory (even with Sekowsky's trademark weird poses), but it's crushed under the weight of the overabundant text.

"It isn't paradise – but it's my city, San Francisco! From its seedy slums to Nob Hill – I love it! I'm an ex-cop whose private investigator's license reads Lucius G. Malone – but only my mother could get away with calling me that! So, cousin, if ya gotta call, call me Luke Malone, Manhunter!"

The Luke Malone story, "Requiem for a Champ," isn't much more original than the lead feature, but is far better executed. Malone is a Frisco P.I. in the classic mold; a bitter ex-cop with red hair (like Mike Shayne) and an ill-fitting trenchcoat, working out of Paddy's pub. In this debut adventure, he investigates the mob-style execution of a former prizefighter-turned-skid row bum.

Written and pencilled by Mike Ploog, a former assistant and pupil of the great Will Eisner, "Requiem" is, perhaps not surprisingly, very well written and drawn. Ploog's dialogue is fairly sharp, and his layouts and character designs are great. I don't think his art is particularly well served by Frank Springer's somewhat sketchy inking, but it's still some of the best private eye storytelling I've seen in the medium.

Reading this comic today is a real trip, man! Every sentence ends in an exclamation point, and for a Comics Code-approved book, there's a surprising amount of violence. Still, it justifies its existence with Ploog's contribution, which may be cliched, but is definitely fun.

Three out of Six Bullets.

NEWS: Returning to the Scene of the Crime

2007-12-03T02:32:00.001-05:00

Hey, guys. Miss me?

I can't believe that I haven't posted a review here – or anything else, for that matter – since August. I've been busy working on Femme Noir and Gravedigger, among other projects, but that's not a good excuse.

Anyway, I'm working on a few new crime comics reviews right now, and plan to have the first of these up sometime this week. It will either be a review of James Hudnall's criminally short-lived Shut Up And Die! series from the late 90's, or the 70's vintage Atlas comic known as Police Action, featuring Lomax, N.Y.P.D. and Luke Malone: Manhunter!

While you're waiting, enjoy this illustration by Paul Gulacy, the cover art for the first issue of an interesting crime miniseries called The Grackle. As soon as I can dig out my copies, I'll write that one up, too.

See you soon.

Novel Review: Deadly Beloved

2007-08-27T01:05:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, Max Allan Collins has written a new prose novel based on his & Terry Beatty's long-running Ms. Tree comic book series. Fortunately for me, he was kind enough to send along an ARC of Deadly Beloved, which will be hitting stores in November, published by Hard Case Crime.

As it's based on a crime comic, I thought I'd bend the rules a bit and post my thoughts on the novel here at Guns in the Gutters, as well as in my other blog.

It's been a busy summer, so it took me a while to get around to reading it, but once I did, I breezed right through it. Collins' first-person prose is, as always, honed to a razor sharpness; terse and taut, with a relentless, driving narrative thrust that sweeps you along and makes the book difficult to put down.

The novel essentially retells – and retcons – the first two Ms. Tree comics serials, originally published in the early 80's by Eclipse Comics, which means that for long-time readers like myself, some "surprises," well, aren't all that surprising.

But Collins has wisely re-arranged the particulars, added some previously-untold elements, and changed enough details that the reading experience is still fresh and exciting. All the familiar supporting characters are there – Rafe Valer, Dan Green, Roger Freemont, Dominique Muerta – and all pretty much as we remember them. There are also a few new (and intriguing) characters added to the cast, and I hope Collins gets an opportunity to sequelize this someday, so we can learn more about them.

While I enjoyed the book a great deal, and admire Collins' deftly executed updating of the 80's "origin story" to the present day, I have to confess that I was a bit put-off by the main character's apparent obsession with repeatedly name-dropping famous clothing designers, and her new propensity for foul language. I'm not offended by swearing – I can toss off vulgar expletives with the best of them – but it did seem somewhat jarring coming from Michael Tree. Maybe it's the lingering awereness of her funnybook origins, but it just "sounded" odd.

But those are really minor quibbles. It's great to have Ms. Tree back in any form, and her return is certainly a triumphant one. I highly recommend Deadly Beloved. It's a top-notch mystery thriller, with a formidible female protagonist, and I suggest that every crime fiction fan – whether they're familiar with the original comic books or not – pick up a copy when the regular edition is published in November.

Five out of Six Bullets.

Deadly Beloved is available at bookstores and through Amazon.

Mark-Wayne Harris on Street Wolf & Danse

2007-08-26T22:29:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I know it's been a long time since I last posted a review here. It's been a busy – as well as hot and muggy – summer, and I simply haven't been reading many of my old crime comics. I do have a pile here on my desk, though, and intend to get back to them – and this blog – in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, to give you something new to read here and continue giving crime comics creators a chance to discuss and share history and a bit of the creation process with those of us who love this genre, I present another exclusive Creator Commentary.

Writer Mark-Wayne Harris of Street Wolf and Danse (both of which I thought had potential) apparently stumbled upon this blog recently, and wanted to share a bit of background on the two projects.

This is Mark-Wayne Harris, the writer of the Street Wolf mini-series and Danse one-shot you recently reviewed for your Guns In The Gutters blog. I was very surprised to come across it, particularly since I'm in the process of putting together a trade format compilation of those three issues. It's nice to know people remember it!

Your review was fair, and I appreciate that. Many of your positive comments were similar to those we received when the mini first came out, so I guess the stories have held up better over time than I thought. Yes, there was a reliance on coincidence--it's particularly apparent in the first issue. I tried to compensate for that by injecting a subtle religious undertone, hence the title "When Angels Cry" and the final line, "But somewhere...somewhere...I know the angels are crying for those children...for ALL of them" and showing such a thick rainfall. I was hoping to create another level to the story--that it was a "divine" coincidence that brought Nathan Blackhorse into contact with Talbott, and a few of those "raindrops" on the last page of the story were the tears of angels shed for those two girls because they tried to put a hero in their path to save them and they still died.

A lot of people got the angels/tears/rain thing, but I only know of a couple of people who took it to that deeper level. A woman came up to me at a convention and was quite emotional about that last page. I didn't want to be too obvious about it when I set the whole thing up, but I recall there was originally supposed to be a church with a cross in view in the scene where Nathan bumps into Talbott in the alley. I don't remember if I was the one who took it out, or if the artist did it because there's a ton of panels on that page and he couldn't fit it in.

Your review of Danse was on-target as well. That book was a nightmare! It's always reminded me that the consumer doesn't know and doesn't care about what you went through to create a product--they only judge the product. The Mark Beachum cover looks the way it does for a reason. He was originally supposed to do a fully painted cover. I went to his studio and he hadn't done much work on it beyond a few studies. He showed me one of them that was pen and ink and asked me to approve the layout for the cover so he could get started. I told him I thought the drawing was usable as it was (deadline!) and said I'd take it and pay him a reduced fee. He agreed and I got my cover. If I remember correctly, my original instruction to Blackthorne's production department was to color the cover using wash, so it would basically be a black and white image with grayscale tones. However, I think Lynn Cobb and Paul Tallerday were so psyched to be working on a Beachum drawing that they ignored me. Either that or they thought I was crazy for wanting a black and white cover on a comic.

Lastly, you made a comment about the last panel on the last page of that story. I don't remember exactly what I wrote, but it probably WAS both unnecessary and obvious. I distinctly remember doing something on the last page because I didn't think very many people would actually read it, but I'm not sure if it's the same thing you mentioned.

I look back on what I accomplished with the story material for Street Wolf and Danse and say, "Not bad for a kid who was only nineteen years old." Someone once commented that I wasn't really writing comic book stories--I was writing editorials in comics form. There was a lot of truth in that statement.

Thank you, sir, and have a pleasant afternoon.

On A Pale Horse,

Mark-Wayne Harris

I hope Mr. Harris is able to put together the Street Wolf trade he mentions above, and that it leads to new stories about the character. I think the concept could still be viable today, with some smart updating.

BTW – if you missed it, Street Wolf artist Dennis Francis posted some background details of his own over in the SW review.

HYPE: It's Official – Femme Noir Announced!

2007-08-09T01:13:00.001-04:00

Please excuse this purely self-indulgent, utterly shameless bit of self-promotion, but it sorta falls into the purview of this blog, so I feel I can justify it.

Rest assured, I will be posting new reviews here before long; I've got a bunch of books on hand and just have to find the time to read/re-read them. Please be patient.

Ahem.

The fine folks at Ape have now officially announced the addition of Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries to their line-up to the comics press. The press release has just been posted over at Newsarama. Please swing over there and check it out – and if you feel like leaving a comment, it would be greatly appreciated.

But if you'd rather not go to the trouble (or don't like Newsarama), here's the text of the release:

Ape Entertainment invites you to take a midnight stroll down the rain-slick streets of Port Nocturne, where the bitter odor of gunpowder hangs in the air like cheap perfume, where every dark alley comes to a dead end, enemy and ally are but temporary distinctions, and justice is… blonde.

Writer Christopher Mills (Gravedigger: The Scavengers) and veteran comics artist Joe Staton (E-Man, Green Lantern, Scooby Doo) are pleased to announce that they have signed with Ape Entertainment to produce a four-issue, full-color miniseries based on their popular webcomic, Femme Noir.

The series, entitled Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries, is composed of four, standalone, 28 page stories, revolving around a mysterious, unnamed woman in a cobalt blue trenchcoat and black fishnet stockings as she fights crime and solves mysteries in a perpetually night-shrouded metropolis.

"The Femme Noir series is my unabashed valentine to the crime fiction genre," says Mills. "All the conventions of the genre - and the cliches - are happily and enthusiastically embraced. It's an amalgamation of 40's Poverty Row B-movies, Golden and Silver Age comics, old radio shows, pulp stories... a little bit of everything I love in Pop Culture, old and new."

"The webcomic ran off and on for over five years, and is now archived at http://www.comicspace.com/femme_noir/, where the stories can still be read for free," Mills continues. "These strips have been featured on several websites – including Kevin Smith's Movie Poop Shoot, Komikwerks, and Thrilling Detective – and were singled out for praise by USA Today."

The webcomic version of Femme Noir has been very well received by readers and critics. Andrea Speed of Comixtreme commented that: "(Femme Noir is) ...a serious comic, but serious fun, of a kind you don’t see anymore on the shelves... giving the reader dark mysteries and action with a feminist and contemporary twist on a retro backdrop…" while Tonya Crawford of Broken Frontier said: "For those who love old movies, radio shows, pulps, or simply crime & detective dramas ... A city on the edge of darkness has an angel of hard justice."

The miniseries – which is entirely new material and does not reprint any of the comics produced for the web – is inked by Horacio Ottolini and Mark Stegbauer, with colors by Melissa Kaercher. In addition to covers by Staton and digital painter Alfredo Lopez, Jr., the series will feature variant covers by guest artists Brian Bolland, Phil Hester, Matt Haley and Mike Wieringo.

Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries will be published by Ape Entertainment in early 2008.

CREATOR BIOS:

Femme Noir was created and is written by Christopher Mills, whose other comics credits include scripting a year's worth of Leonard Nimoy’s Primortals for Tekno•Comix in the mid-90’s; and writing, editing and co-publishing the independent horror series Shadow House. More recently, he was the writer of the highly-acclaimed crime one-shot, Gravedigger: The Scavengers, which was illustrated by artist Rick Burchett, published by Rorschach Entertainment and named "Best One-shot (Adult)" comic of 2004 by Alan David Doane of Comic Book Galaxy, and "Best Crime Noir" comic of 2004 by Andrea Speed of Comixtreme. Other credits include the graphic novel The Night Driver, which he adapted from a screenplay by John Cork, and a forthcoming Kolchak: The Night Stalker miniseries for Moonstone Books. His website is http://www.atomicpulp.com.

Femme Noir is illustrated by Eisner and Inkpot Award-winning artist Joe Staton, whose numerous credits include such major Marvel & DC characters as the Hulk, Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, Batman, The Huntress, Plastic Man, Scooby Doo, and many others. He illustrated the Paradox Press graphic novel Family Man (written by Jerome Charyn) and is the co-creator (with Nicola Cuti) of the Charlton Comics superhero E-Man and private eye Michael Mauser, as well as DC’s Huntress and The Omega Men. In 1998, he received an Eisner award for his work on World's Finest: The Superman-Batman Adventure

Felon

2007-06-23T16:36:00.000-04:00

Written by Greg Rucka
Illustrated by Matthew Clark
Color & BW, Comics Format, Miniseries
Top Cow/Image Comics, 2001

Greg Rucka (Whiteout, Queen & Country) and Matthew Clark's Felon was a very promising crime series that met a premature demise.

In the four issues published by Top Cow through Image Comics, we meet Cassiday, the titular Felon, an attractive young woman just out of prison. Over the course of the first three issues, she hunts down the men who were her partners on the last job she pulled, looking for her share of the stolen money. But the money's gone, so she instead teams up with them to pull off a new heist. As we know – in crime fiction, anyway – these things always end badly, and there's plenty of betrayal and bloodletting before Cassiday's got everything squared. In Issue #4, we are introduced to FBI agent Freeh – another attractive young woman – who happens to be the Fed who put the Felon behind bars. She knows in her gut that Cassiday's back on the job and is determined to bring her in again... even if it costs her everything, including her marriage.

Rucka does a solid Richard Stark-styled story here, with two more strong, female characters along the lines of Queen & Country's Tara Chace and Whiteout's Carrie Stetko. Cassiday and Freeh are tough and beautiful, hunters both, each willing to put it all on the line to accomplish their goals. The dialogue is appropriately hardboiled, the plot logical and expertly paced.

Matthew Clark's art is very good, even if he works in a style that's not usually to my taste – a bit too slick, clean and commercial. What we used to call "Image-style." Nonetheless, he puts in the work, and makes a real effort to give the story some grittiness and some appropriate atmosphere. The fourth issue is printed in B&W and that helps with the tone somewhat.

I really enjoy Felon, but it's clearly incomplete, with Agent Freeh just starting out on her Javert-styled hunt for her prey as the series ends. As a first story arc, it works great, but as a self-contained miniseries, it's unsatisfying.

Of course – it wasn't intended to be self-contained miniseries at all, although I didn't know it at the time. Upon re-reading the series for this review, I was once again struck at the odd finale. Wondering at the abrupt ending, I e-mailed Greg Rucka himself and asked him what happened.

Here’s his response:

Felon... sigh... this is the story that will never end.... As originally conceived (and, for the record, as promised to us by Top Cow), it was to be a 25 issue series. We'd follow the Felon as she went about her Parker-esque-escapades, and every so often we'd check in with Agent Freeh (Christ, it was so long ago, I can't even remember if that was her name), and watch as her life deteriorated as she became more and more obsessed with catching the Felon. So that was the plan.

Then Matthew Clark and I walked into the Things from Another World comic book store on Sandy Blvd, in Portland, and picked up Previews, and saw that we were being solicited as a -- I think -- six issue mini. And that was the first we heard of it. As work continued on the series, Top Cow made it plain that the numbers weren't what they wanted. The accounting -- according to them -- was a wash. This may have been due, in no small part, to the fact that the colorist on the book was making more than Matthew and I combined. A series of conversations ensued, and after a war of attrition, Matthew and I decided to call it with 4 issues. The black-and-white choice (on #4) was to save money.

It remains, to this day, one of the single worst experiences of my comic book writing career, top to bottom. I will never work with Top Cow again. There isn't enough money. The people we dealt with were either dishonest, incompetent, or unforgivably arrogant. A coda to this – part of what Top Cow wanted was never a comic; they wanted a property they could sell media rights to. They did, in fact, sell Felon as a MOW concept. I actually saw a script. It's a good thing no one else was subjected to it. A second coda – when everything washed out, Matthew and I got the films back, and it is possible that one day we will revisit the subject matter, and perhaps tell the story we set out to tell. Just as likely it will never happen. Not a good experience. At all.

Greg

Thanks, Greg. I'm as interested in the behind-the-scenes stories of these books as I am the stories within their pages. I appreciate you sharing this.

Incomplete as it is, I still recommend hunting this series down. The first three issues stand alone fairly well, and make a solid little caper tale.

Five out of Six Bullets.

Street Wolf

2007-06-15T22:59:00.000-04:00

Written by Mark Wayne Harris
Illustrated by Dennis Francis
3-Issues, B&W, Comics Format
Blackthorne Publishing, 1986

From the creator of Danse, comes this surprisingly decent miniseries featuring a different sort of urban hero – he's neither P.I. nor cop, and I wouldn't really call him a vigilante, either. He's just a good guy who doesn't hesitate to get involved when there's trouble, and actively works to make his neighborhood a better place.

Refreshing, huh?

Street Wolf is Nathan Blackhorse, a handsome, cowboy-hat-and-boots wearing gentleman of Native American descent, a skilled martial artist who lives in a pre-Giuliani New York City. He's respected by the cops and criminals alike, and his past is suitably mysterious.

In the first installment of this three-issue miniseries, entitled "When Angels Cry," Blackhorse is hounded by an attractive African-American/Korean lady reporter named Joyce Prescott, who sees a story in the uncommonly heroic Street Wolf, but he's not interested in the publicity she offers. Soon after he saves her from some muggers/rapists, though, the two discover the body of a 7-year-old prostitute, and agree to work together in tracking down the little girl's murderer.

In Issue #2, "Black Rain," Blackhorse is on the trail of a psychotic, knife-wielding mob enforcer named Eddie Graves, whose passion for his work makes him a liability to his own employers and a deadly danger to everyone else.

In #3, "The Deadly Ones," Blackhorse is overwhelmed and beaten by a street gang called The Avenues, who then publicly hang him from a fire escape in a deliberate attempt to crush his spirit and destroy his street cred. Blackhorse then must decide how far he's willing to go to regain his reputation. My too-brief synopsis doesn't do the story justice; this is the best issue of the run, writing-wise.

Mark Wayne Harris' scripts deal with some hardcore themes (hence the prominence of the word "mature" on the covers), including child prostitution, necrophilia, vigilantism and gang violence. The actual plotting and dialogue can be clunky at times, with a heavy reliance on coincidence, but it improves noticeably over the course of the three issues.

Harris' triumph, though, is the pleasantly unique and original character of Nathan Blackhorse. A street hero who is genuinely heroic, working with the police gathering evidence and intelligence, but not afraid to mix things up if necessary. The master stroke is that he's an American Indian – a minority still woefully under-represented in the entertainment media. Blackhorse is given an intriguingly mysterious past and a supporting cast with a lot of potential; too bad there were no more issues.*

Dennis Francis' art is almost professional. His storytelling is okay, and his figure work is very good. Faces are generally distinctive and expressive. Backgrounds and "props" often appear to be faked, however, and the inking (on issues #1 & #2, anyway – Issue #3 is reproduced directly from the pencil art.) is crude and amateurish. This hurts the book somewhat.

Simply put, Street Wolf is a good series, one that had a lot of potential. Had it been published by a more prominent publisher, and had stronger art and editing, it could have been great.

Four out of Six Bullets.

* Street Wolf made only one other appearance, to my knowledge – in a literacy benefit comic called Word Warriors, alongside other 80's crime fighters Ms. Tree and Jon Sable.

It Rhymes With Lust

2007-06-14T13:22:00.000-04:00

Written By Arnold Drake & Leslie Waller
Illustrated by Matt Baker & Ray Osrin
B&W Digest Format, Graphic Novel
St. John Publications, 1950
(Dark Horse Comics Edition 2007)

It Rhymes with Lust was originally published in 1950, and is considered by some comics historians to be one of the first – if not the first – modern graphic novel. Originally marketed as a "picture novel" by publisher St. John Publications, it was written by comics veteran Arnold Drake (The Doom Patrol) and novelist Leslie Waller (together using the pseudonym "Drake Waller"), with black-and-white art by Matt Baker (Sheena, Queen of the Jungle and Phantom Lady) and inker Ray Osrin. In co-author Drake's opinion, "I don't think there is much question that It Rhymes with Lust was the first graphic novel."

The edition reviewed here is a facsimile edition published by Dark Horse Comics, which includes an afterword by Drake, and biographies of Drake, Waller and artist Baker.

It Rhymes With Lust deals with the machinations of malevolent femme fatale Rust Masson, a seductive, red haired siren with an insatiable lust for power. Upon the death of her crimelord husband, Rust moves to take full control of the mining town Copper City – both its legal operations and its illegal ones. As part of her scheming, she brings an ex-lover, disillusioned and cynical reporter Hal Weber, to town and puts him into the Editor-in-Chief's slot at one of the town's two newspapers, hoping to use him as both a propaganda tool and intelligence agent. But, eventually, Weber tires of being Rust's patsy, and with the more wholesome love of Rust's own, blonde stepdaughter, Audrey, Weber finds the strength to stand up to Rust and moves to bring down her empire.

