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Marked Man
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. Collects Marked Man stories from Dark Horse Presents #1-#8.
* All-new adult intrigue from the creator of American Flagg! and Black Kiss !
* From the pages of Dark Horse Presents !
* All-new adult intrigue from the creator of American Flagg! and Black Kiss !
* From the pages of Dark Horse Presents !
72 pages, Hardcover
First published December 4, 2012
About the author
Howard Chaykin
1,064 books114 followersHoward Victor Chaykin is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett and Al Parker.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 19, 2018
Story of a criminal out for revenge. This felt very disjointed, probably due to it originally being segmented across 8 issues of Dark Horse Presents. The storytelling just wasn't very good or compelling. Many scenes happen off panel leaving you wondering when that happened.
August 30, 2017
Used to love Chaykin's work but this was just terrible. Seems like a rushed job.
Imagine this: Liposuction body fat left at home led authorities to believe our marked man died in a home explosion. If it was a comedy, I'll laugh.
Not to mention, the speech bubbles and narrative boxes were all over the place.
Altogether confusing and hard to follow.
Imagine this: Liposuction body fat left at home led authorities to believe our marked man died in a home explosion. If it was a comedy, I'll laugh.
Not to mention, the speech bubbles and narrative boxes were all over the place.
Altogether confusing and hard to follow.
September 6, 2016
Being only about 72 pages long, this one's over way too quickly. And since it is so short, things naturally evolve (and get resolved) at a quick pace. I for one would've liked to read more about the characters. Oh well, maybe there'll be a follow-up someday... Chaykin certainly left the door open on that end.
Recommended to fans of Howard Chaykin or crime fiction.
Recommended to fans of Howard Chaykin or crime fiction.
April 15, 2020
This is a short story about the clever, under the radar hit-man. Working through various contacts that obtain the contracts our protagonist will execute one kill too many and turn his whole life to literal ashes.
It is a standard revenge story. But unlike usual revenge stories it feels somehow unfinished. I don't know if the authors planned for additional releases or story-arcs but while start of the book is standard action movie entry sequence to better flesh out our protagonist middle and last third part seem very much rushed. Twist and reason why hit-man found himself on the wrong end of the gun is easy to understand but resolution happens so quickly that it makes no sense (). Also some events and objects were put into this story just to validate further direction of the story ().
Entire book feels like a pilot episode - too bad they did not work on it more and developed it more thoroughly.
Art is blocky, very 80/90s but not without its charm.
So not a bad read, but nothing to memorable.
It is a standard revenge story. But unlike usual revenge stories it feels somehow unfinished. I don't know if the authors planned for additional releases or story-arcs but while start of the book is standard action movie entry sequence to better flesh out our protagonist middle and last third part seem very much rushed. Twist and reason why hit-man found himself on the wrong end of the gun is easy to understand but resolution happens so quickly that it makes no sense (). Also some events and objects were put into this story just to validate further direction of the story ().
Entire book feels like a pilot episode - too bad they did not work on it more and developed it more thoroughly.
Art is blocky, very 80/90s but not without its charm.
So not a bad read, but nothing to memorable.
August 27, 2021
Not my favorite Chaykin, but still pretty good. It's certainly a fast read and is left open ended in case Chaykin ever decides to revisit the characters, but not super memorable work from the man compared to his resume. I'm really not kidding about it being a fast read, either. I personally like to read a comic or two before going to bed and I sat down with this only intending to read to the first break. Well, there are no breaks and the next thing I knew, the story was over and I was ready for bed.
This particular story was serialized across 8 issues of Dark Horse Presents. You would think that would make it easy to spot the issue breaks, hell, theoretically, you should just be able to count off 8 pages and find a break but I couldn't spot very many logical ones at all. I'd actually like to get my hands on the original Dark Horse Presents to see how they handled it and where they cut it for each comic.
If you see this on the cheap, are a Howard Chaykin fan, or generally love criminal revenge movies, you won't hate yourself for picking this up.
This particular story was serialized across 8 issues of Dark Horse Presents. You would think that would make it easy to spot the issue breaks, hell, theoretically, you should just be able to count off 8 pages and find a break but I couldn't spot very many logical ones at all. I'd actually like to get my hands on the original Dark Horse Presents to see how they handled it and where they cut it for each comic.
If you see this on the cheap, are a Howard Chaykin fan, or generally love criminal revenge movies, you won't hate yourself for picking this up.
May 22, 2017
Loved it! Howard Chaykin was ALWAYS been one of the best artists out there. He has NOT lost his touch even in his sixties. This comic has the same sharp storytelling of his best work from the 80's. I have never fallen in love with his writing - that isn't to say he isn't great but the stories he picks to tell always had a bit more sex in them than I liked and it got in the way of his smart stories and the amazing way he can build characters. This story still has his little touches of sex but always PG not R in this case. And overall a great story that Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake) and his character Parker would be proud of. Yes it was short but packed full of enough story it didn't feel short. I'd rather a crisp sharp read like this than one twice as long that padded the story to stretch it out. A lot of fun.
May 18, 2017
Terrific "one-and-done" graphic novel that is a must for hard-boiled fiction fans. Chaykin effectively pays homage to Richard Stark's Parker character. Nicely done.
May 31, 2019
The usual reliable crime fare from Chaykin with his quality art
February 20, 2013
I'm a long-time fan of Howard Chaykin and must confess a liking for practically anything he does, whether it's writing or drawing (and especially when he's doing both).
"Marked Man" is a traditional hard-boiled tale of a career criminal who makes one mistake that undoes his entire world. Chaykin's plot is tight and his execution mean.
The only flaw in the tale is that everything goes a bit too fast. "Marked Man" was originally serialized in small segments and the constraints of squeezing the story into an allotted space often shows (as when the FBI agent suddenly has a composite drawing of a criminal never seen by anyone or suddenly knows his name...it all just happens).
But "Marked Man" is nonetheless an entertaining hard-boiled crime story by a writer with a real knack for the form.
"Marked Man" is a traditional hard-boiled tale of a career criminal who makes one mistake that undoes his entire world. Chaykin's plot is tight and his execution mean.
The only flaw in the tale is that everything goes a bit too fast. "Marked Man" was originally serialized in small segments and the constraints of squeezing the story into an allotted space often shows (as when the FBI agent suddenly has a composite drawing of a criminal never seen by anyone or suddenly knows his name...it all just happens).
But "Marked Man" is nonetheless an entertaining hard-boiled crime story by a writer with a real knack for the form.
December 26, 2012
I read this as monthly??? installments in Dark Horse Presents.
It's basically Chaykin writing and drawing Chaykin.
As a long-time Chaykin fan, I do admit liking it, but it is far from his best work, wether they be from a choice of his recents such as American Century, Midnight Men, even *gasps* Black Kiss, etc. or from his classics such as American Flagg or The Swords of Heaven, The Flowers of Hell.
If you want to read a quickie from Chaykin, then this is as good as any of his others, but there are so many other of his stories worth more of a look-see.
It's basically Chaykin writing and drawing Chaykin.
As a long-time Chaykin fan, I do admit liking it, but it is far from his best work, wether they be from a choice of his recents such as American Century, Midnight Men, even *gasps* Black Kiss, etc. or from his classics such as American Flagg or The Swords of Heaven, The Flowers of Hell.
If you want to read a quickie from Chaykin, then this is as good as any of his others, but there are so many other of his stories worth more of a look-see.
February 8, 2016
Violent revenge crime stuff, a mashup of Thief and Breaking Bad and a bunch of other stuff. It never caught fire for me... I can tell when I'm into Howard Chaykin, because I don't notice that he can only draw one face for men and one for women.
January 28, 2013
Another classic Chaykin.
Dark grey sex, murder, mayhem laced with realism and cynicism.
Dark grey sex, murder, mayhem laced with realism and cynicism.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews