Richard Stark's Parker, Vol. 1: The Hunter - Hardcover

Darwyn Cooke; Richard Stark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1600104932 ISBN 13: 9781600104930

Publisher: IDW Publishing, 2009

Synopsis

The groundbreaking Parker books are adapted for the first time as a series of graphic novels by legendary artist Darwyn Cooke introducing readers to the dangerous anti-hero's cold and calculated world of criminals, thugs, and grifters.

Darwyn Cooke’s beautifully stylized artwork perfectly compliments the hard-hitting action as originally written by legendary crime author Richard Stark. Parker is arguably one of the hardest hard-boiled characters in all of crime fiction and the original novels feature stories and prose that are as uncompromising as he is. This graphic novel adaptation perfectly matches the style and tone of Stark’s noir world.

The Hunter is the story of a man who hits New York head-on like a shotgun blast to the chest. Betrayed by the woman he loved and double-crossed by his partner in crime, Parker makes his way cross-country with only one thought burning in his mind — to coldly exact his revenge and reclaim what was taken from him!

Winner of the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Adaptation from Another Work.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Stark is the most famous pseudonym of world-renowned author Donald Westlake (1933-2008). In 1962 hecreated the master thief Parker and began a series of novels that have been recognized as seminal works of crime fiction. Several of Westlake’s books have been adapted by Hollywood and Westlake’s adaptation of The Grifters earned him an Academy Award nomination for best motion picture screenplay. Westlake has won numerous awards for his fiction and in 1993 the Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master, the highest honor bestowed by that prestigious society.

Darwyn Cooke (1962-2015) was a graphic designer and animator who turned his attention toward cartooning in the late nineties. Known primarily for his work on the DC line of superheroes, Cooke always had an affinity for crime fiction and has often cited the Parker books as a great source of creative inspiration. Cooke has won multiple Eisner, Harvey, and Shuster awards, as well as the National Cartoonist Society’s Best Series award. In 2008 Cooke was Emmy-nominated for the animated adaptation of his magnum opus, DC: The New Frontier.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. Cooke has transformed the first volume of the late Donald Westlake's long-running Parker series (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark), about an indomitable outlaw, into a smashing graphic novel, making its ferocious mood and retro aesthetics the stars of the show. Parker belongs to the bottom of the urban jungle's economic strata, but the top of its food chain—anyone who stands between him and his revenge is doomed, whether they're trying to resist him or just happen to be in the way. As the book begins, he's returning to New York City in the Kennedy era with murder in his eyes: double-crossed by his wife and partners, he's come back to kill whoever needs killing to get his money. Cooke has a real affinity for the tough-as-hammers tone of Westlake's story. His Parker doesn't seem to enjoy or dislike slaughter (or anything else); he's just doing what it takes to reach his goal, with a certain dispassionate savoir faire. And Cooke's delicious two-color artwork nails the look of the early '60s, from hairstyles and tiki bars to the illustrative technique that defined the era everywhere except for comics: angular caricatures that capture his characters' motion and expressions with a bare minimum of elegantly rugged lines. (July)
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About this edition

• Publisher: IDW Publishing
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1600104932
• ISBN 13: 9781600104930
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160
• Illustrator: Darwyn Cooke