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A History of Violence

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A new edition of the hard-hitting graphic novel that inspired the Academy Award-nominated 2005 motion picture starring Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris and William Hurt. In this suspenseful crime story, Tom McKenna is a family man who becomes an instant media celebrity when he thwarts a robbery at his own diner – a robbery attempted by wanted murderers. McKenna’s newfound fame draws the attention of a group of merciless mobsters who have been looking to settle a score with him for over 20 years. Now, as the killers descend upon his small town in Middle America, the Brooklyn native must face the actions of his youth and relive his past history of violence as he attempts to salvage the life he has built and keep his family out of harm’s way.

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

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About the author

John Wagner

1,285 books189 followers
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, for which he created Judge Dredd. He is noted for his taut, violent thrillers and his black humour. Among his pseudonyms are The best known are John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter. (Wikipedia)

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews
Profile Image for Abe.
277 reviews89 followers
May 3, 2018
The film adaptation by David Cronenberg is one of my favorite movies ever, and it is a rare example of a screenplay that is far superior to its source material.

In general I don't particularly enjoy graphic novels, but this is a story I admire. However, I feel that the book doesn't quite capture the devastatingly potent psychological effect Tom’s heroic act of violence has on him and his family members as well as the film does.

I also prefer the ambiguity of Tom's past in the film - it lends a sense of mystery to his character that not even he understands. While the back story in the book is interesting, it supposes that Tom’s entire history revolves around one solitary action Tom took as a minor, as opposed to him having "A History of Violence" that shaped him for years.

Another thing I love about the film: it delves into the generational transmutation of violent tendencies. The scenes involving Tom’s son are haunting and lugubrious. Violence is inherent to man’s very existence for Cronenberg; it is a product of mere circumstance for Wagner.
Profile Image for Brad.
Author 2 books1,921 followers
July 1, 2021
As a person, I have my own history of violence, and that history has led me to become obsessed, as a thinker and author, with violence as a concept. I see it everywhere. I dwell on it, am awed by it, wonder about it, write about it, dream about it, nightmare about it, loathe it and love it in turns. Thus, when I pick up a book with the title A History of Violence, I expect to read something that engages with violence consciously, something that doesn't simply use violence for visceral gratification but has a plan for the violence, is using it to say something (even if that something is something I don't like).

John Wagner's A History of Violence says many things about violence, but what bothers me is that I never once felt like the things being said were intentional. I felt like Luke in the cave on Dagobah: everything in the cave was there because I brought it with me.

Wagner's writing left me hollow and sad. He was merely telling a story, one he needed to tell, perhaps, but only to move a plot B to C, then back to A, then C to D. He seemed totally disconnected from the thematic life of his work, and I felt abandoned by him as I made my journey through the text. As I write this I think that in itself, that abandonment by the author, is a unique and potentially powerful authorial action -- but I don't like being the object of that action.

Moreover, I despair that someone could use the sort of violence that appears in this graphic novel with what seems to be flippant disregard of its power. Similar violence occurs in David Fincher's film Se7en (in fact, Wagner blatantly stole one of the seven killings from that movie for this book), but Fincher's use of violence feels conscious, pointed, thematically aware, and that makes all the difference for me.

Vince Locke's is scratchingly, noirishly lovely, well suited to the bleak world Wagner has written, but it only added to the alienation I felt.

I know I am going to have to come back to this book in the future and give it another read simply because it made me feel so strongly. I didn't enjoy this book at all. I put it down feeling angry, isolated and disgusted. I wish I felt like those feelings were intentional rather than incidental.
Profile Image for Juho Pohjalainen.
Author 5 books348 followers
May 10, 2021
I hear a fair amount talked about the movie adaptation of this comic, great many people enjoying it as a cult classic, but the comic itself rarely comes up. Which is a shame, because I like it better than the movie.

Probably for the more involved backstory, and for rather preferring Tom to be a more unassuming quiet kid even in the past, just getting on rough times and falling in with the wrong people, rather than having been an assassin and an unrepentent killer himself. I feel that it reflects the message of the work better too (or at least the message I see in it): it needed much less to turn him into quite frankly a scarily competent warrior. He didn't even need to make a career out of it, stick with it for years or decades and earn himself a real reputation. He just performed one moderately successful raid, but even then it stuck with him for life.

