“Parker: The Hunter” by Darwyn Cook
I loved Darwyn Cooke’s art and storytelling on DC: The New Frontier, volumes 1 and 2. In the back pages of the excellent comic-book series Criminal, I’ve noted Ed Brubaker’s regular recommendations of the Parker novels by Richard Stark, a pseudonym of the prolific Donald Westlake. So when Cooke’s adaptation of the first Parker novel, Richard Stark’s Parker: the Hunter, was published, I wanted to give it a shot.
With shaded pencils and minimal color, Cooke combines Stark’s words with his own distinctive art to create a great new story. The book was less of a whodunnit than about how Parker, a hulking, double-crossed bad ass, is going to take his revenge.
The night air was crisp. Parker was suddenly famished. He headed for his hotel, a hot shower, and a thick steak.
This is classic noir. There’s violence, and unflattering portrayals of women. As with the show Mad Men, I took this as a snapshot of a particular time and could enjoy the book on its retro merits, though some might not be able to.
Westlake died recently, and while his Parker books have been adapted before, most notably in Point Blank starring Lee Marvin as “Walker” and the less successful remake Payback with Mel Gibson as “Porter”, Cooke’s is the only one he allowed to use the Parker name.