Drake and Waller have scripted a pitch-perfect noir potboiler, a story that deftly combines politics, crime and James M. Cain-styled sexual manipulation into one compact package. This is very much in the tradition of the pulp paperback fiction of the era. The dialogue is perhaps a bit too expositional and the captions a bit too weighty for today's tastes, but this was published in 1950, and follows the comics writing conventions of that era.

Matt Baker's art is exceptional. Known for his superior ability to render the female form, Baker proves to be the perfect choice to illustrate this tale of the archetypical femme fatale. With her short, mannish hairstyle and impeccable fashion sense, Rust is strongly contrasted against her idealistic stepdaughter, Audrey, with her lush blonde mane and soft features. All the characters are distinctive and instantly recognizable, and while the book is very dialogue heavy, Baker manages to keep it visually interesting through careful use of varying "camera" angles. It's superior work.

Overall, I liked It Rhymes With Lust quite a bit. My only criticism is that Drake & Waller's story is just a bit too talky and static. It really could have used just a little bit more action – another fistfight or firefight would have livened things up nicely. Definitely worth checking out, though.

Five out of Six Bullets.

It Rhymes with Lust is avaible through Amazon and Dark Horse Comics.

Dominique: White Knuckle Drive

2007-06-10T17:39:00.001-04:00

Written By Charles & Lisa Moore
Illustrated by Matthew Smith
One-Shot, B&W Comics Format
Caliber Press, 1994

Let's take a look at another of the Dominique one-shots from the mid-Nineties: White Knuckle Drive.

In this installment, skip-tracer/P.I. Nikki Sinclair, the former FBI agent whose Bureau codename was "Dominique," finds herself investigating a medical insurance scam, which she discovers is being run by Russian mobsters. During her investigation, she accidentally interferes with a DEA surveillance operation, and soon finds herself unpopular with both the Russki gangsters and the Drug Enforcement officers watching them... but at least the DEA doesn't want her dead.

The Moores' script in this particular story shows considerable growth and improvement over earlier Dominique adventures. The dialogue is a bit more natural, and the "voice over" narration is often extremely evocative and almost poetic at times. ("Then I'm tumbling in a whirl of sky and a stinging asphalt kiss.") There's some nice characterization as Nikki tries to smooth over her relationship with the DEA agents by joining them in a poker game, and the brief scenes of violence are effective and startling. This might be the best-written chapter of the Dominique saga.

Art and lettering are by Matthew Smith, and according to the notes in the book, this was his first professional job. The art is highly stylized and somewhat sketchy, with a decidedly European look. It's gritty and rough, though, and adds considerably to the atmosphere of the book, which is much darker than the issue I previously reviewed. It's good stuff. I wonder if Smith stuck with comics?

White Knuckle Drive is possibly the best of the Dominique one-shots from Caliber, with a solid crime story and evocative, stylized art, all topped off with another fine cover painting from Ken Meyer, Jr.

Six out of Six Bullets

Criminal: Coward

2007-06-10T14:16:00.000-04:00

Written by Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by Sean Phillips
Colors by Val Staples
Color, Trade Paperback
Marvel/Icon, 2007

It's been a while since I've written one of these reviews. All I can say is that I've been busy, and that I'll try to update more frequently.

I recently ordered the first trade paperback collection of Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips' current series from Marvel's Icon imprint, Criminal. The book has gotten some good notices, and based on the creative team's work on Sleeper from Wildstorm, I figured the book would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, as I've often lamented, I no longer have convienient access to a comics shop, so I've missed out on the monthly issues. I understand that the individual issues contain a number of crime and crime fiction-related text features that I'm sure I would enjoy, but my current situation has me committed to the "wait for the trade" route.

This trade paperback collection collects the first six issues of the ongoing comic book, a story arc entitled "Coward." In "Coward," we are introduced to Leo, a pickpocket and professional thief, a planner who can put together the perfect caper, but only if he can be convinced that there's no risk at all of him being caught. To others in the trade, this marks him as the titular coward, but Leo has good reasons for wanting to stay out of prison, including his responsibility for his elderly grandfather, Ivan – a life-time crook now ravaged by Alzheimer's and heroin addiction. Against his better judgment, Leo is coerced into working with a group of corrupt cops to hijack some diamonds from a police evidence truck, only to be – in the best tradition of the genre – double-crossed and marked for death by his so-called partners.

I've enjoyed Brubaker's crime-themed comics since his P.I. miniseries, Scene of the Crime, at DC/Vertigo. I also enjoyed his efforts on Gotham Central and, especially, Catwoman, although I've been less enthralled with his mainstream super-hero assignments. It's clear that his affection for the crime fiction genre is genuine and deep, and his skill at writing these kind of stories is rare in the industry.

The characters in "Coward" are well-defined and, for the most part, avoid cliche. His dialogue is gritty, convincingly "street" and economical, and the plot holds its fair share of surprises. It's the kind of writing that Brubaker does best, and it's some of his strongest work in the genre.

Sean Phillips is at the top of his game here, with expressive, rough-hewn art that is never pretty but always effective at depicting Brubaker's harsh underworld milieu. His storytelling is textbook perfect, with a cinematic ebb and flow that is a pleasure to behold. The inking here is scratchier than than the style he employed on Sleeper, but the noir-ish shadows and carefully constructed compositions are still in evidence. It's great stuff, and Val Staples' colors mesh with the line art perfectly.

So, yeah, count me in as one of those heaping on the praise. I'm grateful that Brubaker's relationship with Marvel has enabled him to produce a monthly crime comic – especially one of such high caliber. I hope Criminal's selling well enough that other comics creators with equally strong aptitude for the genre will find a more receptive audience for their own crime comics efforts.

Six out of Six Bullets.

Criminal: Coward can be purchased from Amazon and other comics retailers.

It's quiet. Too quiet.

2007-05-08T02:16:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the dearth of reviews over the last couple of weeks. I've been busy with my own comics writing, and trying to get caught up with my DVD Late Show column.

But – I just posted a review of Max Allan Collins & Terry Beatty's Johnny Dynamite: Underworld trade paperback below, and I got a couple of comics in the mail yesterday that I will be reviewing very soon: the final published issue of NOW Comics' Alias and both issues of 2 Guns.

Speaking of Collins and Beatty – after years of teasing Ms. Tree fans with the occasional short story, Collins has finally written a full-length Ms. Tree prose novel, Deadly Beloved, which will be published by the fine folks at Hard Case Crime in November. Since this is based on one of the longest running crime comics, I figured it was appropriate to mention it here. The lovely cover painting above left is by co-creator Terry Beatty (who posts his preliminary sketches online here), and it's a worthy addition to the HCC artistic line-up.

With luck, I'll get another review up before the end of the week.

Johnny Dynamite: Underworld

2007-05-08T01:17:00.000-04:00

Written By Max Allan Collins
Illustrated By Terry Beatty
B&W Trade Paperback
AiT/Planet Lar, 2003

Originally published as a four-issue comics miniseries by Dark Horse Comics in 1994 in duotone (black & white with red tones), Johnny Dynamite represents both a revival and re-imagining of the seminal 1950's comic book private eye originally rendered by Pete Morisi (Vengeance Squad).

Ms. Tree creators Collins & Beatty purchased the rights to the character from Charlton Comics in the late 80's, and reprints of the Morisi 1950's stories appeared regularly as a back-up in their long-running P.I. series. But, aside from a cameo in a single Ms. Tree tale, the team didn't do anything new with the character until this project.

Ex-Boxer Johnny Dynamite is a Windy City P.I., a one-eyed hardcase with a quick trigger finger known to the press and mob as "The Chicago Wild Man." "Underworld" begins when an old girlfriend shows up looking for Johnny to help her get away from her gangster boyfriend. Unfortunately, he fails, and soon, the girl's dead, murdered in Dynamite's own bed. Dynamite avenges her with some Spillane-styled justice, executing the hood responsible – one Freddie Faustino – in the desert outside Las Vegas. But that's just the beginning. Faustino makes a deal with the devil and returns to Earth as crimeboss Felix Sartana, where he quickly takes over the Vegas mobs, backed up by an army of undead zombie hoods. A failed assassination attempt on Dynamite brings the vengeance-fueled P.I. back into the case, and soon, well... all hell is breaking loose.

Collins fuses what he calls "psychotronic" elements from cheesy horror flicks with the very Spillane-ish characters and milieu, and comes up with a fun, fast ride full of teeth-grinding puns ("Don of the Dead"), less-than-subtle character names ("Freddie Faust"), and some sly surreality – especially the scenes featuring Satan, portrayed here with the traditional horns, tail and pointed goatee. I prefer my crime and P.I. comics more grounded in reality, without the overt fantasy elements in use here, but I have to admit that Collins' skillful writing brings it all together nicely.

Terry Beatty's art is, as usual, understated and effective, evoking not only the work of Dynamite creator Morisi, but other classic comics artists like Johnny Craig, Wally Wood and Dick Giordano, as well. His storytelling is clear and straightforward, characters are distinctive and well-designed, and his ink line is crisp and sharp. The cover painting is especially nice. No complaints here.

I do kinda wish they'd kept the red tones, though.

Overall, it's another finely-crafted cult piece from two masters of the genre, nicely presented by the publisher. I'm deducting a bullet for the cheesy supernatural stuff, but that's not a knock against the quality of the work... it's just that here at Guns In The Gutters, we prefer our crime comics straight up.

Five out of Six Bullets

Johnny Dynamite: Underworld can be ordered through Khepri. (Scroll down to bottom of the page.)

Dominique: Family Matters

2007-04-24T04:16:00.000-04:00

Written By Charles & Lisa Moore
Penciled by Gene Gonzales
Inked By Tyler Bishop
One Shot, B&W Comics Format
Caliber Press, 1994

This is one of several black & white one-shot comics published in the mid-Nineties featuring the Dominique character, who also appeared in short stories in Dark Horse Presents and Negative Burn. The majority of these were collected into a trade paperback by Caliber Press, but, unfortunately, it's one of the many Caliber TPB's that was bound with bad glue, and it's difficult to find a copy that's intact.

My trade is holding together basically because I try not to handle it, and that's why I'm reviewing the individual issues from my collection instead.

Now, I was a pretty big fan of Dominique back in the day. I remember writing some enthusiastic reviews for my old NOIR magazine (in fact, I'm quoted on the back cover of this book), but I haven't actually re-read any of the stories in years. Until this past weekend, anyway.

