Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
I first discovered Greg Rucka through his Attikus Kodiak* novels. I then continued to follow Rucka to other novels and comics. Rucka’s writing is always entertaining and worth checking out.
I’m currently reading [and enjoying] his latest novel, Alpha. You can learn a bit more about Alpha and Greg Rucka by reading this short interview with him at CBR.com.
The Atticus kodiac Novels:
I really enjoyed Savages by Don Winslow. Of course what crime fiction loving fan didn’t?
Naturally, I’m looking forward to the movie adaptation starring Aaron Johnson, Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Salma Hyeck, and Benicio Del Toro. Savages opens July 6th and although the full length trailer doesn’t break until tomorrow, MTV has the teaser for the trailer here.
If you’re already on board or think Savages is something you’d really dig, then you’ll probably be interested in Don Winslow’s prequel called The Kings of Cool. It hits the streets on June 19th.
Want to read a recently found, nearly 40 year old, interview with Donald Westlake where he talks about his influences, writing as Richard Stark, Lee Marvin, John Boorman, Robert Redford and more? It’s worth a click over. (Sadly the link no longer works. – Craig, 2021)
That’s the cover to the third Darwyn Cooke grapic novel adaptation of Richard Stark’s Parker series. The first two, [Hunter and The Outfit] set the bar high, but I have no doubt that The Score will, uh, score big with fans when it’s released in May.
Just as last week seemed to be all about the new Riddick movie staring Vin Diesel, this week is shaping up to focus on all of the news about The Walking Dead. Two days ago the news broke that Tony Moore [artist on the first six issues of The Walking Dead comic series, and childhood friend of Robert Kirkman] was suing Kirkman over profits from the hit comic and television series.
The Hollywood Reporter ran the image above [provided by Kirkman] that shows he is listed as the creator of the series with Moore listed as “penciler, inker and gray tones” — essentially the hired artist. Kirkman’s reaction to Moore’s lawsuit included:
It appears that any hope for a quick resolution to this suit is fading fast.
The Hollywood Reporter posted the news that Tony Moore, the original artist and co-creator of the hit comic book series The Walking Dead has sued long-time [former?] friend, Robert Kirkman. Kirkman is, of course, the writer and co-creator of The Walking Dead.
According to The Hollywood Reporter…
The suit goes on to say that Moore has received little in the way of revenue from the hit comic and tv series and hasn’t seen any profit statements from Kirkman and/or his company.
This is a sad situation for all concerned. Not only were Moore and Kirkman childhood friends, but they had also worked on many projects together up to The Walking Dead. Hopefully, they will be able to come to a mutually satisfactory solution soon.
If you’re already reading Fatale by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips then you might want to skip this post. If you’re not reading Fatale, or it sold out before you could get your mits on a copy, then you’re in luck. Fatale 1 and 2 have gone back to press, so there will be copies for you to jump on board to read the story of…
You can read more at CBR.com’s coverage of the story.
Did you know that Mick Foley has a new blog? Well, he does. He calls it Countdown to Lockdown and if you’re still reading this, then you should be interested enough to check it out.
We all know that Mick’s an excellent pro wrestler, has mad mic skills, and is a best-selling author [Have a Good Day] so my guess is that his blog is going to be a blast. [And I’d have said that even if Mick didn’t hook me up at Heroes Con.]
Just a little over five years ago I posted about two great crime noir novels I’d just read. One was Drive by James Sallis. [The other was The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski.] Drive was the story of a get-a-way driver brought in on a heist that was a set-up from the start. It went on to become a major motion picture that fans and critics loved. This coming April, James Sallis and the Driver return in the sequel, Driven.
Six years later – Phoenix. Out of nowhere someone wants Driver dead.
Who? Why? Big mistake.
I’m looking forward to the novel and would love to see the team that made the movie return for the sequel.
Don’t you love the look of the new editions of Max Allan Collins’ Nolan crime novels coming for Perfect Crime Books? For those not in the know, Nolan is an aging thief and Max Allan Collins is the author of the Nate Heller series, the Quarry series, and many, many other books. I’ve never read anything that wasn’t excellent that was written by Max Allan Collins.
Oh, by the way, our buddy, Chris Mills designed the Nolan covers and did a fantastic job. Take a bow, Chris!
I’m a huge fan of Duane Swierczynski. His novels are fun, full of twists and never follow a familiar path. Fun & Games is the first in his Charlie Hardie trilogy and although I just finished it a few days ago, I’m already chompin’ at the bit to read Hell and Gone.
Hardie makes his living as a house sitter. There’s not a lot of dough in that line of work, but as an ex-cop with baggage, it’s been a good way to spend the last couple of years. All that changes when Hardie finds a semi-famous actress hiding in the house he’s supposed to be sitting. Is she crazy or could there really be a hit team coming to kill her and everyone in the house?
If my description makes Fun & Games sound like your typical ex-cop coming to the aid of a hot but endangered woman, let me assure you that it’s not. Give Fun & Games a read and if you don’t like it I’ll buy ya a Diet Coke or a Mocha Frappe. If you do like it, you owe me nothing. Deals don’t get much better than that, amigo.
So why do I have “A Texan’s Motto” post card along with my praise for Fun and Games? Read on, friend.
In the interest of full disclosure [and the fact that I’m always happy to hear from people whose work I admire], I want it to be known that received a post card from Duane Swierczynski this summer. He sent a personalized card to all of his fans who had pre-ordered Fun & Games.
How do I know it was personalized? Well, do you think he wrote every fan of his calling them a fellow Stallone fanatic? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.
How do I know Duane Swierczynski is a Stallone fan? Well, Duane is from Philly and everybody there [or from there] loves Sly. Oh, and Mr. Swierczynski used a couple of quotes from Sly as chapter headers. Only a true fan would go THAT far.
Isn’t that the coolest poster? It’s for a new web comic called Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether. Although I’m not a huge fan of web comics, I’m definitely on board for this one. Created by author, Greg Rucka and artist, Rick Burchett [two of my favorites], Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether is going to be a wild ride. Here’s how the Greg and Rick describe it…
Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether are back every Tuesday and Thursday with a new comic and additional content throughout the week!
[A tip o’ the top hat to Chris Mills]
Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #2 is, not surprisingly, a follow-up to to Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #1. Like the first, it’s an anthology with all stories written by Eric Skillman. Issue two features the art of Ming Doyle, Victor Kerlow and Evan Bryce. Let’s look at the issue…
Lost & Found by Eric Skillman and Ming Doyle kicks off the issue with an eight page story about a midwestern girl who moved to the big city after high school. Now nearly a decade later she reconnects with Tommy, an old friend who loves to party hard. Hanging with Tommy could be the death of her.
Skillman’s colors mesh well with Ming Doyle’s pen and ink work. Doyle has a unique style but it felt really right for this story.
Our second tale, The Platform teams Eric Skillman with Victor Kerlow in an six page story about two subway workers who learn how dangerous it can be coming to the aide of a young lady late at night.
This story, like many of Skillman’s, has a shocker of an ending.
Our final story brings Eric Skillman and Evan Bryce together for a tale that they call Cold Feet. Kermit and Nate are two crime partners debating whether of not the snowy and icy roads make it the right night for a robbery. Before the night is over, they’ll have their answer.
Cold Feet was my favorite story in the issue. I’m a big fan of Evan Bryce’s art. Evan is always pushing the envelope and I think he had the right balance of realism/cartooniness for this tale. Skillman did an excellent job of coloring the story — at first glance I thought that Evan had done the colors as well. Let’s hope we see more stories from this team in the future.
I really enjoyed Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #2. Eric Skillman is an excellent writer and has an obvious love of the crime/hard-boiled genre. He’s also been able to bring excellent artists to the table, so I’m hoping that we’re going to see future issues.
Sean Phillips created the art above for an article about ATF undercover agents, written by T. Jefferson Parker that appeared in the LA Times Magazine.
Recently a couple of my favorite writers, Duane Swierczynski and Josh Bazell sat down for a two part conversation. In part one Duane and Josh talk about how they write novels, the influence of comic books & movies, and why they want to keep readers turning the page. In part two Duane and Josh discuss their first jobs, their first books, 80’s movies and tv shows, James Ellroy’s White Jazz and more.
