Followers of the late Darwyn Cooke (1962-2016) will be pleased to see IDW’s Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition, Last Call Book 2.
It’s a massively long title for a massively entertaining big volume of Cooke’s interpretation of the hardboiled Parker character. It’s a cleanly designed, quality collection of two previously printed graphic novels (The Score and Slayground), along with a new tale by Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips. And much more.
Cooke’s drawing style is a hand-hewn combination of illustration, animation poses, and retro-looking line art. The compositions are truly excellent, making the reader think of Alex Toth’s brevity of shape and eye movement. Cooke knows his way around pacing, too; when to compress the action for excitement, and when to prolong and elongate the timeline to build character and suspense. It’s mobsters, mayhem, molls, and moolah.
It’s all here, big time. The stories, plus the long last call goodbyes and reminiscences from Darwyn’s colleagues. They talk about his humour, his mercurial moods, his undeniable talent. There are plenty of photos of group gatherings in Halifax Nova Scotia and across the States. The beer, the ciggies, the giggles. Unfortunately, the photos are all uncaptioned, leaving us to wonder who is collabbing with Cooke.
In addition, this Martini edition includes many many roughs, finished drawings, page layouts, and paintings by this talented, visually adventurous artist.
IDW, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition, Last Call Book 2, $99 for 336 pages softcover.
Newsdesk