In "Family Matters," former FBI agent Nikki Sinclair (whose code name was, of course, "Dominique") is working as a private eye, investigating insurance scams and repossessing cars. One night she returns to her mobile home to find her parents have stopped by for an unannounced visit. Although divorced, they remain business partners – and their business is the confidence game. They're grifters, and they've gotten some high powered folks pissed at them. Soon, Nikki is dealing with counterfeiters, mob lawyers and professional hitmen – as well as her conflicted feelings for her parents, and her uncomfortable childhood memories of life among the Dixie Mafia.

Charles and Lisa Moore's scripting is very professional and well-paced. Fairly low key, the story is short on flash and spectacle, instead grounded in reality and punctuated with moments of startling violence. Dialogue is natural, characterizations are rich, and the relationships between characters are believable. Nicely done, all around.

The art by Gene Gonzales demonstrates his usual clarity and accomplished drawing skills. His women, in particular, are beautiful. My only criticisms are that the backgrounds lack detail, and the art could have used a bit more shadow and atmosphere. As it is, the airy, open layouts and crisp outlines really beg for color. The cover by Ken Meyer Jr. is an excellent piece of art that really sets the tone for the book.

I guess I still think pretty highly of Dominique. Nikki Sinclair – described on the back cover as "too wild for the Agency; too much of a badge for the Mob" – is a strong, interesting protagonist, and her definite Southern attitude and history add a lot to her character.

These are definitely worth picking up, if you can find 'em. I'll be reviewing more Dominique soon.

Five out of Six Bullets

Damned

2007-04-23T17:01:00.000-04:00

Written By Steven Grant
Penciled By Mike Zeck
Inks By Denis Rodier
Colors By Kurt Goldzung
Color, Trade Paperback
Cyberosia Publishing, 2003

Damned is one of my favorite crime comics ever. This handsome trade paperback collects the 4-issue miniseries originally published by Homage Comics (an imprint of Wildstorm Comics, which is owned by DC) with a new, 6-page epilogue and a few "bonus" features.

When Mick Thorne is paroled and released from prison, the only thing on his mind is getting to the city of New Covenant and fulfilling a promise. But his hardass parole officer won't let him leave town, and Mick finds himself washing dishes in a diner for another ex-con. Eventually, though, he manages to slip his leash and get to the big city, where he quickly finds himself neck-deep in trouble with a local crimeboss, King Silver. You see, Mick's there to deliver a message to the sister of his former cellmate, Doug Orten – the man's final words after taking a shiv meant for Mick – and that message may be a clue to the location of a cache of money that Orten stole from King Silver. Needless to say, Silver wants his money – and so do a lot of other folks.

Steven Grant writes fantastic crime fiction. From his seminal Punisher miniseries (collected as "Circle of Blood") to Pat Novak For Hire, Grant has repeatedly proven that he's one of the few guys working in the field that has a true affinity for the genre and doesn't just crank out homage and pastiche. His stories are always soundly constructed, his characters well-drawn and non-stereotyped, and you can always count on a genuinely surprising twist or two. (This is why I feel confident in recommending his current crime book, 2 Guns, even though I haven't read it yet.)

Mike Zeck is a marvelous comic book artist, and a great creative partner for Grant. His storytelling is flawless, his drawing skillful and appealing. Here he's teamed with inker Denis Rodier, who brings a slightly scratchy, grittier line to Zeck's slick pencils, and the result is both attractive and creatively sound.

The Damned trade paperback from Cyberosia includes six additional pages (and the script for those pages) that give the story more definitive closure. It's good, but I thought the story ended fine the first time around. There's also a "making of" section where Zeck details the creation of the miniseries' four covers, which he created digitally.

Damned is highly recommended.

(What do you know? I made it all the way through without a single "damned" joke...!)

Six out of Six Bullets

Damned is available from Khepri.com.

Crime & Passion

2007-04-23T16:11:00.000-04:00

Written & Illustrated by Don Mangus,
Michael H. Price, Mark David Dietz
B&W, Comics Format
Mango Press, 1994

This is a terrible comic with – I think – a great premise. In fact, the idea is so great, I'm tempted to steal it (this is a "crime" comics blog, after all.) And if I'm wrong, and this premise wasn't intentional, well, that's a real shame, because it's the only good thing about this book.

Crime & Passion appears to be a crime-oriented satire of the romance comics of the 50's, 60's and 70s. Unfortunately, the creative approach is pure 60's "underground," and – except for Michael Price's four pages – it's exceptionally poor 60's underground.

First, the stories. "Sirens," by Mangus, is a 6-page entry about a gold digging woman in a bikini who is being dumped by the man she's been living off. She murders him and drives away with his cash stash, idly wondering who will be "cleaning up her mess." Cut to a couple of police detectives receiving the call to investigate. "To Be Continued."

Story two: "The Biological Clock-Fight," also by Mangus, has a young woman named Candice being dumped by her boyfriend when she brings up the subject of marriage. The 3-page chapter ends with her getting a phone call from a co-worker, who's already heard about her break-up(!) and asks her out. "Continued."

Story three: "The Return of Kop Krax" by Michael H. Price, a one-page Dick Tracy parody "filler."

Story four: Another "Kop Krax" one-pager.

Story five: "Love and Desire," by Mark Dietz, 3 pages of a man and a woman discussing the difference between the two titular concepts.

Story six: Another "Kop Krax" filler.

Story seven: The major story of the issue, "The Stuff Dreams are Made Of," by Mangus. A horridly-scrawled, TEN-page tale of a nebbish's misogynistic sex-crime fantasy.

Story eight: Yep, another "Kop Krax" filler.

Story nine: "The Secretary Sandwich," by Mangus, is a continuation of "Biological Clock-Fight," as Candice keeps her date with her co-worker, who seduces her at the office. Before they can actually do the deed, though, they are interrupted by their boss – his Uncle – who tells him he's got to stop diddling with the secretaries. Broken-hearted, Candice leaves... vowing revenge? No. That might actually border on interesting. Instead, she whines about being used, and... you guessed it, it's "To Be Continued."

So...

Don Mangus' art is horrible, and his writing is worse. None of his stories go anywhere and are all "continued" so they also lack resolution. "Dreams" is the only one that actually comes to a conclusion, but it is, literally, just a character's fantasy, and there's not even any surprise in that, as you see him daydreaming right from the beginning. I don't think there was ever a second issue, although, frankly, I didn't really look for it, either.

Michael Price's "Kop Krax" fillers are, at least, a bit amusing and there's some distinctive style and talent evident in the art. Dietz' story doesn't even fit the theme of the book, really, so it's just wasted space.

Even the cover – which I think ties into the first story, sorta – has some weird monster thing floating in the pool. WTF?

But here's the thing – and like I said, I'm seriously thinking about doing it myself – the idea of a comic book that follows the model of an old romance comic, but with murders, is a solid, smart idea. But to work, it has to truly emulate those books, which always had great art and self-contained stories.

Too bad Mangus and his accomplices didn't have the ability to pull it off.

Zero out of Six Bullets.

Charlton Bullseye #6 – "Blue Ice"

2007-04-20T10:22:00.000-04:00

Written & Illustrated by Rick Burchett
Colored by Wendy Fiore
Color Comic Format
Charlton Comics, 1982

Here's a real rara avis for a Friday, as Hammett might have put it – a genuinely rare bird, indeed. This 8-page Michael Mauser, Private Eye story originally appeared in the sixth issue of Charlton Bullseye, one of the last 4-color publications from that notorious Derby, Connecticut publishing house.

As rising costs started to make publishing comics less profitable in the early 80's, someone at Charlton came up with the idea of soliciting complete stories from aspiring comic book creators, which, if they were of high enough caliber, would appear in the company's new anthology title. The catch? Nobody would be paid.

Still, for a number of ambitious artists and writers, it was a chance to get into print in a nationally-distributed comic book, so Charlton had plenty of submissions, and several of those creators went on to become professionals in the industry. This included artist Rick Burchett (Batman Adventures, She-Hulk, Gravedigger: The Scavengers), who contributed an 8-page mystery story starring Nicola Cuti & Joe Staton's P.I. character from the Charlton titles E-Man and Vengeance Squad, Michael Mauser.

It 's a clever little private eye tale that demonstrates clearly that Burchett's design and storytelling skills were already quite accomplished very early in his career, with smart use of well-placed shadows, strong graphic design, and some plain, good, old-fashioned cartooning. The writing's not bad, either.

A couple years after this saw print, Burchett was actually getting paid to ink Mauser and E-Man for First Comics, where he also illustrated another Mauser solo story, "Mauser P.I.," which ran as a back-up in First's E-Man #4, written by Mike W. Barr (The MAZE Agency). That one was a swell parody of the then-current Magnum P.I. television series.

But this story's pretty nifty, too, and has never been reprinted. With the permission of the artist and the character's co-creator, I present "Blue Ice" in its entirety. Enjoy. (Click on the images for a larger view.)

Cool, huh? Yeah, I know. I've got new reviews in the works. Just relax and enjoy the free comics, okay?

Special thanks to Joe Staton & Rick Burchett!

© Joe Staton & First Comics, Inc.

NEWS: New Crime Comic – Two Guns

2007-04-18T23:58:00.001-04:00

Now that I no longer live near a comics shop, nor read Previews on a regular basis, I don't find out about a lot of new comics until I stumble across mention of them here on the web. Well, I was just reading Steven Grant's (Pat Novak For Hire, Damned) latest Permanent Damage column at Comic Book Resources and discovered that he has a new crime comic coming out, called 2 Guns, from Boom! Studios. The art is by Mat Santoluoco, with covers by Rafael Albuquerque.

What I don't know, is whether this is just now being solicited, or is actually already on the stands. Neither Steven's column nor the Boom! website are very clear on that point. Nonetheless, based on Steven's other work in the genre, and this solicitation copy from the Boom! website...

In the vein of Ocean's Eleven or The Italian Job is a pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it's a great way to score – considering it's a cover for mob money. They'll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn't know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn't know is that Steadman's got his own secret and isn't who he appears to be... Classic two gun safe-robbing action delivered with wit and charm from the writer-creator of Whisper!

... I'm prepared to recommend this sight unseen.

Now, in his column, Grant insists that there are no immediate plans to collect this in trade, and since I almost exclusively buy my comics thru Amazon these days, I don't know when or if I'll get ahold of this to review. Nonetheless, good genre comics are rare and it's worth noting whenever some creator sticks his neck out to create one and a company has the balls to publish one... hence this "news" post.

By the by – purely by coincidence, I was already planning on reviewing Steven's and Mike Zeck's Damned this weekend. Just finished re-reading it and am getting my thoughts together.

Yes, it's true: more reviews are on the way! I know I've slowed down a bit – but writing my own comics has to come first. There will be some new posts this weekend.

