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Parker Graphic Novels #3
Richard Stark's Parker: The Score
A high-octane trip across America, The Score finds Parker assembling the best caper men he can find to knock over his most audacious target yet: an entire town. They scheme, they prepare, and they execute with military precision, unaware that the whole thing is about to blow up in their faces. Long considered a high water mark in the Parker series, this new graphic adaptation brings the original to violent, double-crossing life.
Darwyn Cooke, Eisner-Award winning creator of DC: The New Frontier, continues adapting Richard Stark's genre-defining Parker novels with his signature pulp flair in this third installment. A hard-nosed thief, Parker is Richard Stark's most famous creation, and Stark, in turn, is the most famous pen name of Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Donald E. Westlake.
Darwyn Cooke, Eisner-Award winning creator of DC: The New Frontier, continues adapting Richard Stark's genre-defining Parker novels with his signature pulp flair in this third installment. A hard-nosed thief, Parker is Richard Stark's most famous creation, and Stark, in turn, is the most famous pen name of Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Donald E. Westlake.
141 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
38 people are currently reading
863 people want to read
About the author
Darwyn Cooke
245 books355 followersDarwyn Cooke was an Eisner Award winning comic book writer, artist, cartoonist and animator, best known for his work on the comic books Catwoman, DC: The New Frontier and Will Eisner's The Spirit.
In 1985, Cooke published his first comic book work as a professional artist in a short story in New Talent Showcase #19, but economic pressure made him leave the career and he worked in Canada as a magazine art director, graphic and product designer for the next 15 years.
In the early 1990s Cooke decided to return to comics, but found little interest for his work at the major publishers. Eventually he was hired by Warner Bros. Animation after replying to an ad placed by animator Bruce Timm.
He went on to work as a storyboard artist for Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, and in 1999 he animated the main title design for Batman Beyond. He then worked as a director for Sony Animation's Men in Black: The Series for a year.
DC Comics then approached Cooke about a project which he had submitted to the publisher years earlier which eventually became Batman: Ego, a graphic novel published in 2000.
The critical success of that project led to Cooke taking on more freelance work, such as X-Force, Wolverine/Doop and Spider-Man's Tangled Web for Marvel Comics and Just Imagine... Stan Lee for DC.
In 2001, Cooke and writer Ed Brubaker teamed up to revamp the Catwoman character. They started with a 4 issue serial "Trail of the Catwoman" in Detective Comics #759-762 in which private detective Slam Bradley attempts to investigate the death of Selina Kyle (AKA Catwoman).
The story led into a new Catwoman title in late 2001 by Brubaker and Cooke, in which the character's costume, supporting cast and modus operandi were all redesigned and redeveloped. Cooke would stay on the series, which was met with critical and fan acclaim, up until issue #4. In 2002 he would write and draw a prequel, the Selina's Big Score graphic novel which detailed what had happened to the character directly before her new series.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cooke's next project was the ambitious DC: The New Frontier (2004), a six issue miniseries which sought to tell an epic storyline bridging the gap between the end of the golden and the start of the silver age of comic books in the DC Universe. The story, which was set in the 1950s, featured dozens of super-hero characters and drew inspiration from the comic books and movies of the period as well as from Tom Wolfe's non-fiction account of the start of the US Space Program The Right Stuff. The major DC characters are introduced in "The New Frontier" in the same order that DC originally published them, even down to the correct month and year in the story's timeline. In 2005, Cooke won an Eisner Award for "Best Limited Series", and a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on the series.
Most recently, Cooke contributed to DC's artist-centric anthology project Solo. His issue (#5, June, 2005) featured several different stories in different styles with a framing sequence featuring the Slam Bradley character. In 2006, Solo #5 won an Eisner Award for "Best Single Issue."
In July 2005, it was announced that in 2006 Cooke and writer Jeph Loeb would produce a Batman/Spirit crossover, to be followed shortly afterwards by an ongoing Spirit series written and drawn by Cooke. Batman/The Spirit was ultimately published in November 2006, followed in December by the first issue of Cooke's The Spirit. In June 2007, Cooke and J. Bone won a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artists" for their work on "Batman/The Spirit", and Cooke won "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on "The Spirit".
