Monday, May 06, 2013

Richard Stark's Parker: The Score - Darwyn Cooke


Darwyn Cooke continues adapting Donald E. Westlake's Parker series into graphic novel form with THE SCORE, the third volume in the series. And like the first two, it's wonderful, with a terse script and evocative artwork that captures the mid-Sixties era perfectly. This is the one where Parker and a crew that includes Alan Grofield try to loot an entire copper mining town in North Dakota, only to run into some unexpected problems. Seeing how Parker deals with those problems is one of the ongoing pleasures of this series.

I haven't read any of Westlake's novels that feature Grofield as the protagonist. He's an interesting character. I need to check them out. And as long as these graphic novel adaptations by Darwyn Cooke keep coming out, I'll be reading them, too. Highly recommended.

6 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Because I never learned to read action comics, graphic novels are difficult for me. Don't know how to follow the dialog/picture together.

Juri said...

Patti: you're never too old to learn!

James Reasoner said...

These Parker adaptations by Cooke aren't typical graphic novels, either. He's a great storyteller and the action is easy to follow.

Trent said...

The Grofields are pretty disposable, honestly, although they are enjoyable (although The Blackbird is pretty weak by Westlake's high standard, but fun due to its crossover with Slayground).

Or, I should say, they are pretty disposable until you get to Lemons Never Lie, which is up there with the top tier of the Parker books and essential if you're a fan of that series.

James Jones said...

Is the new movie starring Jason Statham/J Lo based on these books? I think I saw a credit in the movie that it was based on a Richard Stark's novel (not sure if it was Parker movie or Mel Gibson's Payback).

James Reasoner said...

Yep, that's right. I haven't seen the new movie yet, but I'm sure I will eventually.