And speaking of reviews (and my comics), Gravedigger: The Scavengers is still getting some love, almost four years on...

ADDENDUM: Okay, apparently both issues of this book are already out and can be ordered through the Boom! Studios website, now that they've repaired their ordering links.

Got 'em!

2007-04-17T04:00:00.000-04:00

My copies of Torpedo 1936, Volumes 5-7 showed up in the mail yesterday from Bud Plant.

Sure enough, these were brand-new copies, still in their original shrinkwrap, without a single tear, chip or crease in sight. The color reproduction is beautiful, and I really hope that I can track down good copies of the first four volumes one of these days.

It took me only about an hour to read through these three too-slender volumes, but I can't imagine a better way to spend an hour on a crappy Monday afternoon with rain and sleet whipping against the windows and no internet access, than with Luca Torelli. What a glorious bastard.

I also received a pleasant e-mail from Max Allan Collins about this site (once my internet came back on), thanking me for the P.I.'s review, and reminding me not to forget Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger – as if I could!

Thing is, if Mike Danger gets reviewed around here, someone else is going to have to do it. I was the editor on that series when I worked at Tekno•Comix, so I don't think I could be remotely objective about it. I'm not sure I want to let other reviewers in here, though.

What do you guys think? Should I invite guest reviewers into the Gutters? Or keep it a one man crime wave?

I'll have to ponder....

Armed & Dangerous

2007-04-17T03:27:00.000-04:00

Written & Illustrated by Bob Hall
4-Issues, B&W, Comics Format
Armada, 1996

I hadn't planned on getting back to Bob Hall's Armed & Dangerous series again quite so soon, but what can I say? They were handy.

In this first 4-issue miniseries, we meet 15-year-old Eddy Donovan, a decent young man who's spent most of his life at an upstate private boarding school. Now, he's come home to Hell's Kitchen, where he discovers that his kindly Uncle Mitch is a fixer for the local crime boss, Frank Arko; his mother's "nervous breakdown" was a heroin addiction; his "Vietnam hero" dad was actually a gangster; and his cab-driving cousin, Doogie, is Arko's bagman. "Street-dumb" and thrust into a brutal world he doesn't understand, we follow Eddy as he learns – often the hard way – how to survive and eventually thrive in his new environment... and discovers some secrets about his father's death that may just get somebody killed.

After the somewhat underwhelming Special, I came back to Hall's crime series with low expectations and fuzzy memories. Fortunately, it was surprisingly good. The writing is pretty sharp, and you come to really identify with Eddy as he's exposed to a world of corruption and casual violence that can't help but change him. Hall's supporting characters are good, too, colorful but mostly believable; from hulking but strangely likable Uncle Mitch, to charming asshole bagman Doogie, to teenage hooker Lana and her sadistic pimp Slik (both of whom figure prominently in the Special) to Roller Girl, Arko's sexy hitwoman on inline skates. The violence is savage and graphic – in the first issue, young Eddy has to help his uncle dismember a corpse, for example – and the dialogue is fairly naturalistic.

The art, as I mentioned in my other review, is strongly derivative of Frank Miller's Sin City style, but Hall does bring some of his own fine draftsmanship, solid design skills and creativity to it. It's not just sheer imitation. Still, it does take away some of the series' originality.

Anyway, this initial miniseries is a much stronger piece of work than the stand alone one-shot Special, and is a very strong addition to the crime comics genre. There's a second miniseries, A&D: Hell's Slaughterhouse, that I'll be getting around to soon. In the meantime, you might want to hunt these first four issues down.

Five out of Six Bullets

Cobb

2007-04-12T18:56:00.000-04:00

Written by Beau Smith
Illustrated by Eduardo Barreto
3 Issues, B&W Comics Format
IDW Publishing, 2006

Hard to believe this came out almost a year ago. I remember when it was announced, how excited I was, and how much I looked forward to it. And when I finally got to read it, I wasn't disappointed.

From everything I knew about Cobb going in, I knew that I would probably like the book. Eduardo Barreto (Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger, Union Station), besides being a pal and one of the coolest creators I've ever worked with (I've got one of his Mike Danger originals on my wall) is also, for my money, the best comic book artist alive, and Beau Smith (Wynonna Earp, Parts Unknown) well, he's Beau. I've been aware of him since he was filling lettercols with missives and signing all twenty of his names to 'em, and I became a fan when he showed up as a character kicking ass and taking names in Tim Truman's Scout. I haven't liked all the comics he's done, but he's generally good at the two-fisted, action/adventure stuff.

But both these guys exceeded my expectations.

Cobb (occasionally refererred to by Smith, although not in the book itself, as Cobb: Off the Leash) is a three-issue miniseries (subsequently reprinted in a single, magazine-format collection) about a former Secret Service agent with a very low tolerence for injustice – and bullies in specific. When we meet him, he's in jail for beating the hell out of five guys because they kicked a stray dog. He's sprung by an ex-superior and advised that an old Fed buddy of his, Jack Murphy, has set up a P.I. firm and might need a partner. Sure enough, Cobb soon joins Murphy and his attractive granddaughter in the business and the future looks bright. Of course, no sooner have they shook hands on it than an attractive young woman rushes into their office, pursued by a small army of Russian Mafia gunmen... and then things get interesting.

Smith's script is stripped down and economical. No "decompression," no navel-gazing, just contemporary hardboiled storytelling and deftly-defined characters of the type I strive for in my own work. The only criticisms I can muster are that I found the story just a bit plot-lite, and the sword-wielding female assassin character that appears in the third issue seems a bit too "comic booky," as if she'd wandered in from a Batman or Daredevil comic. Otherwise, though, it's all good, with an appealing hero, great villains, and a real 80's action flick vibe.

Eduardo Barreto is a pro's pro, providing straight-forward, well-drawn artwork that serves the story and not the artist's original art sales (although I'd gladly buy any page of this, had I the scratch). I can't even begin to be objective about his art – I just love his work too damned much. The extended action scenes are brilliantly choreographed (not particularly easy to do with gunfights and an inherently static medium), his characters all distinctive and brilliantly designed, his girls sexy as hell.

I hope that Beau and Eduardo are given the opportunity to return to the character someday. I think the market needs more books like this, and I know I do.

Six out of Six Bullets.

Cobb is still available and can be purchased directly from IDW Publishing.

Private Eyes (The Saint)

2007-04-12T01:38:00.001-04:00

Written by Leslie Charteris
Illustrated by John Spranger
3-Issues, B&W, Comics Format
Eternity Comics, 1988

So much for maintaining the pace! I haven't posted so far this week, 'cause I've been busy writing crime comics of my own (Femme Noir and Gravedigger) and watching crime movies (like the new director's cut of Payback and Crank), and haven't had as much time to kick back with a comic book or three.

But, still, I did manage to dig out and re-read these three issues of Eternity Comics' Private Eyes. And I'm glad I did.

Private Eyes was one of several titles from Eternity Comics (a division of B&W behemoth Malibu Comics, which was riding high in the late Eighties) reprinting vintage newspaper strips, including Sherlock Holmes, Crime Classics (The Shadow) and Cosmic Heroes (Buck Rogers). In this case, the reprinted material consisted of the Fifties strip based on the gentleman adventurer known as The Saint, a character famous from a hugely popular series of magazine stories, novels, radio shows and films (and later, several TV series). The newspaper feature was written by the character's original creator, Leslie Charteris, and illustrated by the incredible John Spranger.

I'm not sure how many issues of Private Eyes Eternity published, but I have issues #1-#3, which reprint the daily and Sunday strips from March 22, 1954 through July 25 of the same year. This includes one entire continuity and most of another. In the first, suave Simon Templar exposes criminals running a rigged TV giveaway contest, and in the second, he investigates a seemingly-crazy old man who publicly offers to murder anyone who wants to die, but lacks the nerve to commit suicide. This story is particularly clever, as the cunning coot has actually come up with a scheme seemingly both legal and insidious.

Charteris' scripts are smart and witty, and Simon Templar (alias "The Saint") is the same, enigmatic, charming rogue he always was in his creator's talented hands. As mentioned above, the villains and their plots are clever and twisty, and Charteris' deft writing makes it all a pleasure to read.

John Spranger's art is of the kind you rarely see anymore: slick, impeccably rendered, clear and detailed (especially on the Sunday pages). Faces are simple and elegantly designed, necessarily conveying a lot of characterization through caricature. It's really beautiful stuff, and I wish more of today's comic book artists would go back and look at the work of these old strip artists. They could learn a lot.

Here's a neat little bit of trivia: the covers to all three issues are simple panel blow-ups from the strip, but they're colored by crime fiction fan Bruce Timm, producer of Batman The Animated Series and most of the DC animated projects of the last couple of decades.

For fans of vintage newspaper comics – especially detective and crime strips – I recommend picking these up if you should stumble upon them in a back-issue bin. The art alone is worth it.

Five out of Six Bullets.

A Week in the Gutters

2007-04-08T23:27:00.000-04:00

One week ago, I launched this blog.

In that time, I've published a dozen comic book and graphic novel reviews and one "news" item, posted an entire, rare, Gil Kane comic story, received positive public comments from writers Steven Grant and Chuck Dixon, and a few unhappy private ones from others who shall remain nameless.

Not bad for a start.

I've also tweaked the layout and fine-tuned the features, and I'm pretty happy with the current configuration, although I'm always open to suggestions.

I've pulled out a handful of books that I'll try to get to over the coming days, including Beau Smith & Eduardo Barreto's Cobb, the first couple issues of the old Marvel P.I. series Dakota North, Andrew Vachss' Cross, and some more of Bob Hall's Armed & Dangerous comics. And now that the site's been around a week, I'll probably have to write up a Sin City collection or revisit some Ms. Tree just to maintain my genre credibility.

Also, as an indirect result of this new endeavor, Rick Burchett and I have started talking about our own crime property, Gravedigger again, and have started laying the groundwork for a sequel. I'm back to work on the script I began three years ago, Rick's adjusting his schedule to fit it in, and I've signed on my old Shadow House collaborator, Fred Harper (who also painted that awesome Gravedigger variant cover above), to provide gritty finished art over Rick's pencils. It should be sweet.

You read it here first.

As a teaser, here's a pin-up that Fred did for the first Gravedigger comic:

Anyway, thanks to everyone who's made a point of visiting this site, and especially those who have been linking to it or mentioning it in their own blogs. I appreciate it. I don't know how long I'll manage to keep up this pace, but right now, I'm still fired up and enthusiastic about what I'm doing here.

Hope you're diggin' it, too.

By the way, the original Gravedigger is still available from Rorschach Entertainment – cheap!

