Our Army at War - Darwyn Cooke, Billy Tucci, et al.

Don't let that Joe Kubert cover fool you. The stories in this trade paperback collection aren't reprints of classic yarns from the heyday of DC war comics. No, back in 2011, somebody came up with the idea of publishing single issues of the iconic titles OUR ARMY AT WAR, OUR FIGHTING FORCES, G.I. COMBAT, STAR-SPANGLED WAR STORIES, and WEIRD WAR TALES, featuring new stories by today's comics creators about the characters who starred in those comics 'way back when.

The results are, shall we say, a mixed bag. While it's always good to see Sgt. Rock and the other combat-happy joes of Easy Company, telling a story that cuts back and forth between World War II and post-9/11 Afghanistan just didn't work very well for me. I only liked one of the three stories from WEIRD WAR TALES, which was about a malfunctioning submarine trapped on the bottom after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I thought that was an intriguing idea, and it ended well. The story from the new version of OUR FIGHTING FORCES features The Losers, a team-up series from late in the original title's run that includes Marine riflemen Gunner and Sarge (the long-time stars of that book), one-legged P.T. boat commander Captain Storm, and Navajo flying ace Johnny Cloud. (Both of those latter two had their own series at times, as well.) I don't dislike any of these characters, but I never thought they worked well together and that their original incarnation was a little too forced.

But the Mademoiselle Marie series from STAR-SPANGLED WAR STORIES, about a beautiful French resistance fighter, was usually pretty good, and the new story featuring her in this collection is okay. The real high point of this volume, though, is the Haunted Tank story from G.I. COMBAT. I always enjoyed the original series, with stories by Robert Kanigher and great art by Russ Heath and Irv Novick. I've read reprints of some of those and they hold up very well. If you're not familiar with the concept, Sgt. Jeb Stuart (named after the legendary Civil War cavalry commander General J.E.B. Stuart) is a tank commander in North Africa assigned to an M3 Stuart tank (also named after the general). And it just so happens that the World War II sergeant is haunted by the ghost of the Civil War general, who often appears to him during battle to offer advice and philosophy. Now, you never really know for sure if Jeb is actually seeing the general's ghost or if he's just nuts, but that's part of the appeal of the series and that element appears in Matthew Sturges's new story, too. It's an excellent yarn with art by Phil Winslade, and it wouldn't have been out of place in the old G.I. COMBAT book.

Even though I was more of a superhero fan back in those days, I read a lot of those war comics, too, and surprisingly, they've stayed with me more than some of the superhero stuff has, and they hold up better on rereading, too. (The Essentials collection of SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS makes you realize just how really, really good that comic was in its early issues. Jack Kirby's art is fantastic, and Stan Lee's scripts are some of his best writing from that era. But I was talking about DC...) It's good to see new stories from that genre, and while I can't give this version of OUR ARMY AT WAR an unqualified recommendation, I think it's worth picking up if you're a long time fan like I am. (It appears to be out of print, but Amazon has used copies.)

Richard Stark's Parker: Slayground - Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel adaptations of Donald E. Westlake's Parker novels continue with SLAYGROUND. I actually haven't read all of the Parker novels (I know, I know, I should have by now), but I have read this one and remember enjoying it very much. It's the one in which Parker, after a botched armored car robbery, is trapped by gangsters and crooked cops in a deserted amusement park that's closed for the winter. That's it for the plot. But as always, Cooke's art and script perfectly capture the ultra-hardboiled tone of the books. I would never recommend that anybody should read these instead of the novels, but they make wonderful companion pieces.

This volume also contains a Parker short story "The 7eventh". I'm not sure if it's based on something Westlake wrote or if it's an original by Cooke, but either way it's good as well. I've read all four of these volumes so far and will continue to do so as long as Cooke wants to do them.

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.

Richard Stark's Parker: The Outfit - Darwyn Cooke

A while back I read THE HUNTER, the first of Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel adaptations of Donald E. Westlake's Parker series. Now I've read THE OUTFIT, the second in the series, and I continued to be very impressed by what Cooke is doing here. From what I remember of the original novels, these adaptations are very faithful, and Cooke's art, while deliberately a little cartoonish, perfectly captures the early Sixties era, while its dominant shades of blue, black, and gray give it a fine noirish feel. Don't think you can read these adaptations and skip the novels – you still need to read the books if you haven't already – but if you're a fan of the series I think you'll thoroughly enjoy what Cooke is doing. Highly recommended.

Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter - Darwyn Cooke

Like many fans of hardboiled and noir fiction, I’ve read most of the novels about the professional thief Parker that Donald E. Westlake wrote under the name Richard Stark. They’re great books, and one of these days I’ll catch up on the ones I haven’t read. But the idea of adapting one of them into a graphic novel probably never would have occurred to me.

Luckily, it occurred to Darwyn Cooke, who took the first Parker novel, THE HUNTER, and turned it into an excellent graphic novel of the same name. Cooke’s art is distinctive, to say the least, and it works very well here. He’s made the wise decision to set his adaptation in 1962, the era in which the source novel was published, and he does a fine job of capturing the feel of the early Sixties. Also, although it’s been a good while since I read the book and I don’t remember all the details, the script strikes me as a very faithful version that uses a lot of Westlake’s dialogue and narration. And man, does it move fast, just like Westlake’s novel.

There’s not much to say about this one. I liked it a lot. If you’re a fan of the Parker novels and haven’t read it yet, you really should.