Category: Crime

Francavilla’s Black Beetle is Coming!

If, like me, you’re a fan of Francesco Francavilla’s art and stories, you’ll be happy to hear that his character the Black Beetle will premiere in his first mini-series starting in January.  It’ll be called No Way Out.

If you just can’t wait until January, this December the three part Black Beetle story, Night Shift, will be collected into a single volume.

Big congrats to Francesco!

Scene of the Crime

You know I’m diggin’ that Scene of the Crime cover by Michael Lark and Sean Phillips.  It’s for a new, over-sized hardcover reprint of the crime/noir graphic story that Lark and Phillips did with writer, Ed Brubaker.

Scene of the Crime will be out on November 14th, but you should let your local comic shop manager know now.

 

Bullet to the Head Trailer is Here

The Bullet to the Head trailer has finally arrived.  Directed by Walter Hill and starring Sly Stallone, Bullet to the Head is the big screen adaptation of the French crime graphic novel of the same name.

We’ve been following the progress of this film since it was first announced in 2008.  Having Bullet to the Head make it to the big screen with Sly in the lead is too cool.  Hopefully the film will be as well.

Joe Carnahan Has No Fear

 Joe Carnahan, [the writer/director known for Narc, Smokin’ Aces and The Grey] put together a short video to give a feel for what he’d do if given an opportunity to bring Daredevil to the big screen.  The video combines clips from several movies, with art from Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli’s run on Daredevil as well as some sweet Curtis Mayfield music thrown in to add a bit of spice.

Man, I’d love to see what Carnahan could do with the right cast and budget.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this will happen.

Thanks and a tip o’ Matt Murdock’s shades to CBR.com.

Brad Pitt is Killing Them Softly

The new trailer for the crime thriller Killing Them Softly is perfect.  I can not wait to see this movie.

Killing Them Softly is based on a George V. Higgins crime novel and set in New Orleans, and follows professional criminal, Jackie Cogan as he investigates the robbery of a high stakes, mob-protected, poker game. It stars  Brad Pitt, Ray Luotta, James Gandolfini and Sam Sheppard and opens October 7th.

I’ll save you a seat.

Howard Chaykin is a Marked Man

Crime fiction / Howard Chaykin fans, here’s a heads-up:  Chaykin’s Marked Man graphic novel  [he wrote and did the art for it] that was serialized in Dark Horse Presents is set to return in a hard cover edition.  As you can tell from the book’s description, this is not for kids:

“To the casual observer, Mark LaFarge has it going on. He’s got a beautiful wife, cute kids, a McMansion in the South Bay . . .The guy is the living embodiment of the American dream. But nothing is ever as it seems. LaFarge is a career criminal who’s never done an honest day’s work in his life . . . and that life of crime, completely separate from the life he presents to the world, is about to catch up with him. And there will be blood . . . a great deal of blood.”

My pre-order is set to go!

Russell Crowe’s Next 3 Days Aren’t So Good

The Pitch: “It’s like ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ from the spouse’s point of view, but in this version the spouse plans and executes his wife’s prison breakout.”

The Tagline: “What if you had 72 hours to save everything you love?”

The Story: When a man’s wife is convicted of murdering her boss after an argument and appeals hold no promise, he decides to break her out of prison.

The Cast: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Beghe, Brian Dennehy and Liam Neeson.

The Good: The planning of the escape and a brief scene with Liam Neeson. There’s a nice moment with the man (Crowe) and his emotionally-distant father (Dennehy).

The Bad: Liam Neeson is under-used. What happens when you are a “civilian” dealing with criminals. What happens when a man is pushed to the ragged edge. The movie is a bit long.

The Ugly: The wife’s attitude when she learns too late the her husband’s plan.

The Rating: D+

Cooke Knows The Score

If you enjoy excellent crime fiction and/or great comics, then you’re probably well aware of Darwyn Cooke’s adaptations of Richard Stark’s Parker novels.  So far there have been three – Parker: The Hunter; The Outfit and The Score.

Originally, the plan was for Cooke to adapt four of the Parker novels, but Cooke’s graphic adaptations have been so well received, and Cooke’s having such a blast, there will now be at least five!  Next up is The Handle which Cooke says he choose because “it’s an incredibly visual book. It concerns a casino on an island.”  The release date is scheduled for 2013 and I’d put my order in now if I could!

Darwyn Cooke recently spoke about his take on Parker at ComicCon and CBR.com was there.