In July 2006, it was announced that Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics would release a series of direct-to-DVD animated movies based on important DC com
In 1985, Cooke published his first comic book work as a professional artist in a short story in New Talent Showcase #19, but economic pressure made him leave the career and he worked in Canada as a magazine art director, graphic and product designer for the next 15 years.
In the early 1990s Cooke decided to return to comics, but found little interest for his work at the major publishers. Eventually he was hired by Warner Bros. Animation after replying to an ad placed by animator Bruce Timm.
He went on to work as a storyboard artist for Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, and in 1999 he animated the main title design for Batman Beyond. He then worked as a director for Sony Animation's Men in Black: The Series for a year.
DC Comics then approached Cooke about a project which he had submitted to the publisher years earlier which eventually became Batman: Ego, a graphic novel published in 2000.
The critical success of that project led to Cooke taking on more freelance work, such as X-Force, Wolverine/Doop and Spider-Man's Tangled Web for Marvel Comics and Just Imagine... Stan Lee for DC.
In 2001, Cooke and writer Ed Brubaker teamed up to revamp the Catwoman character. They started with a 4 issue serial "Trail of the Catwoman" in Detective Comics #759-762 in which private detective Slam Bradley attempts to investigate the death of Selina Kyle (AKA Catwoman).
The story led into a new Catwoman title in late 2001 by Brubaker and Cooke, in which the character's costume, supporting cast and modus operandi were all redesigned and redeveloped. Cooke would stay on the series, which was met with critical and fan acclaim, up until issue #4. In 2002 he would write and draw a prequel, the Selina's Big Score graphic novel which detailed what had happened to the character directly before her new series.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cover to DC: The New Frontier #6.
Cooke's next project was the ambitious DC: The New Frontier (2004), a six issue miniseries which sought to tell an epic storyline bridging the gap between the end of the golden and the start of the silver age of comic books in the DC Universe. The story, which was set in the 1950s, featured dozens of super-hero characters and drew inspiration from the comic books and movies of the period as well as from Tom Wolfe's non-fiction account of the start of the US Space Program The Right Stuff. The major DC characters are introduced in "The New Frontier" in the same order that DC originally published them, even down to the correct month and year in the story's timeline. In 2005, Cooke won an Eisner Award for "Best Limited Series", and a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on the series.
Most recently, Cooke contributed to DC's artist-centric anthology project Solo. His issue (#5, June, 2005) featured several different stories in different styles with a framing sequence featuring the Slam Bradley character. In 2006, Solo #5 won an Eisner Award for "Best Single Issue."
In July 2005, it was announced that in 2006 Cooke and writer Jeph Loeb would produce a Batman/Spirit crossover, to be followed shortly afterwards by an ongoing Spirit series written and drawn by Cooke. Batman/The Spirit was ultimately published in November 2006, followed in December by the first issue of Cooke's The Spirit. In June 2007, Cooke and J. Bone won a Joe Shuster Award for "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artists" for their work on "Batman/The Spirit", and Cooke won "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist" for his work on "The Spirit".
In July 2006, it was announced that Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics would release a series of direct-to-DVD animated movies based on important DC com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 224 reviews
September 28, 2016
A friend of mine is constantly talking about Richard Stark's PARKER, so when I saw a bunch of these graphic novels at the comic shop, I grabbed one at random to see what it was all about.
Darwyn Cooke is a fantastic writer, and while I can't say what kind of job he does translating Stark's work (because I haven't read the source material), I can say that, objectively, he does a great job with this story. He brings tense, crime fiction to life in a compelling and engaging way. The art and color is wonderful, and evokes the period beautifully.
I will probably pick up Darwyn Cooke's other works in this series, and I'm adding Stark's original works to my list, as well.
Darwyn Cooke is a fantastic writer, and while I can't say what kind of job he does translating Stark's work (because I haven't read the source material), I can say that, objectively, he does a great job with this story. He brings tense, crime fiction to life in a compelling and engaging way. The art and color is wonderful, and evokes the period beautifully.
