Stark Reprint News

Following hard on the news of Darywn Cooke's Parker comic adaptations comes word that the University of Chicago Press is planning a series of reprints. According to the Independent Crime blog, U Chicago is planning to print three of the Parker novels a year until they are all back in print. The first three will be available in mid September. I'm sure we all have them, but that's a really pretty cover design. The gun remains static with color and background variations on the other 2 books.  This would all happen just after I finally got a copy of Butcher's Moon. 

Hat tip: Independent Crime blog

Darwyn Cooke to Adapt Parker Novels!

"When a fresh-faced guy in a Chevy offered him a lift, Parker told him to go to hell." --The Hunter, Richard Stark opening line

From PW Comics Week on July 26, 2008:

Eisner Award-winning artist Darwyn Cooke will adapt the first four Parker novels by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake, a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America) as graphic novels, IDW announced today. The adaptations will be released at a rate of one every two years, starting in 2009 with The Hunter.

Richard Stark's antihero stories influenced an entire generation of crime writers and filmmakers including Elmore Leonard, Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Price, Brian Bendis, David Laptham, Dennis Lehane, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese.

Stark fans often refer to the Parker adventures as the crack of crime fiction. After reading one book, you're hooked and before you know it you've devoured, like so many boxes of Milanos, some twenty books. The junkie you've become begins to sweat and shiver waiting for the next hit!

The perfect artistic choice for these adaptations, Cooke should offer the perfect methadone to tide you over until the latest Stark stuff hits the streets.