West Coast Blues - Hardcover

Tardi, Jacques; Manchette, Jean-Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1606992953 ISBN 13: 9781606992951

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books, 2009

Synopsis

George Gerfaut, aimless young executive and desultory family man, witnesses a murder and finds himself sucked into a spiral of violence involving an exiled war criminal and two hired assassins. Adapting to the exigencies of his new life on the run with shocking ease, Gerfaut abandons his comfortable middle-class life for several months, until, joined with a new ally, he finally returns to settle all accounts... with brutal, bloody interest. Released in 2005, West Coast Blues (Le Petit bleu de la côte ouest) is Tardi's adaptation of a popular 1976 novel by the French crime writer Jean-Patrick Manchette. (The novel had been previously adapted to film under the more literal title Trois hommes à abattre, and was released in English by the San Francisco-based publisher City Lights under the English version of the same title, 3 to Kill.) Tardi's late-period, looser style infuses Manchette's dark story with a seething, malevolent energy; he doesn't shy away from the frequently grisly goings-on, while maintaining (particularly in the old-married-couple-style bickering of the two killers who are tracking Gerfaut) the mordant wit that characterizes his best work. This is the kind of graphic
novel that Quentin Tarantino would love, and a double shot of Scotch for any fan of unrelenting, uncompromising crime fiction

About this title

About the Author

The Marseilles-born Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) authored ten short, tough-minded, highly acclaimed crime novels, as well as a multitude of other books, screen- and teleplays, magazine columns, and translations of American crime and science fiction novels. A lifelong comics fan, he also wrote the hardboiled graphic novel Griffu for Jacques Tardi in 1978, and in the late 1980s, was selected to translate the French edition of Watchmen.

Tardi is a pioneering European cartoonist. His Adele Blanc-Sec series was adapted into a feature by Luc Besson, and he was behind the recent animated film April and the Extraordinary World. His comics are award-winning (including the U.S.'s Eisners). He lives in Paris with his wife, the singer Dominique Grange, and their cats.

Review

“Maybe it’s because blood and brain matter look somewhat more disturbing in the chunky, primitive black and white favored by famed French cartoonist Tardi, but there’s something particularly creepy about his adaptation of the late Manchette’s crime novel West Coast Blues that wouldn’t have been well served by color. ... Manchette’s plot is pure pulp, with a driving engine for a plot and a Lee Marvin-like inclination toward swift and unreflective action. Tardi’s art delivers the action with admirable punch and attitude to spare.”
- Publishers Weekly

“West Coast Blues shows a terrific sense of pace, place, and casual violence, all related with a firm grip on a beautifully spontaneous style that reeks of utterly justified self-confidence. To put it simply, this shit kicks ass.”
- Howard Chaykin, comic book artist and writer

“Recent months have seen an unusually high number of crime comics hitting the bookshelves, but this one’s among the best of the batch.”
- Gordon Flagg, Booklist

“The graphic novel, it turns out, is a form especially well-suited to the noir genre. Maybe this isn’t surprising―comics have always run the gamut of moods from goofy to autobiographical to just plain smutty. But it still gives a shiver of pleasure to stumble upon a graphic novel that captures the hardboiled tone of classic noir as perfectly as West Coast Blues, Jacques Tardi’s adaptation of a 1976 crime novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette. ... The plot includes bursts of brutality, dark realizations, alluring women and grizzled observations from its antihero―all the best conventions of noir, in other words, preserved and reborn in a fresh new medium. File it next to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.”
- Molly Young, We Love You So

“A savage noir thriller reuniting a master crime novelist and a superlative French cartoonist―the beginning of an ambitious publishing project introducing one of Europe’s most beloved cartoonists to American audiences.”
- Graphic Novel Reporter

“A well-crafted piece of genre entertainment. I dug it.”
- Sandy Bilus, I Love Rob Liefeld

“Tardi is one of the biggest literary stars of French comics...taking the ‘clear line’ style into a moody expressionist direction.”
- Heidi MacDonald, Publishers Weekly

“[G]ets under your skin and remains impossible to resist from start to finish... Darkly amusing and undeniably entertaining, West Coast Blues keeps the mystery and interest alive by carefully doling out pieces of the story and introducing intriguing characters with loads of personality... Tardi does an excellent job of adapting what must be a massively entertaining book into a graphic novel form for all who seek a slightly different but no less thrilling mystery/adventure story to enjoy.”
- Avril Brown, Comics Waiting Room

“Perhaps what makes West Coast Blues so captivating is how well it highlights the similarities between film and comics, while simultaneously showcasing its own unique ability as a graphic novel to capture the noir aesthetic through word and image. ... Not unlike many noir films, West Coast Blues is replete with car chases, hit-men, drinking, guns, and the occasional salacious scene. All of this is set in Tardi’s straightforward drawing style which is a good fit for the almost matter-of-fact, unsentimental manner in which violence, sex, and life in general are met with during the course of the book.”
- Sara Cole, PopMatters

“West Coast Blues is just the right mixture of action, suspense, and surprise to keep just about any reader’s attention. ... It’s hard to ignore the strength of Tardi’s art in making West Coast Blues such a strong graphic novel. ... West Coast Blues is a sharp, beautiful book. ... For people looking for a noir thriller, you’ve come to the right place.”
- Greg McElhatton, Read About Comics

About this edition

• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1606992953
• ISBN 13: 9781606992951
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80