I will probably pick up Darwyn Cooke's other works in this series, and I'm adding Stark's original works to my list, as well.
April 15, 2014
When we’ve hit a point where Hollywood thinks that Jason Statham would be the perfect guy to play Parker in a movie, maybe it’s best that we all just stick to Darwyn Cooke’s graphic novel adaptations of the Richard Stark books to get our visuals of what the professional thief’s stories would look like.
This one adapts The Score in which Parker puts together a crew to take over and loot a small isolated mining town. As he did in his versions of The Hunter and The Outfit Cooke uses the text from the book along with his artwork to tell the story, and as with the other ones, he does a first rate job of it.
This one has a black and yellow color scheme with that retro style that fits the Parker stories perfectly. Cooke also incorporates clever touches like showing us a map where each character is during the takeover of the town. Particularly nice is how he draws scenes that illustrate what’s going on in the imagination of the whimsical Grofield as they pull off the job.
So if the thought of watching a so-called Parker movie featuring Statham and J-Lo depresses you as much as it does me, grab one of these adaptations and replace that mental picture with Cooke’s brilliant work.
This one adapts The Score in which Parker puts together a crew to take over and loot a small isolated mining town. As he did in his versions of The Hunter and The Outfit Cooke uses the text from the book along with his artwork to tell the story, and as with the other ones, he does a first rate job of it.
This one has a black and yellow color scheme with that retro style that fits the Parker stories perfectly. Cooke also incorporates clever touches like showing us a map where each character is during the takeover of the town. Particularly nice is how he draws scenes that illustrate what’s going on in the imagination of the whimsical Grofield as they pull off the job.
So if the thought of watching a so-called Parker movie featuring Statham and J-Lo depresses you as much as it does me, grab one of these adaptations and replace that mental picture with Cooke’s brilliant work.
December 4, 2020
Reread, December 2020.
Original review, 8/14/16: I read this last night while also watching the Olympics with my family, which makes for a really funny juxtaposition, since the Olympics is all sentimental storytelling, rooted in the back-stories of all the largely American participants (if you are watching it as I am, in the U. S.), and Richard Stark's--one pseudonym for Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Donald Westlake--Parker is the hardest-boiled detective you ever met, the opposite of sentimental. Westlake adapted Jim Thompson's novel The Grifters into an academy-award-winning screenplay, so if you've seen the film you know the territory, though Parker's world has even less sense of humor than even Thompson's, maybe; Parker never smiles once. And of course, the ladies are attracted to him even if one of them calls him ugly.
This is the third in the Parker series adapted beautifully by Darwin Cooke, in retro-sixties design and bold color, very hip and lean and mean. The story is of a score, the biggest and most improbable one Parker--a lifetime criminal, a thief--ever did, taking a town at night, with an outfit of twelve wise guys. In the two previous books, everything went perfectly. In this one, mistakes are made, and Parker knows it from the beginning but surprisingly goes through with it, anyway. He doesn't thoroughly research Edgars, the guy who wants to take this town down, he has too many variables to control, he goes soft and allows one of the guys who picks up a girl to take her along instead of offing her (which as a detective/thriller reader, you know he had to do, but there is a slight soft spot in this Parker, he likes the dames).
This is a great fast story, with a great ending. If you like hard-boiled de(tec)tive stories, as I guess I now discover I really do, this is a great series. Visually it's wonderful, a dream. But yes, you have to also read Stark's original story, too, of course!!
Original review, 8/14/16: I read this last night while also watching the Olympics with my family, which makes for a really funny juxtaposition, since the Olympics is all sentimental storytelling, rooted in the back-stories of all the largely American participants (if you are watching it as I am, in the U. S.), and Richard Stark's--one pseudonym for Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Donald Westlake--Parker is the hardest-boiled detective you ever met, the opposite of sentimental. Westlake adapted Jim Thompson's novel The Grifters into an academy-award-winning screenplay, so if you've seen the film you know the territory, though Parker's world has even less sense of humor than even Thompson's, maybe; Parker never smiles once. And of course, the ladies are attracted to him even if one of them calls him ugly.
