>I like Miller's work too, though I find his SIN CITY
slightly hollow in
>comparison - although it is a wonderfully fun and
highly stylised
>Chandler-Spillaine pastiche, with fantastic
art.
I'd have to agree. Miller's skill with large areas of black
ink far surpasses his writing skill. For crime comics, go
with Vertigo's 100 BULLETS or some of their other
mini-series, most of which are collected in graphic novels.
SCENE OF THE CRIME and JONNY DOUBLE are particularly worth
tracking down.
And yes, Brian Michael Bendis's work is worth reading. JINX,
about a bounty hunter, GOLDFISH, about two lowlifes, and
TORSO, a drak, nightmarish fictionalization of a true crime
story investigated by Elliot Ness, et al, are all good reads,
and all have been collected in graphic novels.
Going back a few years, Max Allan Collins (the Nate Heller
series, etc.) and Terry Beatty's MS. TREE is still the
yardstick by which a continuing series in the hard-boiled
crime category should be judged. The series jumped from
publisher to publisher, but most of it is available in
graphic novel form. Nothing fancy, and Beatty's
"just-the-facts, Ma'am" drawing style is miles away from the
stylized artistry of Miller or Risso, but like Collins
meat-and-potatoes prose, or Ms. Tree herself, it gets the job
done.
Verotik, an imprint of Dark Horse, is bringing out some nice
graphic novels of European crime stuff, but they're pretty
hot or miss. Most hinge on the supernatural, coincidence, a
lot of naked breasts, and often, a view of the U.S. that
borders on the mythical, and could only be imagined by
someone who's never been there and has seen way too many bad
movies.
Of course, most of these comics can also be tracked down by
individual copies, if you've got the patience. Individual
copies of Ms. Tree might be worth it for the letters page
alone. It's like an early version of this list, almost. In
fact, that's where I first came across the feverish but
always interesting rantings of Big Jim Doherty.
Hmmm... Max Allan Collins would be a good person to join this
list, but in the time it would take him to write a post, he
could probably whip off a book or two.
--
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