Category: Crime

Z-View: “The Wild Bunch”

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The Tagline:  “Unchanged men in a changing land. Out of step, out of place and desperately out of time.“

The Overview:   *** Beware –  spoilers are found below ***

The year is 1913.  An aging gang of outlaws is on the run and looking for one last score.  They know their days are numbered.  The west is changing.  The bounty hunters are on their heels.  Will they find the score they need to fade into retirement or will they go out in a blaze of glory, dying as they lived?

*** Even More Spoilers Below ***

The Good

  • The Wild Bunch is a classic.
  • William Holden, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Jamie Sanchez, Edmund O’Brien, Strother Martin, LQ Jones, with Bo Hopkins and Dub Taylor [in smaller but important roles] are perfectly cast.
  • This is Sam Peckinpah‘s greatest film.
  • The opening sequence would be the finale in many movies.
  • So many great lines:
    – “If they move, kill ’em!”
    – “We all dream of being a child again, even the worst of us. Perhaps the worst most of all.”
    –  Bishop:     What would you do in his place? He gave his word.”
    Dutch: “He gave his word to a railroad.”
    Bishop: “It’s his word.”
    Dutch: “That ain’t what counts! It’s who you give it *to*!
    – Dutch:  I think the boys are right. I’d like to say a few words for the dear, dead departed. And maybe a few hymns’d be in order. Followed by a church supper. With a choir!”
    –  Bishop: “We’ve got to start thinking beyond our guns. Those days are closin’ fast.”
    –  Bishop: ” If you two boys don’t like equal shares, why in the hell don’t you just take *all* of it?”
  • The perfect mix of humor, action and suspense.
  • How Holden and Ryan‘s past have led them to the situations they’re in.
  • The train robbery sequence.
  • The plan to trade guns for money.
  • The interactions between Coffer [Strother Martin] and TC [LQ Jones].  Same for Lyle Gorch [Warren Oates] and Techtor Gorch [Ben Johnson].
  • The tense moments after Bishop kills Mapache.
  • The final gun battle between the Wild Bunch and the Mexican Army.
  • The final scene with Robert Ryan.

The Bad:

  • Coffer and TC.  Crazy Lee.  Mapache.  The Wild Bunch.  Almost everyone.
  • Robert Ryan’s situation.
  • Getting washers instead of gold.
  • When you can’t see to ride.
  • Shooting your ex-lover while she is in Mapache’s arms.

The Ugly:

  • Being forced to hunt a former partner and being teamed with idiots.
  • Seeing your way of life is getting away from you.

 

Rating: 5 out of 5

Z-View: The White Suits #3 by Barbiere & Cypress

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The White Suits is a four issue mini-series created by Frank Barbiere & Toby Cypress published by Dark Horse Comics.

Writer: Frank Barbiere

Artist / Colorist: Toby Cypress

Mob war erupts in Chinatown! In a desperate final gambit, New York’s criminal underworld and their Russian mercenaries draw the murderous White Suits into a deadly ambush, with ex-Suit Prizrak and FBI agent Sarah Anderson as hostages. With no way out but death, who will survive the “Kill Box”?

*** Beware – minor spoilers are found below ***

The Good

  • Frank Barbiere’s story requires you to think and Toby Cypress’ art makes you pay attention.
  • “I’m the missing piece.  I’m one of them.”
  • “This is the end… probably what I deserve.”
  • Nice twist with the hulking Russian merc.
  • I really liked the 4 panel storytelling that begins with “My name is Petra…”

The Bad:

  • Cypress’ art is loose… and won’t be to everyone’s taste.
  • Some folks may be put off by the violence in this issue… of course if they’ve read the other issues that shouldn’t be an, uh, issue.

The Ugly:

  • A lot of the people after being caught in explosions and machine gun cross fire.

The White Suits is not for all audiences since it contains adult language and violence.

