IDW Publishing announces Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition: Last Call

I’m very excited about this. IDW Publishing has just announced Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition: Last Call.

For those of you not familiar with the first Martini Edition, it was released in 2011 and was a massive, and I mean massive slipcased volume containing the first two of Darwyn Cooke’s already-classic comic book […]

The Violent World of Mack Bolan

Reader Matt points out that the Executioner has been plundering Parker-related book titles recently…

I have plundered these images from MackBolan.com.

Gold Eagle, the division of Harlequin that published men’s adventure books including The Executioner/Mack Bolan, is being closed down after Harlequin’s acquisition by HarperCollins. I expect Mack will land on his […]

Some panels from Darwyn Cooke’s Slayground set to music

Because why not?

The song is pretty cool, and fits. (“The Hell Raisers,” by Syd Dale.)

Parker Scores: Point Blank, The Man with the Getaway Face, Slayground, and The Outfit

NB: A Version of this post also appears at Existential Ennui.

This, I fear, will be my final Violent World of Parker/Existential Ennui cross-post of 2013. The year is fast disappearing on me, and I can’t in all honesty see myself returning to Donald E. Westlake or Richard Stark […]

Parker Mega Score finale: Richard Stark in British Thriller Book Cover Design of the 1970s and 1980s

NB: A version of this post also appears at Existential Ennui.

If you missed the announcement on Existential Ennui on Friday, some (relatively) exciting news: I’ve established a brand new Existential Ennui permanent page:

British Thriller Book Cover Design of the 1970s and 1980s

A companion page to Beautiful British Book Jacket […]

Grab bag post: Darwyn Cooke’s Slayground and a quick review of Only God Forgives

 

When we interviewed Darwyn Cooke for his release of The Score, he told us that his next Parker adapation would be The Handle. I thought it was a good pick, and that was only partially fueled by my desire to see him stretch out the series as long as possible. (He’s stated that […]

Like having a scorpion in the room: an interview with Darwyn Cooke on Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score

Introduction

Darwyn Cooke does one in-depth interview for each volume in his series of comic book adaptations of Richard Stark’s [pseudonym of Donald Westlake] Parker novels. (Here are the interviews for The Hunter and The Outfit.) For his new one, The Score, he was kind enough to invite The Violent World of Parker to […]

The Grofield Files: The Blackbird (1969) by Richard Stark; a review

Let’s have the third of my reviews of Westlake’s Alan Grofield novels, which, as we’ve established, I’m re-posting from Existential Ennui ahead of a new review of the fourth and final book in the series, Lemons Never Lie. That review will be along next week (all being well), so for now, here’s what I […]

An essay on The Hunter by Duane Swierczynski, plus 100 thrillers

Duane Swierczynski (or, as I like to call him, “Coach K”) is the author of, amongst many others, The Wheelman, a most excellent Parker homage–I’ve been meaning to give it a proper writeup for some time now, but I can’t find my (inscribed!) copy in order to deliver the reread and writeup it deserves. […]

Essential Darwyn Cooke interview on The Outfit (and other things)

When Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter was released, the Comics Reporter landed the must-read interview with Darwyn Cooke on the subject. For The Outfit, that honor falls to Comics Alliance and this terrific interview by Tucker Coe Stone.

Some things mentioned:

If you’ve been following this project, you know […]