Modesty Blaise: The Graphic Novel

2007-04-07T12:13:00.000-04:00

Written by Peter O'Donnell
Illustrated by Dick Giordano
Color, Graphic Novel
DC Comics, 1994

Originally announced as a miniseries by DC Comics, this adaptation of the first Modesty Blaise prose novel by creator/author Peter O'Donnell and veteran comics artist Dick Giordano, was ultimately released in trade paperback form as an original graphic novel.

The character of international adventuress Modesty Blaise first appeared in a British newspaper strip in 1963, written by O'Donnell and illustrated by Jim Holdaway. The strip ran until 2001, with O'Donnell always scripting, and featuring extremely fine art by a number of talented British and European artists. (Many of these strips have been reprinted over the years, and I'll get around to reviewing some of those reprint collections here eventually.)

In 1966, a big-budget feature film was produced, with the first-draft screenplay by O'Donnell. Unfortunately, the movie, which starred model Monica Vitti and Terence Stamp (The Limey), was something of a campy, incoherent disaster, but cunning O'Donnell turned a sow's ear into a silk purse by adapting his original script into prose, which kicked off a highly-regarded series of Modesty Blaise adventure novels, including Sabre-Tooth, I, Lucifer, The Impossible Virgin and The Xanadu Talisman.

This 1994 graphic novel is based on the first book, Modesty Blaise, and it's a globe-trotting action-adventure story in the finest tradition of the genre.

The tale begins when Sir Gerald Tarrant, working for the British government, contacts Modesty Blaise – a lovely ex-thief and former international crime boss – to inform her that her friend (and former right-hand man), the charming Willie Garvin, has fallen afoul of some South American revolutionaries and is awaiting execution in a banana republic prison. She uses the information to rescue Garvin, and then – as Tarrant hoped she would – feels obligated to pay off the debt by taking on a job for the British government protecting a huge diamond shipment from theft by a former competitor named Gabriel. The case takes them from the French Riviera to Cairo to a small Turkish island with a mysterious monastery, with lots of gunfights, judo and steamy encounters along the way. Great stuff.

Not much to say about this one other than it's good. Very good. By the time of this graphic novel, O'Donnell had been writing Blaise and Garvin for thirty years, so it's virtually impossible to find anything to complain about in the writing. The plot is twisty and intriguing, dialogue solid, and the characterizations are well-drawn.

And speaking of well-drawn, Giordano's art job is fantastic: pure, old school adventure comics. He's a little bit past his prime here, but that still puts him way ahead of most artists in the field. His women are as beautiful as ever, his men suitably heroic – or sinister, as necessary – and his storytelling is virtually flawless. There are a few places where the inking looks maybe a bit rushed or backgrounds a bit sketchy, but nothing that really hurts the look of the book.

My only real comment is that Modesty feels very much like a product of the Sixties rather than the Nineties. The source novel was written around 1966, of course, and Giordano was one of the top artists of the so-called Silver Age, so it shouldn't be surprising that the book should echo the aesthetics of that era. It's really up to the reader as to whether or not they consider that an asset or deficit.

Hey – it works for me.

Fans of the character should definitely try to hunt this up, and action-adventure aficionados who are unfamiliar with the character might find this to be an enjoyable and accessible introduction to the Modesty Blaise canon. The graphic novel appears to be out of print, but it's worth looking for.

Six out of Six Bullets.

Agent Unknown

2007-04-07T10:12:00.000-04:00

Written by Robert J. Sodaro
Pencilled by Dell Barras
Inks by Lan Medina & Cesar Magsombol
3-Issues, B&W Comics Format
Renegade Press, 1987

This short-lived series from Renegade Press, long-time home of comicdom's most successful P.I. comic, Ms. Tree, was one of several apparent, unsuccessful attempts by the publisher in its waning days to appeal to the same crime/adventure audience.

Agent Unknown is, frankly, a disappointing book with an intriguing, original premise full of potential. Clearly intended to be an ongoing series, every issue of AU contained two self-contained stories, each focusing on different agents of the same fictional spy agency.

The first story in each of the three issues is a chapter in the ongoing saga of "Deuces and Jacks," two brothers who work for the LED (Law Enforcement Division) in the early 1960's, while the back-up tales focus on "Stacy Anne Duncan," an operative for the ILED (as in "International") in the 1970's. The Deuces & Jacks stories are related chronologically, while the Stacy Anne Duncan stories jump around to different points in her career.

In the first issue, it's 1961, and Jefferson Davis "Deuces" Seven and Andrew Jackson "Jacks" Seven – who come across kinda like grown-up versions of the Hardy Boys playing spy – prevent an Arabian sheik from blackmailing the U.S. with a microdot containing a list of double agents. In the second story, set ten years later, CIA agent Stacy Anne Duncan battles machine-gun toting assassins who don't want her to take the high-ranking position she's just been offered with the ILED, while protecting the life of a churlish senator.

In Issue #2, the boys travel to Martha's Vineyard, and take on an unauthorized mission to save the reputation of an old family friend by breaking up a large gambling organization. In Stacy's story, it's 1978, and she's single-handedly taking out a drug dealer who's gotten his hands on state secrets before he can sell them to the enemy. She's also reunited with an old acquaintance/love interest, whom she offers a job.

In #3, Deuces & Jacks' story continues, as they travel to Vegas and uncover a Nazi war criminal. In the Stacy Anne Duncan adventure, we've jumped back to 1970, when, as a rookie agent of the CIA, she first meets the aforementioned love interest, as they are assigned to work together to apprehend and extradite an IRA assassin.

Robert J. Sodaro had a good idea here. Had the series lasted, it might have developed into something very interesting. But, as it ended up, it's an unfortunate misfire.

Sodaro's stories are well-plotted and nicely paced, making good use of their limited page counts. Each story is essentially self-contained and more-or-less satisfying. Characterizations are also fairly deftly established and well-realized, considering the relative brevity of the stories. Unfortunately, his dialogue is frequently clunky and the narrative captions stilted; he also has an annoying fondness for ending captions with ellipses... which often make it feel... like the narrators... are having difficulty.... maintaining their... trains of thought.

The pencilling by Dell Barras is good, solid, professional work. However, I've always felt that his characters have a certain generic quality to them, lacking distinctive features or personality, and that's the case here as well. The inking on the first two issues is fine, while the third issue looks sloppy and rushed. Throughout, though, the art looks like it was intended to be colored, with open, airy linework reminiscent of the era's super hero books.

The covers are just bland, with unexciting layouts, drab colors, and an amateurish, uninspired logo that does nothing to convey what the book is about nor "sell" the product.

Unfortunately, it just feels as if no one involved was really up to meeting the challenge of the book's intriguing premise. There's a lot of possible reasons for this; creating a black & white title for a small press publisher with limited resources can result in a lot of compromises – believe me, I've been there. Artists often cannot afford to commit the necessary time, inkers and letterers bail out, and editors/publishers can become apathetic. One gets the impression reading these issues that all that may have occurred, and more.

Nonetheless, what counts is the final product, and ultimately, Agent Unknown is almost worse than bad – it's mediocre.

Two out of Six Bullets.

NEWSFLASH: Torpedo 1936 Available!

2007-04-06T16:31:00.000-04:00

This just in:

Apparently, the folks at Bud Plant recently found a bunch of copies of the last few Torpedo 1936 graphic albums by Sanchez Abuli and Jordi Bernet in the back of their warehouse somewhere, under some old First Kingdoms or something, and are currently offering Volumes 5-7 at incredibly reasonable prices. In fact, you can get all three volumes, brand new, for just about twenty bucks!

I don't know how long these will last, but I've ordered a set for myself and strongly recommend that all of you buy some, too. You'll find them here.

This has been a public service message from Guns In the Gutters.

Thanks to Joe Williams for the tip-off!

The Hat Squad

2007-04-06T02:00:00.000-04:00

Written By Jay Faerber
Art & Lettering Eric Yonge
B&W, Graphic Novel
Moonstone Noir, 2002

Based on the same real-life group of Fifties LAPD detectives that inspired the 1996 film Mulholland Falls, this 48-page graphic novel marks writer Jay Faerber's (Dodge's Bullets) first professional foray into the crime comics genre.

The Hat Squad is set in pre-Miranda Rights Los Angeles, 1955. Sgt. Jake Thurman is the head of "The Hat Squad," four big, tough plainclothes cops from Robbery-Homicide, who aren't afraid to bust heads and break rules in pursuit of what they consider justice. When B-movie actress Shiela Rivers is brutally beaten to death with a baseball bat, the Squad sets out to find the killer. When they finally do, they realize that they don't have enough evidence to convict the perp legally, so they arrange to have him "punished" for his crime... outside the law.

I have to admit, I have a number of problems with this book. While Faerber is a talented writer and clearly loves the genre, this particular story just doesn't quite work for me. Characterizations are so slight as to be practically non-existent – I just re-read it, and of the four members of the Hat Squad I can only recall the names of three of them. I know that one is the young, inexperienced rookie, one might be married with a kid, and another has a moustache. And that they all really like beating people up. That's it.

As detectives, well, the only investigative technique they seem to know is finding people who might have known the victim and questioning them with their fists. Even when they finally do "find" the person they believe is the killer, it's based on the word of an informant with a grudge, and they have no actual evidence whatsoever. In fact, I'm still not sure they had the right guy.

And you know, I do realize that might have been the point – that maybe the book is intended to be an indictment of police brutality and how such methods actually undermine justice... but if so, the message is muddled by the characters' – and creators' – apparent enthusiasm for violence.

The dialogue is also problematic. It's a period piece, but some of the expressions voiced by the characters don't ring true to the book's milieu. In one scene, a homosexual suspect is referred to as "gay," and my understanding is that that particular term didn't come into common use until some years later. I'm thinking that a tough L.A. detective in '55 would probably have used "queer" or "fruit" instead. I'm also not sure that people – other than beatniks, maybe – "hung out" all that much in the mid-Fifties. These aren't necessarily mistakes – hell, I wasn't around back then, and I'm no linguistics expert – but they did jar, and slightly undermined the verismilitude of Faerber's story.

Eric Yonge's art is quite good, for the most part. The storytelling is clear and easy to follow. His figure work is solid, faces are distinctive, and the period clothing and backgrounds are all very well-drawn and appear authentic. The inking is competent and professional, but there's not much there in the way of texture, shadow or atmosphere. Frankly, the open, airy linework desperately cries out for color. In B&W, it just looks unfinished.

I would like to see Faerber return to the genre – and even this property – one day. He's got a lot more experience under his belt now, and his enthusiasm and affection for the genre is evident.