 

Rating: 3 out of 5

 

 

Z-View: Dead Body Road #5

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Dead Body Road is a six issue mini-series published by Image.

Writer: Justin Jordan

Penciler / Inker: Matteo Scalera

Colorist: Moreno Dinisio

Holed up and under siege, Gage and his accomplices may have run out of road…but not bullets. Or heads to put them through.

 

Dead Body Road #5  Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera continue to create a comic that consistently entertains.

The Good

  • Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera.  And when I say, “good” I mean great.
  • Justin Jordan’s message to the readers at the end of each issue.  Excellent feature!

The Bad:

  • Some people are going to be put off by the violence and profanity.
  • When you think you’ve got the drop on someone only to discover – “Surprise” – someone has the drop on you.

The Ugly:

  • Riding your motorcycle into a building with guns blazing only to meet a man with an axe.

Dead Body Road #5  is a comic for mature audiences due to violence and language.  If you’re a fan of crime/revenge stories then this is for you.  

Rating: 5 out of 5

 

Z-View: The Crow – Pestilence #2

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The Crow: Pestilence #2 is published by IDW.

Writer: Frank Bill

Artist: Drew Moss

Colorist: Oliver Lee Arce

Cover Shown: James O’Barr

Salvador heads to the Midwest to search for the men who murdered his family, only to find them involved in trafficking drugs…and humans. As The Crow watches, guiding him, he begins to exact his revenge. But why is one of the gang members speaking with the police?

 

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The Good

  • J. O’Barr‘s cover.
  • Frank Bill throws in a surprise that I didn’t see coming, although the preview quote above strongly foreshadows it.
  • Salvador blames himself for the death of his wife and child.  This story is shaping up to more than a simple tale of revenge.

The Bad:

  • Some people will be put off by the violence and profanity.
  • The way Salvador, his wife and child were killed and the vow that Salvador’s revenge would be 100 times worse — that’s bad for the killers.
  • What happens if you’re scared and you go to the boss’ house for protection.  Note to self: “Don’t lead a returned-from-the-dead-supernatural-avenger to the boss’ home.”

The Ugly:

  • Pouring a boiling vat of soup on Salvador.
  • When the chainsaws come out.

The Crow: Pestilence #2  is a comic for mature audiences due to violence and language.  

Rating: 3 out of 5

 

Z-View: Southern Bastards #1

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Southern Bastards #1 is published by Image.

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Jason Latour

Colorist: Jason Latour [with an assist from Rico Renzi]

Cover Shown: Jason Latour

Welcome to Craw County, Alabama, home of Boss BBQ, the state champion Runnin’ Rebs football team…and more bastards than you’ve ever seen. When you’re an angry old man like Earl Tubb, the only way to survive a place like this…is to carry a really big stick. From the acclaimed team of JASON AARON and JASON LATOUR, the same bastards who brought you Scalped and Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted, comes a southern fried crime series that’s like the Dukes of Hazzard meets the Coen Brothers…on meth.

 

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The Good

  • Everything.  I mean it.  Everything.
  • Jason Aaron has crafted a first issue that sucks the reader in.  We learn just enough about the major players to want to know more.  Aaron’s story has suspense, action, humor, sudden violence, and an underlying mystery that demands to be told.
  • Jason Latour’s art is not only perfectly suited to this story, it is amazing in that it is unlike anything else you’re reading.
  • The colors deserve special mention.  I am a fan of black and white art and stories and generally prefer them to color.  If all comics were colored this expertly, my opinion would change.  Kudos to Latour and Renzi!
  • The ribs at Boss’ BBQ.
  • “I just came for the ribs.”
  • “Any man in this kitchen wants a RAISE… Now’s his ******** chance.” “**** that, man.  I jus smoke the meat.”
  • “Jesus ******* Christ almighty.  You shouldn’t have done that, Earl.” “I shouldn’t have saved your life?” “NO! You ******* shouldn’t have!”