Viggo is a great actor, though.
Profile Image for Luthfi Ferizqi.
452 reviews14 followers
October 26, 2024
A History of Violence was adapted into a film in 2005, starring Viggo Mortensen.

Overall, the story is quite engaging, though I couldn’t shake the familiar feeling of a typical Hollywood storyline.
Profile Image for Sud666.
2,330 reviews199 followers
May 31, 2017
A History of Violence is the original book from where the movie was based. As with most things, I prefer the book.

Two psycho armed robbers decide to rob a small coffee shop in some nameless small town. But the mild-mannered and polite coffee shop owner ends up killing one and making the other thief cower. Who is this guy? Trust the vultures in the media to forget any ones right to privacy and plaster his face all over the local news. Enter the Mob from New York.

This is the story of a man who was trying to leave his past behind only to find it has followed him to his "new" life. It's a great story about how a man can try to create a new life, but only after the past has been laid to rest. I won't ruin any more of the story. It's a look at a simple man with a very complicated past trying to protect his family.

While the art style is very much like a Japanese manga, I didn't find it particularly good. Thankfully, this is all about the story. This would have been a 5 star book, if only the art were of a better quality. Some of these images needed more clarification and I think that would have worked well with the dark story. Still it is effective. A History of Violence is a great story and highly recommended to anyone who likes a dark and violent tale.
Profile Image for Himanshu Karmacharya.
1,148 reviews113 followers
March 24, 2020
The movie led to the book. It was an interesting read (I liked the whole backstory of Joey/Tom and how it was executed), but I still like the movie just a tad bit better.
Profile Image for Toby.
861 reviews375 followers
May 28, 2012
A family man dragged in to a violent situation, which as that old cliche states only begets more violence. The story of an ordinary man dealing with underworld figures in an attempt to protect his family. It's all good noir stuff. Even the opening recalls the excellent Ernest Hemingway short story (fatally adapted in to two mediocre at best noir movies) The Killers found in Men Without Women: Short Stories. Hopes they were high.

I wasn't a fan of the scribbly line drawing style of art chosen for the book, as others point out it makes for a hard time trying to work out which character is which and hey it was a key visual tool in the classic period of Hollywood noir so I understand what Vince Locke was attempting BUT it just didn't make me a happy graphic novel reader. Some of the layouts for the panels were interesting but mostly it felt like an attempt to make the panels in to the lens of a movie camera (which as we all know David Cronenburg eventually did) and that was just another distraction; I like my graphic novels to be graphic novels, to embrace their medium rather than aim for literature or blockbuster movie status.

The story was largely very interesting and throws up some questions you might want to ask yourself such as "would you be capable of defending your family in a violent situation?" I found some of the dialogue to be very cheesy which was a shame because otherwise they did a good job in telling the story and the gruesome denouement is something that either didn't make it to the movie adaptation or was wiped from my memory completely.

If you're a fan of noir then this little book has a fair amount of the genre staples in what could easily have become a Walking Tall style scenario (thankfully it's all underplayed rather than over the top revenge violence) and whilst it's not one of the greats in the noir graphic novel ouevre it's definitely worth a read.
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,367 reviews282 followers
August 13, 2020
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. From the May 1997 edition with a theme of "Offered Again" Comics:

FROM THE BACKLIST

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (DC Comics/Paradox Press)

My expectations were low when I bought A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE earlier this year. Previous books published under the Paradox Graphic Mystery imprint of DC Comics have been rather generic crime/mystery thrillers lacking in thrills and mystery. Maybe it was those lowered expectations that allowed A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE to blow me away. Or maybe it was the fact that this is a well-written, well-drawn thrill ride. Regardless, this book packs a wallop.

Tom McKenna is just a typical guy. He owns a little diner. He's got a loving family. Then a thwarted hold-up gives him instant fame, and his cozy little world is shattered. Suddenly, mafia hitmen are following Tom around. They seem to think Tom is a man who killed and stole from the mob years before and disappeared. Is this a case of mistaken identity, or does Tom have a secret (and several bodies) buried in his past? And when the mafia men decide to err on the side of vengeance, will Tom and his family survive?

John Wagner spins one heck of an intense yarn. It's better than most of the mafia movie thrillers I've seen in the last five years. I think of movies because Wagner's dialogue and Vince Locke's layouts are so cinematic. This book could easily be transferred to film. Wagner's scripts on the JUDGE DREDD comics just did not prepare me for this level of workmanship. Locke, meanwhile, continues to draw in the raw, sketchy style that won me over in SANDMAN and SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATER.

