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A review by villyidol
Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke
3.0
After watching the Mel Gibson movie again last week, I decided to give this one a try.
Both Payback and this graphic novel are based on Richard Stark’s first Parker novel and so they basically tell the same story.
Parker has been double-crossed by his partner in crime Mal Resnick, shot at by his wife and left for dead. Resnick took Parker’s part of the loot and used it to pay off his debts to the Outfit, a crime syndicate.
But Parker isn‘t dead at all. And now he’s back to get his revenge and take back his money.
There are a few differences between the movie and the comic. The job Parker and Resnick did together, which in both instances is told in flashbacks, is completely different and the role of Parker’s wife in it is also slightly changed.
That turned out to be a good thing for me, because otherwise there would not have been much of a point in me reading this only a week after I’ve seen the movie.
Unfortunately this means that Lucy Liu’s character from Payback is missing here, or more precisely, is massively changed and does only make a rather short and insignificant appearance. Which really is a shame, because hers is one of the most fun characters in the movie.
But more importantly, I don’t like the changes to the main character. Parker is a total bad-ass in the movie as well. But in the comic his brutal force is also directed towards innocent people. Parker was easy to root for when he only kicked the asses of all the bad guys, but much less so when he’s violent towards women (that didn’t shoot or try to shoot him). That turned me off completely. He’s also lacking the self-deprecating quality and some of the cool of Mel Gibson’s impersonation. I don’t know which one‘s closer to the character of Richard Stark’s book, but it doesn’t matter. Point is, I loved the character in the movie but thought he’s an asshole in the comic.
I’m still willing to give this a three star rating instead of a two, because the story nevertheless is entertaining and the comic does also look incredibly cool. It has that wonderful 60ies style that makes it great to look at.
Am I continuing with this one, though? I’m not sure. I just don’t like the guy.
Both Payback and this graphic novel are based on Richard Stark’s first Parker novel and so they basically tell the same story.
Parker has been double-crossed by his partner in crime Mal Resnick, shot at by his wife and left for dead. Resnick took Parker’s part of the loot and used it to pay off his debts to the Outfit, a crime syndicate.
But Parker isn‘t dead at all. And now he’s back to get his revenge and take back his money.
There are a few differences between the movie and the comic. The job Parker and Resnick did together, which in both instances is told in flashbacks, is completely different and the role of Parker’s wife in it is also slightly changed.
That turned out to be a good thing for me, because otherwise there would not have been much of a point in me reading this only a week after I’ve seen the movie.
Unfortunately this means that Lucy Liu’s character from Payback is missing here, or more precisely, is massively changed and does only make a rather short and insignificant appearance. Which really is a shame, because hers is one of the most fun characters in the movie.
But more importantly, I don’t like the changes to the main character. Parker is a total bad-ass in the movie as well. But in the comic his brutal force is also directed towards innocent people. Parker was easy to root for when he only kicked the asses of all the bad guys, but much less so when he’s violent towards women (that didn’t shoot or try to shoot him). That turned me off completely. He’s also lacking the self-deprecating quality and some of the cool of Mel Gibson’s impersonation. I don’t know which one‘s closer to the character of Richard Stark’s book, but it doesn’t matter. Point is, I loved the character in the movie but thought he’s an asshole in the comic.
I’m still willing to give this a three star rating instead of a two, because the story nevertheless is entertaining and the comic does also look incredibly cool. It has that wonderful 60ies style that makes it great to look at.
Am I continuing with this one, though? I’m not sure. I just don’t like the guy.