This is the third in the Parker series adapted beautifully by Darwin Cooke, in retro-sixties design and bold color, very hip and lean and mean. The story is of a score, the biggest and most improbable one Parker--a lifetime criminal, a thief--ever did, taking a town at night, with an outfit of twelve wise guys. In the two previous books, everything went perfectly. In this one, mistakes are made, and Parker knows it from the beginning but surprisingly goes through with it, anyway. He doesn't thoroughly research Edgars, the guy who wants to take this town down, he has too many variables to control, he goes soft and allows one of the guys who picks up a girl to take her along instead of offing her (which as a detective/thriller reader, you know he had to do, but there is a slight soft spot in this Parker, he likes the dames).
This is a great fast story, with a great ending. If you like hard-boiled de(tec)tive stories, as I guess I now discover I really do, this is a great series. Visually it's wonderful, a dream. But yes, you have to also read Stark's original story, too, of course!!
August 14, 2013
Every single time I put down one of Darwyn Cooke’s Richard Stark adaptations, I tell myself, “Man, I really need to read those Parker books”. Not only do they come with solid recommendations from many of my trusted friends, they’re right up my alley. Disgruntled con-man with some serious anger issues? Give me all the books.
Parker’s general rule states that if a job needs more than five people, it’s not a job. So imagine his reaction when someone proposed a heist requiring more than twenty-five bodies. Scaling things down to a modest twelve crooks, Parker joins in with a rag-tag group of criminals recruited by a mysterious newbie, Edgars, with a plan to rob an entire town. Edgars is upfront about his displeasure with the quarry city and makes it known that the job has a lot to do with personal reasons – another red flag for Parker. Parker admits that he’s in need of a challenge and with a take of this size – roughly a quarter of a million – it’s hard to say no.
I often wonder how objective I would be with the material if I had read the original books. I can't attest to how accurate the adaptations are, all I can say is how much fun they are to read. The artwork is gorgeous and the colors, while subdued, find a way to do so much with varying shades of only one predominate color.
I'm a big fan of Cooke's approach to this project. The series is very much a "show, don't tell" adaptation as there are large sections of storytelling without dialogue. I guess that's the point. If you wanted tons of words encasing the beautiful imagery, you might as well read the books.
Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing
Parker’s general rule states that if a job needs more than five people, it’s not a job. So imagine his reaction when someone proposed a heist requiring more than twenty-five bodies. Scaling things down to a modest twelve crooks, Parker joins in with a rag-tag group of criminals recruited by a mysterious newbie, Edgars, with a plan to rob an entire town. Edgars is upfront about his displeasure with the quarry city and makes it known that the job has a lot to do with personal reasons – another red flag for Parker. Parker admits that he’s in need of a challenge and with a take of this size – roughly a quarter of a million – it’s hard to say no.
I often wonder how objective I would be with the material if I had read the original books. I can't attest to how accurate the adaptations are, all I can say is how much fun they are to read. The artwork is gorgeous and the colors, while subdued, find a way to do so much with varying shades of only one predominate color.
I'm a big fan of Cooke's approach to this project. The series is very much a "show, don't tell" adaptation as there are large sections of storytelling without dialogue. I guess that's the point. If you wanted tons of words encasing the beautiful imagery, you might as well read the books.
Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing
June 13, 2024
Real fun seeing Parker operate with a team. It keeps things fresh and new. Cooke's artwork is great as always and this makes for another great adaptation. Looking forward to the next and final volume of Darwyn Cooke's Parker adaptations!
April 29, 2013
I’m the perfect audience for these books as I’ve never read a Richard Stark/Donald Westlake novel about Parker but I love Darwyn Cooke, I like crime stories and looooove comics, so mixing all that up and serving it to me is gravy every time. I will read a Parker novel by Westlake one day but for now, The Hunter, The Outfit, and this one, The Score are perfectly enjoyable by themselves.
Parker is his usual tough-guy self as he gets drawn into a scheme to rob an entire town, a small mining town in the middle of nowhere, in a single night. He assembles a team of expert thieves to assist in the raid and they plan meticulously - but of course things don’t go according to plan, neither are they what they seem.
My favourite book of the series so far is The Outfit though The Score is a close runner up and it’s told in a more straightforward way, unlike The Outfit which made great use of various comics styles to tell the story. The Score is also the first Parker book where thing have gone wrong - in previous titles, Parker and co. have made a plan and pulled it off perfectly. Here, Parker finally encounters trouble and has to deal with complications as they arise, leading to a more tense and exciting story overall.
The one criticism I would have is how few people the crew encounter in the town - even if there is a curfew and it’s set at night, they meet just one person on the streets? In the entire town? Hmmm.
Cooke’s art is as amazing as ever and his adaptation - while I don’t know how faithful to the source material it is - is a thrilling read. If you love crime comics set in the 60s-era with fantastic art and tremendous style, Cooke’s Parker books are for you. The Score is terrific - can’t wait for Slayground (Cooke’s next Parker adaptation)!
Parker is his usual tough-guy self as he gets drawn into a scheme to rob an entire town, a small mining town in the middle of nowhere, in a single night. He assembles a team of expert thieves to assist in the raid and they plan meticulously - but of course things don’t go according to plan, neither are they what they seem.
My favourite book of the series so far is The Outfit though The Score is a close runner up and it’s told in a more straightforward way, unlike The Outfit which made great use of various comics styles to tell the story. The Score is also the first Parker book where thing have gone wrong - in previous titles, Parker and co. have made a plan and pulled it off perfectly. Here, Parker finally encounters trouble and has to deal with complications as they arise, leading to a more tense and exciting story overall.
The one criticism I would have is how few people the crew encounter in the town - even if there is a curfew and it’s set at night, they meet just one person on the streets? In the entire town? Hmmm.
Cooke’s art is as amazing as ever and his adaptation - while I don’t know how faithful to the source material it is - is a thrilling read. If you love crime comics set in the 60s-era with fantastic art and tremendous style, Cooke’s Parker books are for you. The Score is terrific - can’t wait for Slayground (Cooke’s next Parker adaptation)!
April 3, 2018
The Cooke / Westlake (a.k.a. Stark) teaming returns to the spirit, quality and effectiveness shown in the initial volume The Hunter with their third book The Score. (The sophomore effort, The Outfit, was good but sort of lost its momentum for awhile in the middle.) This time laconic thief Parker works with a larger-than-usual crew - which, of course, complicates matters - to execute an audacious heist in a quiet midwestern mining town. Things get interesting when a pretty good PLOT TWIST occurs. Maybe it's simply the early 60's style (fedoras, ever-present cigarettes, wide-body cars from Detroit, femme fatales) over actual substance that I love, but like the movie tagline from the Parker-inspired The Payback stated - "Get ready to cheer for the bad guy."
July 1, 2021
Un pueblo minero, un banco que paga las nominas el jueves, y un solo camino de huida. Que puede salir mal? Atractiva historia con el tipo de dibujo cartoon de darwyn cooke, si te gusta la novela negra no te lo puedes perder
July 30, 2012
This is an adaptation of one of my favorite Parker novels, and Darwyn Cooke doesn't disappoint. He has a great sense of pacing. Too many comic book writers seem to assume that people spend as much time on the visuals as they do the dialogue, which leads to some choppy pacing. For this book, though, Cooke intersperses dialogue sections with speech-free action sections, and it really works. He also wonderfully evokes the '60s setting of the original novel without being cutesy or overloading the narrative. My favorite aspect of Richard Stark's Parker novels has always been the heists. The Score was the first big heist Parker ever pulled off, and for my money The Score is the best Cooke adaptation to date.
December 21, 2022
Absolutely fantastic stuff. This is my favorite Parker novel, and the adaptation by Cooke works beautifully. There's some great stuff done with diagrams, and the last few pages are amazing. I love it.
June 29, 2019
”The Whole Damn Town”
This is what I’m talkin about! Read this in like 30 minutes dog. After my disappointing read through of The Outfit I read the description of this volume and immediately got hyped to read it. Parker and a group of robbers ransacking an entire mining town? Hell yes. This book was a blast man. It’s probably my personal favourite of the books thus far even though The Hunter is probably a better written book. My biggest praise towards this book is my biggest praise towards the movie Reservoir Dogs cuz the way this book goes about showing the preparation of the heist and then the actual heist really gave me Reservoir Dogs vibes. Sure, there is no half an hour scene about tipping and everyone goes by their real names BUT the point is that we get a decent look at all the characters. I frickin love that aspect of this book. Even though it’s surface level stuff we get enough that we know what certain people will do and how they will act. Grofield is the fuckin man in this book! Darwyn Cooke said himself in an interview at the 2012 Comic-Con that “This book is a lot more fun” and “With this book we get to really cut loose”. You can feel that when reading this. We all know Parker at this point. He is a tremendously skeptical person when it comes to pretty much anything, but especially plans for upcoming jobs. Reading his inner thoughts about this crazy ass heist made me smile. I really only have one problem with this book and it isn’t even something most people would complain about. It’s more of a nit pick than anything. I think besides one double page splash we never really get a good sense of scale. I wish they emphasized how much bigger this job was than anything else the men had done before. I dunno that’s pretty much it. Parker is also the most likable in this volume. You can really see this in a dialogue scene near the end of the book. It’s an oddly humanized scene for Parker and I really appreciated that.
What more is there to say about Darwyn Cooke’s iconic art style? I stopped so many times mid speech bubble just to gawk at the incredible penciling and inking I had in my hands. I know I sound cliched as hell saying this, but I don’t think anyone else’s style could encapsulate the Golden age 1950s/1960s feel as much as his. Even scenery in this book is gorgeously drawn. And one of my favourite aspects of the book is that not every drawing of a person is hyper detailed and perfect. Sometimes a lack of detail or polished forms really gives the book a more interesting aesthetic. At least to me. The yellow shading and filling also works very well.
In the end I pretty much loved this book. Even though it takes a very different direction in tone from the last 2 volumes, I think it really worked, especially since we had 2 books of character set up and since Cooke said “it’s a lot more indicative of all the Parker books” so the direction we are heading (or were heading RIP) is the right one apparently. This book isn’t perfect by any means but I can’t point out any glaring flaws. I had a great time reading The Score and it is my favourite of the books thus far.
Letter Grade: (A-)
Book Construction:
Since I didn’t end up getting the Martini Edition, the four hardcover volumes are more than sufficient. These are some of my favourite hardcovers I own just because of the production value. The actual hardcover has a rough texture, there is a different silhouette imprint on each of them, and the spine is written in slightly embossed white cursive. Delicious. The paper is also thick ass card stock. So that’s also great, because compared to the recent marvel trades where you could put a whole threw the paper by blowing on it, this paper quality is fantastic.
This is what I’m talkin about! Read this in like 30 minutes dog. After my disappointing read through of The Outfit I read the description of this volume and immediately got hyped to read it. Parker and a group of robbers ransacking an entire mining town? Hell yes. This book was a blast man. It’s probably my personal favourite of the books thus far even though The Hunter is probably a better written book. My biggest praise towards this book is my biggest praise towards the movie Reservoir Dogs cuz the way this book goes about showing the preparation of the heist and then the actual heist really gave me Reservoir Dogs vibes. Sure, there is no half an hour scene about tipping and everyone goes by their real names BUT the point is that we get a decent look at all the characters. I frickin love that aspect of this book. Even though it’s surface level stuff we get enough that we know what certain people will do and how they will act. Grofield is the fuckin man in this book! Darwyn Cooke said himself in an interview at the 2012 Comic-Con that “This book is a lot more fun” and “With this book we get to really cut loose”. You can feel that when reading this. We all know Parker at this point. He is a tremendously skeptical person when it comes to pretty much anything, but especially plans for upcoming jobs. Reading his inner thoughts about this crazy ass heist made me smile. I really only have one problem with this book and it isn’t even something most people would complain about. It’s more of a nit pick than anything. I think besides one double page splash we never really get a good sense of scale. I wish they emphasized how much bigger this job was than anything else the men had done before. I dunno that’s pretty much it. Parker is also the most likable in this volume. You can really see this in a dialogue scene near the end of the book. It’s an oddly humanized scene for Parker and I really appreciated that.
What more is there to say about Darwyn Cooke’s iconic art style? I stopped so many times mid speech bubble just to gawk at the incredible penciling and inking I had in my hands. I know I sound cliched as hell saying this, but I don’t think anyone else’s style could encapsulate the Golden age 1950s/1960s feel as much as his. Even scenery in this book is gorgeously drawn. And one of my favourite aspects of the book is that not every drawing of a person is hyper detailed and perfect. Sometimes a lack of detail or polished forms really gives the book a more interesting aesthetic. At least to me. The yellow shading and filling also works very well.
In the end I pretty much loved this book. Even though it takes a very different direction in tone from the last 2 volumes, I think it really worked, especially since we had 2 books of character set up and since Cooke said “it’s a lot more indicative of all the Parker books” so the direction we are heading (or were heading RIP) is the right one apparently. This book isn’t perfect by any means but I can’t point out any glaring flaws. I had a great time reading The Score and it is my favourite of the books thus far.
Letter Grade: (A-)
Book Construction:
Since I didn’t end up getting the Martini Edition, the four hardcover volumes are more than sufficient. These are some of my favourite hardcovers I own just because of the production value. The actual hardcover has a rough texture, there is a different silhouette imprint on each of them, and the spine is written in slightly embossed white cursive. Delicious. The paper is also thick ass card stock. So that’s also great, because compared to the recent marvel trades where you could put a whole threw the paper by blowing on it, this paper quality is fantastic.
July 2, 2016
Darwyn Cooke's previous adaptations of Richard Stark's 'Parker' novels (The Hunter & The Outfit) were faithful to the source material (Cooke had even included pertinent elements of The Man With The Getaway Face in the 'Outfit' adaptation) and it was a real pleasure for me to have one of my favourite artists illustrate some of my favourite crime stories. This book continues the trend.
What initially struck me was the choice of colour for the art. In the previous volumes, we had black & white art with a third colour used for shading. The Hunter had a dark bluish-green, and The Outfit had purple. This book uses a bright orange. But guess what - it works.
Like in the first two adaptations by Cooke, there are some departures from the source material, but all the elements that I loved about The Score have been faithfully translated to the comic book page and make this another successful adaptation by Darwyn Cooke.
Cooke's adaptation of Slayground is next.
What initially struck me was the choice of colour for the art. In the previous volumes, we had black & white art with a third colour used for shading. The Hunter had a dark bluish-green, and The Outfit had purple. This book uses a bright orange. But guess what - it works.
Like in the first two adaptations by Cooke, there are some departures from the source material, but all the elements that I loved about The Score have been faithfully translated to the comic book page and make this another successful adaptation by Darwyn Cooke.
Cooke's adaptation of Slayground is next.
June 30, 2013
Darwyn Cooke IS the Sixties. That's the only explanation that makes any sense to me. Otherwise, how does the look and feel of everything in this book seem to emerge so naturally from that decade? The amount of detail Cooke employs here is staggering, and I can't think of a more perfect adapter for the comic version of the Parker novels.
Cooke imbues so much attitude in these pages. He fully captures Parker's cold, focused demeanor and makes him seem like the coolest person alive, despite the fact that he's a proud criminal. There have been tons of stories where you root for the bad guys, but these Parker novels have got to be some of the best of those.
My only real problem with this one lies in the climax. Throughout the book, the team plans and executes an Ocean's Eleven style heist to knock over an entire town. It's thrilling, and the logistics of the job make it seem like it could actually work. However, the whole time things are coming together, there's this sense that something could go horribly wrong. Then, something kind of goes wrong, but then it doesn't matter, and then the book's over. I found it to be a pretty disappointing ending that kind of left Chekov's gun sitting out unfired. It's ultimately a book where nothing bad really happens and everyone gets what they want.