Only one farfetched twist near the end detracts from -- but does not ruin -- this nearly flawless work. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is one of the few books deserving to be called a "graphic novel." Don't miss it!

Grade: A-
Profile Image for Ben Loory.
Author 4 books729 followers
December 21, 2011
i love the cronenberg adaptation and had been meaning to read this for a while just to see if it ended the same way (i like the movie's ending but always had a hard time believing that a graphic novel would end in such suspension)... well, it doesn't end the same way... it also doesn't middle the same way... beginning's the same, though, pretty much. it's much cleaner and simpler and more black-and-white than the movie; ties up all the loose ends and makes the main character likable (he was trying to get $ for his grandma's operation!) and removes most of the moral ambiguity. has a lot more cliched elements and much worse dialogue and the sexual component isn't there... it's really just a totally different story, and not as good. but it led to a great movie, so that's good.
Profile Image for Katie.dorny.
1,159 reviews646 followers
August 30, 2019
This was a fast paced, mob infested, morally grey graphic novel that I flew through.

It was incredibly atmospheric and our main character Tom was brought to life in the graphics and his actions; you can see why this became a film.

The illustration was great, i personally enjoyed the simplistic nature of the drawing (though I recognise it’s a phenomenal skill that I am abysmally shit at) it allowed the dialogue to really take centre stage.
Profile Image for Mimi.
745 reviews226 followers
March 23, 2024
3.5 stars rounding up for the execution (pun intended)

The movie adaptation and the book itself are different enough that they can stand on their own. While the main plot (revenge) and overarching themes (escape from and being pursued by a violent past) are the same, the executions are handled differently--better in the movie and perhaps it might be even better as a full-length novel, just my opinion. The graphic novel form, while great at showing fast-paced storyline and action-packed scenes, isn't the best for showing multifaceted characters or their inner struggles. Again, just an opinion of someone who's not a big reader of graphic novels.

I liked this book because I've seen the movie and know Tom McKenna as a character and what he goes through from start to finish, so the amount and degree of up-close violence doesn't bother me that much, but it could be a shock to someone unfamiliar with the main plot.
Profile Image for Jack Nicholas.
27 reviews
October 11, 2023
Pogayela aruvadikku thayaraana
Opponanta kalai eduthu
Thalavaliya pokkipadhu
Enga thalayeluthu
Aadaadha aatam pottaa
Katti vechu koni-le katti lorry-le yethi
Arththupoda anupuduvom factory-ku

deiiiiiii

ella bluprintu-um theriyum
Mission successfull ah mudiyum
Idaye vandhaa unnayum
Padayal veppen kolasamikki
Adhooda aadu saaraayam
Beedi suruttu
Gang la illa poiu porattu
Velayattu pola
Vela nadathum world wide linkuu

Eeey … ella oorum namma rules
Uruvadhu da namma tools
Aththana peru asaivum
Orae mari synkuu
Singles illa gumbal sanda
Gelichi gelichi kalachi poiten
Paththavachu pogaya uttaa
Poweru kickuuuuuu
Profile Image for Alex.
802 reviews37 followers
February 13, 2020
Το Χρονικό της Βίας είναι από τα κόμικ που δεν σ'αφήνουν να τ'αφήσεις. Καταιγιστικός ρυθμός σε μια υπόθεση ξεκαθαρίσματος λογαριασμών με φόντο την ιταλική μαφία της Νέας Υόρκης με μπόλικο αίμα, βία και αρκετά ακραίες σκηνές. Σαν ιστορία παίρνει ένα 4/5 ενώ το σχέδιο, που εξυπηρετούσε μεν άψογα την ταχύτητα της υπόθεσης αλλά τεχνικά ήταν πολύ scetchy και αφηρημένο πάει στο 3/5. Συνολικά, τίμιος τίτλος για κάθε φαν των νουάρ/αστυνομικών.
Profile Image for Melki.
7,291 reviews2,611 followers
October 24, 2017
Robbing the mob is never a good idea, and in one man's case, his crimes come back to bite him in the ass decades later. The movie I saw a few years ago left no impression on me, so I was expecting the book to be a bit more compelling. Even with its particularly grisly ending, I doubt this story will stay with me either.
Profile Image for d4.
358 reviews205 followers
December 15, 2008
I watched the movie before I even realized it exists as a graphic novel. The two differ extremely. The movie took the main character Tom, a few aspects of plot, and moved in an entirely different direction. I'm glad for this, because it was more believable--I don't think it would've translated well into a film otherwise. For example, when someone reveals to his wife that he has murdered people and lied about his entire past for over a decade, I wouldn't expect her to accept it without the slightest feeling of betrayal as she did in the graphic novel. The movie shows a more realistic struggle within the family to cope with the contrast between the everyday family man and his violent past. As someone who watched the movie first, I was interested in Tom's prior life--the mystery of which is completely revealed in the graphic novel. However, the character's one time fling with violence in his past makes it a lot less realistic that he would be skilled enough to kill experienced mobsters as he does as an adult. In the film, his past is left vague, and it simply works better, and I won't even pretend that I didn't naturally find myself comparing the two throughout reading it. That isn't to say I didn't enjoy reading the graphic novel, but it doesn't have the same amount of depth as its movie counterpart. I don't think it would have held my interest as much without my pre-existing affinity for the movie-adapted character Tom.
Profile Image for Adithiyan Curioser.
12 reviews1 follower
September 30, 2023
With a story as simple and old as human history, John Wagner and Vince Locke's "A History of Violence" graphic novel is a brutal and complex exploration of the oscillatory mindset of man trying to forget his guilty past yet the world doesn't make him forget through the eyes of protagonist, Joey McKenna. Never have I ever imagined how visceral and aesthetic pencil strokes would be until I read the brutal Coda. This has so much potential to be revamped with a masala treatment of done right. Let's hope for the best!
526 reviews47 followers
February 11, 2023
The art is cool and I liked this comic as much if not better than the movie. Just bad ass all the way around.
Profile Image for Bram Macgregor.
304 reviews3 followers
February 25, 2025
“A History Of Violence” is about a man named Tom McKenna, a family man who seems completely ordinary and is well liked in his town. Everything changes when two mobsters walk into Tom’s diner and try to kill him, unsuccessfully. He is considered a town hero by everyone in his town but this newfound attention attracts more mobsters and specifically an old associate he crossed all those years ago. This man recognizes him and is relentless in his efforts to get revenge. Will Tom and his family survive the mob’s unrelenting attacks or will they become yet another victim of the mob’s brutality?

Read or watch “A History Of Violence” to find out.

This book was really great, it was a blind buy for me at a thrift store. I had seen the movie before and really loved it so I figured I’d love this too. And I’ll be honest, it might be better than the film. I love the film but this really has a dark and gritty feel of a mob story that I don’t think the film could capture. The black and white art style really captures it well, it feels almost noir. When I re-read this I think I’ll listen to smooth jazz in the back to set the mood right.

Worth checking out for any mob movie or comic fan. Highly recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Raj.
44 reviews25 followers
January 23, 2024
Maybe I just don't dig noir in a comic book format. But then, I thought the art fits the aesthetic snug as a skin. Too standard by my standards.
Profile Image for Kaethe.
6,567 reviews533 followers
December 21, 2016
A History of Violence - John Wagner, Vince Locke pleh.  Guy carries off one well-planned crime as a teen, that makes him a master of hand-to-hand combat 20 years later?  Vile and gratuitous in every way. Plus, I'm just really tired of the revenge-makes-violence-acceptable gambit. No, it doesn't. but if you just want to show a lot of violence, don't try to whitewash it.<br/>Library copy
Profile Image for Sooraya Evans.
939 reviews64 followers
June 11, 2016
Gave this a try after watching the movie.
I personally enjoyed the movie more.
The scenes in the book are more brutal, especially Richie's fate.
Overall, the story is great in terms of pacing all the way to the end.
Didn't like the art style at all. Messy and hard to follow.
Looked like thumbnails for preliminary drawing.
Profile Image for William III.
Author 40 books610 followers
September 11, 2010
This is one of those rare cases where the film is better than the book it was based on. MUCH better. Everything I loved about the film A HISTORY IF VIOLENCE is missing here in the book. Don't waste your time with this one.
Profile Image for Dhevaguru S.
71 reviews7 followers
October 1, 2023
Taking up on the most primitive and rudimentary essence of man - violence as its core concept, the graphic novel explores the desperate attempts of a seemingly innocent man trying to hold onto his hard earned peaceful life, after the deeds of his violent past sneaks up to wreck havoc on it. The art work which looks elementary conveyed the grimness of the such a simple story effectively.
Profile Image for Camilo Guerra.
1,214 reviews20 followers
November 17, 2015
De esta obra se baso la Gran película de David Cronenberg y si, es muy fiel en su primera mitad y a partir de ahio se dividen, siendo muy superior la obra del cineasta aunque sin restar méritos a el comic, el cual es duro,brutal, descorazonador, aunque marca a McKeena como un heroe, como un tipo real que sufre toda la obra y su familia es apenas un accesorio...ahi es donde falla el comic, se convierte en una obra de crimen mas. El arte de Locke el simplemente genial, de un trazo sucio y rapido que puede pecar en primer vistazo a ser falto de detalle pero ahi cometemos un error, es lo que la obra pide y encaja perfecto, con un detalle oscuro que se desbordara en tu cabeza por años.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi-cP...
Profile Image for مصطفي سليمان.
Author 2 books2,201 followers
November 28, 2016
لا يموت الماضي يجب عليك قتله
دا ملخص القصة

أنا مبسوط ان يكون دا الكتاب رقم مئة السنة دي يعني رقم لطيف جدا مع رواية عظيمة جدا
انا مكنتش أعرف أن الفيلم متأخد عن رواية مصورة انا مشوفتش الفيلم بس كان ف خطة المشاهدة

قصة رجل العائلة اللطيف المتزوج ولديه طفلين يعيشان حياة هادئة لطيفة للغاية الي ان يحدث حادث ف يضطر للدفاع عن نفسه ف يقع ف دائرة الضوء مما يجلب عليه مشاكل من الماضي بتتحول المشاكل لتهديد لحياته وللاسرته وهو يحاول تجنب تلك المشاكل بكل الانواع ولكن الحياة وديونها يجب دفعها مهما طال الوقت

الرواية من حيث الرسم مش افضل لكن السيناريو عظيم جدا انا حبيته بشدة من اول الدخلة وانا متمسر حقيقي رواية لطيفة جدا ودي الفكرة ف التناول مع افكار تم تناولها من قبل هي دي الشطارة والابداع

ينصح بها بشدة
Profile Image for Ramón Nogueras Pérez.
707 reviews413 followers
May 9, 2024
Soy fan del dibujo de Vince Locke desde los 90, cuando lo descubrí en Vampiro, el juego de rol. Su estilo es adecuado para historias y ambientes oscuros, como este cuento de mafiosos.

Si has visto la película de Cronenberg con Viggo Mortensen, ya sabes de qué va, porque este es el cómic que la inspiró. Un tipo gana notoriedad al repeler a unos atracadores. Esa notoriedad atrae a gente que quiere ajustarle las cuentas, desde hace mucho. Este hombre tiene una buena vida, una familia. Y todo se desencadena desde ahí.

Muy recomendable, aunque la traducción es así así.
Profile Image for Fugo Feedback.
5,084 reviews172 followers
June 26, 2012
Antes que nada: maldigo al "Deleted Member" imbécil que estuvo borrando al boleo un montón de ediciones en castellano y francés de comics yanquis (y andá a saber qué otras cosas habrá eliminado también ese idiota irrastreable).
Ahora sí: muy pero muy buena historia, con un dibujo más que digno, aunque el giro gore del final me resultó un tanto chocante y desubicado (literalmente). Lo bueno es que ahora ya estoy libre para ver la peli sin culpa alguna, a ver cuándo me hago tiempo.
Profile Image for Ale Ech.
68 reviews4 followers
September 12, 2021
Una historia violenta trata de un hombre en apariencia ordinario, pero cuando menos lo espera, su pasado lo empieza a perseguir y atormentar. Personalmente, me conmovió mucho la historia.
Ya quiero ver la adaptación al cine del director David Cronenberg.
186 reviews9 followers
August 8, 2023
Un rappel d'à quel point le film de Cronenberg est bon. Pas que cette BD ne le soit pas, mais le sujet est traité d'une manière autrement subtile et humaine dans l'adaptation. Cela dit, les deux sont tellement différents qu'il vaut la peine de les connaitre conjointement
Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews

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