The Bad:

  • Some people will be put off by the violence and profanity.
  • Getting hit with a hot fry basket.
  • What happens when Sheriff “Big” Bert Tubb brings out his baseball bat.
  • What is going on Craw County?  My guess is it ain’t good.
  • That this issue couldn’t have gone on forever.

The Ugly:

  • What happens when you steal from or cross Coach Boss.

Southern Bastards #1  is a comic for mature audiences due to violence and language.

The advance word on Southern Bastards has been on that’s it’s one of the best comics in years.

Believe the hype.  It is. 

Rating: 5 out of 5

 

Max Allan Collins Drops a Dime

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Max Allan Collins recently spoke with The Rap Sheet and they covered a wide range of topics.  Here are a few tidbits [with a link to full interview]…

…like a lot of Americans, he [Mickey Spillane] was deeply troubled by the terrorist attacks on September 11, and I think he just had to get Mike Hammer into that fray. But as much as I like Goliath Bone, I think King of the Weeds, with its traditional crime elements, feels more like the final Hammer novel.

The amount of unfinished, unpublished material Mickey left behind was and is staggering. Even now I haven’t read every word of it.

JKP: I understand you’re also now working on a Western, based on an unproduced screenplay Mickey Spillane wrote originally for actor John Wayne. Can you fill in more of the background on that particular tale, which you’ve titled The Legend of Caleb York? MAC: …Over a Bouchercon breakfast I said, “You know what I have? An unproduced screenplay Mickey Spillane wrote for John Wayne. You guys publish Westerns, right?” And my editor sort of pounced.

The interview also covers the next Nate Heller books [and potential tv series], the Quarry books [and potential tv series – the pilot has been filmed] and much more.

The Rap Sheet interview is worth a read!

Z-View: “Brick Mansions”

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The Pitch: ”Hey, let’s do an Americanized remake of the cult classic action film District B13!”

“Let’s do it!”

The Tagline:  “Their Streets.  Their Rules.“

The Overview:   *** Beware –  spoilers are found below ***

The year is 2018.  Because of out of control crime [think The Purge on a daily basis], a part of Detroit called Brick Mansions has been walled off from the rest of the city with military police guarding the few exits in or out [think Escape from New York with two Snake Plisskens].

Paul Walker [the first Snake Plissken] is an undercover cop whose dad was killed in Brick Mansions.  David Belle is an ex-con [and the second Snake Plissken] who lives in Brick Mansions and works against the crime lord [played by Rza].

Walker and Belle find themselves as unlikely partners when a stolen neutron bomb is hijacked, armed and aimed at a US city.

The Good

  • Brick Mansions begins with a great extended action-scene with Belle doing his parkour!
  • The cast: Paul Walker [in his final completed role], David Belle [should be making more American movies], RZA, Ayisha Issa, Carlo [24] Rota,  Andreas [Riddick] Apergis, and  Robert [300, Sherlock Holmes] Maillet.
  • Every scene with Belle doing parkour is fun.
  • Ayisha Carlo and Robert Mailet were especially well cast.

The Bad:

  • The aim of almost everyone with a weapon.
  • Ayisha Carlo and Robert Mailet .
  • Characterization and rationale thought are left with the coming attractions.
  • Making RZA a “good guy” at the end.  Rza played an interesting bad guy, but let’s not lose sight that he was a really bad guy, a drug king pin who killed people without a second thought.  Yeah, he make a great mayor!
  • Cartoon violence.

The Ugly:

  • How Belle deals with crooked cops.  How Walker deals with giants.

 

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde

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Today marks the 80th anniversary of the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde…

… [the] Depression era Romeo and Juliet. Brandishing high-powered machine guns and driving the newly invented Ford V-8s, Bonnie and Clyde are mythologized as Robin Hoods for the poor and destitute who had been failed by the American political and financial institutions…

If you’d like to know more about Bonnie and Clyde here are a couple of excellent sources: