Parker: the Score
is the third book in a series of comic adaptations of Richard’s Stark’s crime
novels by Canadian born Darwyn Cooke. I’m very impressed. Nearly 500 pages of
comics and Cooke’s barely had a slip up. As always, when talking about plot
elements and the overall execution of the book I refer to Cooke. Having not
read any of the Parker novels I have no idea how much is taken from the series
of novels. I imagine it’s a lot but I mean no disrespect when omitting Stark’s
name from my comments and reviews. It’s something I’ll have to address by
reading a few of the novels.
We meet up with Parker while he’s on a beach. He hasn’t
done a job in six months. He’s not low on cash but boredom has settled in. There
is a man who wants to organize a heist but he’s new to the game and needs help.
This man, Edgars, presents his job to Parker and some of his friends (we’ve met
two of them in The Outfit). Edgars
plans to rob a town called Copper Canyon. While describing the job to the other
thieves it becomes clear to them and clear to the reader that Edgars plans
quite literally to rob the whole town. Parker’s friend, Grofield, is
immediately intrigued. It takes Parker a bit longer but boredom and an exciting
job leads him to decide to take the risk on this job.
The straightforward plot, Parker and 11 other men plan
and execute a job, becomes much more intriguing because Parker breaks his own
rules: 1) do not work a job that requires more than four or five people because
it becomes too complicated and therefore too risky, 2) if a job is too risky,
cut your losses and walk away. We know he should walk away and we know there
will be a negative outcome for Parker and his crew because he didn’t walk about
but just like our anti-hero, we’re hooked. We’re glad he decided to take charge
and plan the robbery. It’s refreshing that we’re reading about Parker dealing
with a job for an entire book. So far we’ve read about him dealing primarily
with the outcome of past jobs that have gone wrong. This time we’re along for
the ride and we get to see the planning and the execution.
Cooke experimented with style and storytelling in The Outfit and experiments a bit this
time around as well. Grofield’s scenes are intercut with his strange imaginings
he has comparing the heist to a group of soldiers undertaking a missing in a
World War II setting. It works well, both visually as well as device to quickly
show us what kind of person Grofield is. He’s obviously very good at his job,
he really likes it but he’s arrogant and takes unnecessary risks. He lacks
focus compared to many of the other thieves.
The accent colour this time around is orange. This seems
like a strange choice at first but it makes sense. It is strange because it’s
not a dark colour. Crime comics and even police procedure comics tend to have a
darker colour palette. I’m thinking specifically of Criminal by Ed Brubaker and
Sean Phillips and Gotham Central by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker. Orange isn’t
dark at all. I can’t help but think that Cooke had the gas station explosion in
mind while choosing the accent colour for The
Score. The impact of that page would have been lessened by the use of. The
explosion in question was done using only the off-white colour of the page and
the orange. There is no black at all and it looks the explosion is happening
right in front of our eyes.
Unlike the previous two adaptations, there are no flashbacks
in The Score. The book concentrates
on showing us the thieves at work and Cooke wisely gives things room to
breathe. The book is not as dense as the previous two but it doesn’t feel
slight because of it because Cooke tells it so clearly, so efficiently. Cooke
keeps in mind that this is a very big undertaken and treats it as such. Also,
because this is crime fiction we can expect something to go wrong. I knew
something was going to happen but I couldn’t figure it out. I shouldn’t feel
too bad though, Parker didn’t see it either. My only complaint for The Score is that the problems that
arise are resolved rather quickly.
Not only that but it’s a huge undertaking and it’s nice
to see Parker working with a large crew. Not only that, but it wouldn’t be good
crime fiction unless something goes wrong and part of the fun is trying to
figure out what will go wrong. I’m not spoiling anything in saying the Copper
Canyon job goes as wrong as it possibly could have gone. It’s a riveting how
Cooke made it happen.
One of the
many reasons this is a great comic is the portrayal of the crew of thieves.
Every single one of them have a way of dealing with the life they’ve chosen,
they all have rules. Not everybody agrees with how things are done but
everything body at least pretends to go along with it for the sake of the
payoff. Parker is still the star of his own series but Grofield gives him a run
for his money.
Once again
Cooke delivers and excellent crime comic. He doesn’t depend on the two previous
books, instead he builds on it. Three books in and the Parker series still
feels fresh. The stories are riveting, Cooke’s art is excellent and even when
he’s not pulling off flashy storytelling tricks he’s telling a solid and
entertaining story. We’re told at the end of the book that there will be a
fourth Parker comic in 2013 and I can’t wait.
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