Richard Stark's Parker The Hunter

 

Title: Richard Stark’s Parker Book One The Hunter

Series Type: Yearly Ongoing

Publisher: IDW

Creative Team:
            Writer & Artist: Darwyn Cooke

Genre: Crime, Noir

It took me about 10 pages into The Hunter to realize I had heard this story before.  Over a decade ago, I drove an hour out of my way to see Mel Gibson play this character (renamed Porter instead of Parker) in the movie Payback.  I know that movie may not have been the best received but I absolutely loved it.  I immediately bought the VHS (yep) upon release and eventually traded up for the DVD (No Bluray yet.  I’ll keep you posted).  I knew it was based on a book but over the years I had forgotten which one.  So there I sat only a couple minutes into Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter and I already knew I loved the story.  The only question was Cooke’s presentation.  Would he nail it or not?  (Spoiler alert, he nailed it).

The resemblance is all in the thick eyebrows.

The Hunter is the first in a series of comics by Darwyn Cooke adapting Richard Stark’s Parker Novels.  As I understand it, there are 16 novels by “Stark” about the Parker character.  So far Cooke has adapted 3 of them.  Richard Stark is one of the numerous pen names for the rather prolific, Donald Westlake who passed away about 4 years ago.  I haven’t read any of his novels (under any pen name) but I’ve really enjoyed the adaptations I’ve come across so far.  So hats off to Mr. Westlake and hats off to Darwyn Cooke and Mel Gibson for bringing him to my attention.  However, my “To Read” pile just increased by about a dozen and half.  Worse things have happened.

Parker hates when people try to talk to him when he's on the phone.

On to the story with minor spoilers!  You have been warned.  The Hunter is about a man named Parker.  Parker, like Madonna or Prince, is long past the need for more than one name. Parker’s story in the Hunter is about as basic as it gets, revenge. Someone tried to kill Parker and made the mistake of not finishing the job.  Before you go feeling sorry for Parker I have to say that he is a
bastard.  If there’s anyone that probably deserves to die it’s Parker but that’s sort of the fun of the story.  For a tale like this to work the people Parker is after have to be worse than he is.  They are worse, to be sure.  But fortunately for Parker while he is no worse than his prey, he is clearly smarter.  To say anything more than that would spoil the story. And in all honesty, saying even this much spoils the near wordless cold open just a little.  (There’s the minor spoiler you were warned about). So I’ll keep my mouth shut on the plot and move on to the quality.

First off, you can get each volume of Cooke’s Parker novels in trade form or in hardcover.  Do yourself a favor and buy the hardcover.  IDW has put out a very slick looking package.  Cooke’s art has always had sort of a Bruce Timm-Batman the Animated Series look to me.  Since all of those DC comics superhero shows always had a wholesome feel, it’s a little jarring to see that sort of style used to depict a world of violence, drugs, and prostitutes.  After regaining my bearings I have to say that I really enjoyed that art.  The characters are well rendered and I mostly could tell who everyone was just from faces.  The white, black, and blue color scheme served the story well.  I have to wonder if Cooke will shift his third color from volume to volume.  The black and blue look worked well with this very bruised feeling story but maybe red or green would fit the next story better.  I don’t know.  I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

Cooke does a great job of sitting back and letting his art tell the story.  A picture is worth a thousand words, yet some comic writers still attempt to describe what you’re looking at.  I think this happens a lot more in non-fiction indie comics.  So I was pleased to see Cooke knows when to draw and when to write.  It’s hard to properly pace a comic with several wordless pages but Cooke pulls it off with finesse.

After seeing Mel play the character in Payback all those years ago I’m glad to find out there is more to Parker’s story.  I’m excited to see where Parker’s path of destruction leads next and I’m happy to have Darwyn Cooke to lead me there.

Grade: A+