Richard Stark's Parker: The Outfit

Darwyn Cooke is an auteur comics creator. Therefore, one shouldn't expect his adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's Parker novels to be slavish beat-by-beat reiterations. No, Cooke makes these adaptations his own.

In this one, he includes the third Parker book, The Man With the Getaway Face, as a prologue to The Outfit, and it works. Cooke introduces an actor/thief who doesn't appear in the novels, and who serves as Parker's disguise guru. He cuts the scene where Parker travels south to get a truck. He merges the (in the book) murdered "Getaway" compatriot with the guy who fingers him at "Outfit's" inception. These narrative choices tie certain elements of the two stories together and make a one-volume adaptation make perfect sense.

I show more especially like how he handles the four sequences where professional thieves hit mob targets. He varies the art and narration style for each one, and diagrams how both the mob operations and the heists work, in a way that's educational, entertaining, and just plain fun.

Cooke is a master, but he keeps getting better with every outing. show less

Richard Stark's writings are the stuff that Darwyn Cooke was born to illustrate. Not only is Cooke's adaptations of Stark's novels spot-on, but his art is almost synonymous with the gritty crime noir of the 40's and 50's. The second in the series, "The Outfit" depicts a Biblically-proportioned outpouring of vengeance on the head of his nemesis, a mob boss who was the cause of his dame's death and the reason he had to get a new face. The pacing has a bit of the "Catch Me If You Can" feel, due primarily to the story's second chapter where a series of vignettes recounts how Parker & co. pulled off some big-money heists, and Cooke's different visual styles that he uses to illustrate each episode are absolutely fantastic. Yet another winner show more for Cooke, who has shown how superbly he can capture the feeling of crime noir for the graphic novel format. show less

This was just as fun as the first volume. Since these stories can be formula, I wondered whether the novelty would wear off, but there were some nice new elements to keep it fresh. I appreciated the addition of an upbeat supporting cast as a contrast to the relentlessly grim main character and the variety of styles of the assorted side heists. And although with a series like this, you at least know the main character will survive the book, there's certainly no guarantee his plans will succeed. There's still plenty of suspense. And of course your typically glorious, stylish Darwyn Cooke art.

Better than volume 1. Parker seems more human, but still a jerk. I did like the mob business operations explainer segments. I might start running number myself.

The second book of the graphic novel "Parker" series was just as good as the first. The best part was the third section of the book, breaking down the different robberies and how they were done. Highly recommended, especially if you are a fan of the original novels or noir/crime books in general.

When I first opened up Cooke's first Parker adaptation, The Hunter, I didn't get it. I was just glancing over the page, not really seeing the art. The art is "deceptively simple," to use a cliché. When you really start reading the pages and examining the panels, you see what Cooke has accomplished. The stories and characters are captured brilliantly by the art style and the layouts. Super fun.

Parker had evened the score with the Outfit, or so he thought. After extensive facial reconstruction surgery, Parker is identified by a squealer, outing him to his enemies. Parker realizes that the fight isn't yet over and he intends to finish it!

So, while I did like this book, I wasn't into it as much as [b:The Hunter|6149789|Richard Stark's Parker #1 The Hunter|Darwyn Cooke|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1301529727s/6149789.jpg|6328911]. Cooke seemed to take the story in a few directions towards the end, tying up loose ends and telling other parts in a different format. By throwing in a magazine style layout as well as different artwork; it really took me out of it. I wasn't exactly sure what he was going for with those deviations show more but it fell kind of flat for me. Luckily, it was only a small part of the story itself, so it's sort of easy to look past.

As far as the artwork goes, I'm still in love with it - that much Cooke doesn't change. The violence is played out really well, showing just as much as you need and nothing over the top. Stylistically, I still think it's one of the coolest presentations I've ever seen.

Apparently, I'm all caught up on this series as the 3rd book isn't out until sometime next year. I guess its finally time I get started on the originals. The only problem is that I believe this is books 2 and 3 together? I'm not entirely sure, I'll have to look into that.

I had to rate it 3 stars but I'm telling you it's a solid 3 and a half. show less