As it is, The Hat Squad is not a bad book, it's just not as strong as it could have been.

Three out of Six Bullets.

Anything Goes #1 – "Savage"

2007-04-04T23:13:00.000-04:00

Written & Illustrated by Gil Kane
Colored By Mark Wheatley
Color Comic Format
Fantagraphics Books, 1986

In 1986, Fantagraphics needed to raise funds for one or another of their many court battles, and persuaded a number of creators to contribute free material to a miniseries cleverly titled Anything Goes (because, one presumes, they'd take anything). Considering the talents involved, it should come as no surprise that there were a few genuine gems scattered throughout the miniseries' run, including this 4-page Savage vignette by Gil Kane.

The character of Savage first appeared in a B&W comics magazine called, appropriately enough, His Name Is... Savage, published in 1968. Disappointingly, there were no further issues, but "Return of the Half-Man," illustrated and conceived by Gil Kane, with a text-heavy script by Archie Goodwin, was a memorable and early attempt at creating comics targeted specifically at adult readers. It was an exciting, ultra-violent "Men's Adventure," tale, with gorgeous artwork and a brutal, amoral protagonist visually modeled after both actor Lee Marvin and Kane himself.

In '82, Fantagraphics reprinted that seminal story (and I'll be reviewing it here sooner or later) as Gil Kane's Savage! In the years following that reprint edition, Kane would occasionally hint that he was working on a new adventure of the character, and was apparently still planning a new miniseries at the time of his death in 2000. But, as far as I know, the only other time he actually succeeded in getting the character back to print was with these four, little-seen pages from Anything Goes.

There's no point in writing a review of this, really. There's no story to speak of. It's simply a four-page fight scene brilliantly choreographed and executed in pen and ink (probably a Flair pen, based on other Kane originals I've seen from the era) by a master of the craft. But neither do I think it deserves to be forgotten, buried in a long-ago, obscure anthology benefit series, so here it is.

Consider this my review (click on the images for a larger view):

Six out of Six Bullets.

Danse

2007-04-04T16:26:00.001-04:00

Written By Mark Wayne Harris
Pencils By Darrell Goza
Inks By Tom McWeeny
B&W, Comics Format
Blackthorne Publishing, 1987

Now, here's an obscure one: Danse #1.

A one-shot (was it ever intended to be an ongoing or miniseries? I have no idea) comic featuring an African-American lesbian private eye in a story of love, betrayal, murder and prejudice.

Sounds promising, huh? Well...

First we have the Mark Beachum cover, which makes it look like the book is about a female space pirate or something. Now, I know that outfit isn't really all that far-fetched for the 80's, but what's with the outer space starfield background? Oy.

The story: Danse St. Clair is an ex-cop turned upscale private eye, who was drummed out of the NYPD when her partner outed her to the press. One evening she receives a phone call from her ex-lover, who's been receiving death threats. In investigating, she meets a drug dealer that she ends up killing in self-defense, has a run-in with her bigoted ex-partner, and finally uncovers the identity of the man behind the threats – a person from her own past. The ending – while a bit predictable – is downbeat, and suitably noir.

Writer Mark Wayne Harris (Street Wolf), turns in a decent script here, although his last page, last panel "twist" is both unnecessary and obvious. Otherwise, though, the story is a solid little P.I. tale, with good characterizations and dialogue. And as a lead character, Danse has enough interesting traits to make sequels appealing, although – as far as I can tell – there were no further stories.

Unfortunately, as was common from small publishers of the time, the B&W art is amateurish and under-detailed. Layouts are uninteresting, backgrounds are sketchy, and important visual "props," like firearms and automobiles, have a generic, un-researched look to them. The inking is particularly bad, looking rushed and haphazardly executed. The poor art seriously undermines the effect of the story, and that's a real shame, since the title was somewhat ahead of its time in its subject matter.

The issue includes a long editorial by Harris explaining the genesis of the story, and a somewhat rambling explanation of why he chose to write about such a controversial subject as homosexuality. Reading it now, two decades later, Harris' editorial seems somewhat overwrought and defensive, but to be fair, at the time of this book's release, this sort of subject matter was rare in comics, and even in mainstream crime fiction.

In fact, Harris deserves some sort of recognition for broaching the subject matter in a thoughtful, non-exploitative way before it was common – even trendy – to do so, and for that reason alone, the book is worth checking out, if you should stumble across a copy in a quarter bin. Too bad about the art, though.

Three out of Six Bullets

Last of the Independents

2007-04-03T21:29:00.000-04:00

Written By Matt Fraction
Illustrated By Kieron Dwyer
Graphic Novel, Sepia-Tone
AiT/Planet Lar, 2003

Last of the Independents is a superior "one-last-caper" tale with well-defined, likable characters, a plot that deviates refreshingly from formula, and a distinctively different publishing format.

Before we get to the story, let's discuss that format. LotI is presented in a horizontal, landscape format and is perfect bound along one short end, i.e. "sideways." Fortunately for collectors, the publisher – in a surprisingly well thought-out move – has provided the 104-page paperback book with a vertical slipcover that allows for convienient shelving with your other graphic novels and trade paperbacks. The artwork is rendered in various shades of sepia (or, as we call it around here, "brown"), which gives the entire book an appropriately "dusty" atmosphere that suits its rural Southwest setting.

Now, to the story: Cole Caudle, the middle-aged owner of a failed rural amusement park, decides that it's time to be a winner for a change, and robs a small-town bank with the help of his pretty young lover, barnstormer Justine Worrell, and his hulking, somewhat retarded mechanic, Billy. The job goes relatively smoothly, but when they get back to the park and count the money, they're stunned to find they have over eight million dollars. Mob money, of course. Vegas mob money in specific, and the Outfit wants it back. Before long, the old amusement park is surrounded by Italian guys in black suits and sunglasses, and it looks like it's gonna be war.

Matt Fraction's script is smart and wry, with some particularly sharp dialogue and clever bits of characterization. Where he excels, though, is in knowing when to shut up and let the art carry the story, and he's fortunate to have a colllaborator capable of letting him do that.

Kieron Dwyer's art is frankly perfect. Characters, environments, vehicles all look and "feel" real. His visual storytelling is highly accomplished, with carefully conceived layouts that use varied panel sizes and placement to convey everything from moments of intense emotion to flowing, cinematic action. It's beautiful stuff, and the sepia-tone color scheme really works.

I hadn't read this in a while, and I'd forgotten how good it is. Last of the Independents is by far one of the best crime graphic novels I've read, a rock-solid piece of work that respects the conventions of the genre while never, ever feeling particularly imitative or derivative. Highly recommended.

Six out of Six Bullets.

Last of the Independents is still available and can be purchased through Amazon and Khepri.com.

Chuck Dixon on Mad Dogs

2007-04-03T16:20:00.000-04:00

After my review of Mad Dogs was posted a couple days ago, author Chuck Dixon posted this response over on his forum:

Thanks for the review!

The genesis of this series is interesting.

I was creating new properties for a Swedish publisher and they specifically asked for a very violent police thriller. When I handed it in they were horrified. They paid me but never published it. I offered it to Eclipse and they picked it up.

It is scheduled to be reprinted soon in a different format.

Can't wait to see the new edition and add it to my collection. Once I have more information, I'll post it here so interested readers can track it down and buy their own copies.

Thanks, Chuck!

Armed & Dangerous Special

2007-04-03T05:18:00.000-04:00

"Saturday Night Special"
Written & Illustrated by Bob Hall
One Shot, B&W Comics Format
Armada, 1996

When Frank Miller's Sin City became a huge hit in the 90's, some publishers gambled that crime comics were going to be the new "big thing." One of those companies was Acclaim Comics, who jumped on the bandwagon with several titles, beginning with writer/artist Bob Hall's Armed & Dangerous, published under their creator-owned "Armada" imprint.

Hall, who'd made a name for himself on various Marvel and Acclaim superhero titles, kicked off the A&D franchise with a 4-issue miniseries, drawn in a stark, black and white pseudo-Miller style. Apparently, it sold pretty well, and it was soon followed by this one-shot "special" and a second miniseries.

I'll get around to those two miniseries two of these days, but right now, we're looking at "Saturday Night Special," the familiar story of an aging stripper named Kandi Kane (nee "Kathy Kowalski"), who, one evening after a hard night at the strip joint, makes the near-fatal mistake of helping a young hooker escape from the car of a sadistic john. Soon, she and the teenage prostitute are on the run from the unhappy john – who turns out to be a drug dealer – and the girl's own pimp, Slik.

The story is slight, without much weight or originality, but it's entertaining enough. The characters are pretty much stock "street" types, and the dialogue is post-Tarantino "tough." However, Hall employs the creative device of having Kandi narrate the story, occasionally "breaking the fourth wall" by appearing on-panel to "speak" directly to the reader, and that brings a little freshness to the otherwise routine tale.

Hall's A&D art – as I mentioned before – seems to be a deliberate aping of Miller's Sin City style, with a high-contrast, highly graphic look that's very different from the artist's previous superhero work. It's not bad – Hall is a very talented artist and knows his craft – but it definitely feels derivative.

In the end, the A&D Special is a decent enough little genre piece, but nothing to write home about. As I recall, the two miniseries are better.

Three out of Six Bullets

Mad Dogs

2007-04-02T04:23:00.000-04:00

Written By Chuck Dixon
Illustrated By Victor Toppi
3-Issues, B&W Comics Format
Eclipse Comics, 1992

Chuck Dixon has written a lot of crime comics. Most of them, though, have headlined such spandex-clad characters as Batman, The Punisher and Catwoman, and therefore fall outside the purview of this blog. (Doesn't mean you shouldn't hunt 'em down and read 'em, though.)

Mad Dogs, however, is a straight-up, no bullshit crime story; dark, brutal, action-packed, and with nary a cape nor cowl in sight.

Guy Brennan, an ex-cop booted from the force for rule-breaking and excessive force, is charged by the Philadelphia D.A.'s office with forming a special, quasi-official anti-crime unit. He proceeds to recruit four more loose cannons like himself and one sexy "Dirty Harriet," before setting his sights on bringing down an Asian drug dealer named Billy Lin. Without badges or warrants, his team swings into action, and before long, bullets are flying, blood is spraying, and it looks like his new team's days are numbered.

This is some hardcore stuff. When we first meet Brennan, he's sucking on the barrel of a .45, about to eat a bullet. Pretty much every member of his team is responsible for at least one dead criminal before they even join his squad, and the depiction of gang violence in the series is disturbingly realistic. Dixon's dialogue is tough and convincing, and characters are skillfully and economically established in a minimum of pages, leaving plenty of space for the elaborate action sequences.

Toppi's art is the very definition of "gritty," with intricately detailed linework bringing considerable texture and atmosphere to the urban jungle setting of Dixon's tale. The crumbling slums and dilapidated crackhouses are so lovingly rendered that you can almost smell the rot and decay.

On the down side, Toppi's storytelling can get a little muddled at times, and in a few places, poor placement of word balloons by the letterer made following the dialogue a little confusing. Overall, though, the book is nearly as satisfying visually as it is narratively.

Mad Dogs is a mean, violent crime story with interesting – if not necessarily likable – characters that deserved a sequel (or two). Too bad that never happened. But in many ways, this feels like a warm-up for the tales Dixon would go on to tell in mainstream books like The Punisher, and those are worth reading, too.

Four out of Six Bullets

The P.I.'s

2007-04-02T00:06:00.000-04:00

Written By Max Allan Collins
Pencilled by Joe Staton
Inked By Terry Beatty
3-Issues, Color Comic Format
First Comics, 1985

When this three-issue miniseries originally came out, it was something of an event, marking, as it did, a major crossover between two independent comic book companies. Sure, that sort of thing is commonplace nowadays, but in '85, it was notable.

In this case, the story was a head-on collision between First Comics' diminuitive, near-sighted detective, Michael "Don't call me Mickey!" Mauser, and Renegade Press' hardboiled lady dick, Ms. "My name is Michael, too!" Tree, in a murder mystery set in the world of comics fandom.

Now, from the beginning, this miniseries seemed a tricky proposition. After all, P.I. Mauser was a supporting character in E-Man, a humorous adventure series about a sentient blob of stellar energy-turned-superhero (E-Man) and "its" exotic dancer girlfriend-with-superpowers (Nova Kane), while Ms. Tree – despite Collins' penchant for pun-nish names – was a relatively grounded crime series that dealt with such real-world issues as pedophile serial killers, abortion clinic bombings and underage porn stars. As a fan of both characters, I was dubious about their pairing, despite my admiration for all of the creative talents involved.

But I shouldn't have worried. Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition) manages to construct a temporary shared milieu that's slightly more realistic than usual for the Mauser character, while slightly more fantastic than usual for Ms. Tree. In fact, while E-Man and Nova do make clever cameo appearances – in costume, even – they're never shown using their powers, nor are their powers even referred to.

The story deals with husband and wife comics fans who are accused of murdering a sleazy comics dealer. Mauser and Tree are hired to clear their clients, and, working together reluctantly, soon uncover the true murderer, a mysterious, costumed killer who takes his hobby just a bit too much to heart. It's not quite as serious as most of the mystery stories that appeared in Ms. Tree's own title, but it's fun.

Staton's pencils are great, as usual, with clear, straightforward layouts reminiscent of Johnny Craig. Terry Beatty's inks, though not as accomplished as they would later become, still demonstrate the clean, crisp line that is his trademark, and lend themselves particularly well to the coloring and production methods of the era. It's good stuff.

Upon re-reading this miniseries a couple weeks ago, I marveled at the realization that it had been over 20 years since The P.I.'s hit comic shop shelves. In many ways, it still seemed fresh, and its observations about the comic book field – and comics fandom, in particular – still quite relevant and perceptive.

Just goes to show you that quality work will always hold up, and that great work is timeless.

Five out of Six Bullets.

Torpedo

2007-04-01T21:09:00.000-04:00

Written by E. Sanchez Abuli
Illustrated by Jordi Bernet
4-Issues, B&W Comic Format
Hard Boiled Comics, 1993

Pretty much my favorite crime comic of all – based on the relative handful of stories I've been able to read – is E. Sanchez Abuli and Jordi Bernet's Torpedo. The long-running European comic chronicles the "adventures" of Depression-era New York hitman Luca Tortelli, alias "Torpedo," probably the nastiest piece of work to ever headline his own strip.

Utterly ruthless and amoral, Torpedo makes my own criminal comics protagonist, "Gravedigger" McCrae, look like a boy scout. In one of the twelve stories reprinted in this miniseries, "The Unrepentant," Torpedo shoots a priest in the back, in church, and then washes his face in holy water before smashing open the alms box to snag a twenty. In another, he wipes out a bunch of thugs who've been hassling a fishmonger, and then takes his payment by attempting to rape the seafood merchant's gorgeous wife. And in "My First Job," we learn how teenage immigrant Luca went from starving shoeshine boy to professional killer.

The guy's no role model, that's for sure.

Unfortunately, the English versions of the original, oversized graphic album collections are long out of print, hard to find, and expensive when you do, so I haven't got many. I do have these four Torpedo comic books that Fantagraphics put out in the early 90's (under their short-lived "Hard Boiled Comics" imprint), but they only whetted my appetite.

Each issue contains three 8-page Torpedo tales, translated by Gil Jordan. Without exception, they're genuinely hardboiled, uncompromising crime stories with some of the most beautiful comic book art I've ever seen. Both Alex Toth and Joe Kubert have sung Bernet's praises, and it's no wonder. His assured, flowing brushwork, skillful storytelling and authentic period detailing give the brutally violent, politically incorrect stories a sort of grotesque beauty that is a pleasure to behold.

I love this stuff, and hope someday that some American publisher has the balls to reprint more of the series. Torpedo is as good as the genre gets.

Six out of Six Bullets.

Pat Novak For Hire

2007-04-01T20:03:00.000-04:00

Written By Steven Grant
Illustrated by Tom Mandrake
48 Pages, B&W One-Shot
Moonstone Books, 2006

The most recent release from the Moonstone Noir imprint, Pat Novak For Hire is based on a 1940's radio show starring Jack Webb. The radio show has the reputation of being one of the most hardboiled and cynical of its type, and in this one-shot comic, writer Steven Grant (The Punisher, Damned) and artist Tom Mandrake (The Spectre, GrimJack) have lived up to the show's high standards, cleverly updating the character while adding a bit of sly humor to the mix.

You see, it's 2006 and Novak's still around, a retired senior citizen living on his houseboat at Pier 19 in San Francisco with his adult granddaughter, Malone. When a young woman comes to him asking questions about an old case, he soon finds himself revisiting the decades-old murder investigation, where he is reminded once again that there are no easy answers, secrets rarely stay that way, and things are never what they seem.

You know – the usual.

Grant's story is suitably twisty and tightly plotted in the best P.I. tradition, with snappy dialogue and solid, deftly-drawn characterizations. The true genius of the book, though, is the handling of Novak himself.

Some years ago, the late, great noir icon, Robert Mitchum, guested on Saturday Night Live. The highlight of that episode was a sketch in which Mitchum parodied his Philip Marlowe role from Farewell My Lovely, by once again portraying a classic 40's private eye, complete with hardboiled narration. The joke, though, was that instead of a voice over, Mitchum spoke his narration out loud. The reactions of the other characters to Mitchum's audible "inner monologue" were priceless.

Well, Grant has borrowed that gimmick, with the slightly-senile Novak (who, as drawn by Mandrake, somewhat resembles the elderly Mitchum) providing an ongoing, metaphor-laden commentary – out loud – as he goes about his investigation. As in the Saturday Night Live episode, the other characters react to Novak's rambling in a variety of humorous ways, and it allows Grant to affectionately satirize the genre without pushing it all the way over into outright parody.

Mandrake's moody black & white art perfectly suits Grant's gritty story. The inking style is sketchy and loose, with plenty of appropriately noir shadows. Each character is distinctive and expressive, and the storytelling is straightforward and clear.

This is by far one of the Moonstone Noir line's best titles, and a great crime comic. If I have any complaints, it's that it's a one-shot and that today's market wouldn't support an ongoing title like this. Personally, I'd love to read more of Novak's adventures – the old guy's still got a lot of life in him!

Five out Six Bullets.

Pat Novak for Hire is still available and can be purchased directly from Moonstone Books.

Warning Shot

2007-04-01T17:31:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Guns In The Gutters.

I'm a big fan of crime comics. Stories about hardboiled private eyes, professional felons, and urban mercenaries are my absolute favorite genre, in fiction, film and comic books. Over the years, I've collected pretty much every comic book and graphic novel that I could get my hands on that did not feature spandex-clad do-gooders.

Don't get me wrong – I love me my superheroes, but I prefer characters that dwell in slightly more ambiguous universes, where good & evil are not so clearly defined, and characters need to rely on brains, brawn, luck, and a blue-steel .38 – rather than super powers – to persevere.

I was lucky that I came into my own as a comic book collector in the early 1980's. My addiction bloomed concurrently with the advent of the dedicated comic book store, and the rise of a new breed of independent comics publishers, who, in an effort to distinguish their product from the superhero-centric fare of DC and Marvel Comics, bravely experimented in other genres. Including crime. That was the decade of Ms. Tree, The Maze Agency, Detectives, Inc., Somerset Holmes and Jon Sable, Freelance, among other great titles.

But, oddly, most comic book fans just seem to prefer bodybuilders in tights (ahem) to weatherbeaten guys in trenchcoats, and by the 90's, those titles had faded away. Of the other attempts to revive the genre, only Frank Miller's hyper-noir series of miniseries, Sin City, actually managed any sort of longevity. Most other efforts, from Tony Bravado, Trouble-Shooter to Shut Up And Die, were short-lived and quickly forgotten.

Well, not completely.

You see, I frequently dig out those books and re-read them, something I don't do very often with my old super-hero, sword & sorcery, sci-fi, or horror comics. And I thought it would be fun to start reviewing those comics somewhere – both to help me better understand why these books speak to me so strongly, and to maybe draw some new attention to these great comics. I can't imagine anything cooler than if this blog inspired some new fans to go scouring e-bay and back-issue bins for these cordite-scented treasures.

By the way, I won't be reviewing the crime comics one-shot, GraveDigger: The Scavengers, the cover of which accompanies this post. That would be rather awkward, as I wrote the damned thing. But, I included the cover scan here because a.) it's a beautiful Rick Burchett illustration, b.) I'll take any opportunity to plug the friggin' thing, and c.) to demonstrate that my affection for the genre goes beyond merely collecting crime comics – I'm compelled to create them as well.

So, it's time to slip into the shoulder holster, double-check the clip of your trusty .45, grab your trenchcoat and fedora and hit the mean streets. After all, it's a hard old world out there, and you can't count on a flying guy in a cape to save your ass if you get into trouble.

Not in these comics, anyway.

By the way, Gravedigger is still available from Rorschach Entertainment – cheap!