Richard Stark's Parker, Vol. 2: The Outfit
*Starred Review* Cooke garnered all sorts of acclaim (including the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Adaptation) for translating Donald Westlake’s ruthless antihero Parker (the Parker novels were written under Westlakes pseudonym Richard Stark) into comics form with The Hunter, and here he returns with an even stronger follow-up. The crime syndicate that professional heister Parker so royally pissed off (they pissed him off first, to be fair) in the last book finds him languishing in Miami Beach with a surgically transformed face. The syndicates attempted hit goes wrong, and Parker shifts back into his relentless vengeance gear (he never smiles, but you get the sense he’s happiest brawling and shooting his way through impossible odds) as he calls in a few favors from his underworld associates and goes after the head of the outfit. Cooke leans less heavily on large chunks of Stark’s prose here than in the first book and flexes some serious cartooning muscle, from the stylishly visualized early-60s milieu to the sweet timing of the wordless action sequences to a virtuosic series of mini-heists, each drawn in a different style that highlights Cooke’s considerable range, impeccable linework, and diligent grasp of graphic design. Even the deceptively simple coloring—just a few shades of blue that slash grim crags beneath Parker’s glaring eyes and swirl plumes of cigarette smoke in the dark—exudes pure noir silkiness. It’s a credit to both the source and Cooke’s considerable skill, but straight-up crime fare (comics or not) doesn’t get much more gratifying. --Ian Chipman