That said, the pure coolness of this book coupled with Cooke's perfect artwork make it well worth a read, particularly if you've read the previous Parker adaptations. And if you haven't read those, do so first. You won't regret it.
Cooke imbues so much attitude in these pages. He fully captures Parker's cold, focused demeanor and makes him seem like the coolest person alive, despite the fact that he's a proud criminal. There have been tons of stories where you root for the bad guys, but these Parker novels have got to be some of the best of those.
My only real problem with this one lies in the climax. Throughout the book, the team plans and executes an Ocean's Eleven style heist to knock over an entire town. It's thrilling, and the logistics of the job make it seem like it could actually work. However, the whole time things are coming together, there's this sense that something could go horribly wrong. Then, something kind of goes wrong, but then it doesn't matter, and then the book's over. I found it to be a pretty disappointing ending that kind of left Chekov's gun sitting out unfired. It's ultimately a book where nothing bad really happens and everyone gets what they want.
That said, the pure coolness of this book coupled with Cooke's perfect artwork make it well worth a read, particularly if you've read the previous Parker adaptations. And if you haven't read those, do so first. You won't regret it.
October 29, 2012
Not nearly as good as Darwyn Cooke's adaptations of the Parker novels The Hunter and The Score. It was just as skillfully adapted as a graphic novel, with a sparse monochromatic but propulsive drawing and minimalist writing. I think, without having read it directly, that the problem is the plot of the underlying novel it is adapting. The Hunter and The Outfit both have a higher level of double-crossing, more varied settings, and an almost epic struggle of Parker as a solo criminal against "The Outfit" as a wide-ranging organization with tentacles in everything. In contrast, The Score is more of a standard caper story as Parker is presented with an idea for a score, assembles a crew, procures weapons, cases the site, moves in, it goes partly wrong, and then they leave and hideout. Nothing more, nothing less.
I just re-read my review of the second book and find that at least I'm consistent in identifying trends, but unfortunately the trends seem to be accelerating: "The sequel to The Hunter is nearly as good. In this story, Parker continues his revenge on The Outfit (a seemingly more upscale version of the Mafia), organizing caper after caper to hit them where it hurts, in their pocketbooks. It is only nearly as good because it lacks some of the novelty you get with the introduction of a new character and also some of the closeness of the betrayal and revenge depicted in the previous book."
I just re-read my review of the second book and find that at least I'm consistent in identifying trends, but unfortunately the trends seem to be accelerating: "The sequel to The Hunter is nearly as good. In this story, Parker continues his revenge on The Outfit (a seemingly more upscale version of the Mafia), organizing caper after caper to hit them where it hurts, in their pocketbooks. It is only nearly as good because it lacks some of the novelty you get with the introduction of a new character and also some of the closeness of the betrayal and revenge depicted in the previous book."
June 14, 2024
Damn so good, this is one crunchy heist story with so much dynamism. I am loving these
May 7, 2013
Darwyn Cooke continues adapting Donald E. Westlake's Parker series into graphic novel form with THE SCORE, the third volume in the series. And like the first two, it's wonderful, with a terse script and evocative artwork that captures the mid-Sixties era perfectly. This is the one where Parker and a crew that includes Alan Grofield try to loot an entire copper mining town in North Dakota, only to run into some unexpected problems. Seeing how Parker deals with those problems is one of the ongoing pleasures of this series.
July 27, 2016
Excellent adaptation of one of the best of the Parker books. Cooke's cartoony/retro style fits the grim material suprisingly well, especially in the sections in which he documents Grofeld's perspective. Not a substitute for the original novel, of course, but a supple and entertaining adaptation, showing a lot of cartooning chops. Recommended.
April 26, 2022
Great tale in this series - I hope to write a full review shortly.
January 2, 2013
Parker's back and this time he has been recruited to make run the perfect job on a small company town. It's a big job, involving a lot of men, but Edgars, the guy behind it all is pretty sure this will be the score to end all scores. But when the job goes south, Parker figures out Edgars real motives and it's up to him to get the rest of the team out alive. And with their money.
Another excellent adaptation from Darwyn Cooke. His chosen colour of orange lends much to the feel of the town of Copper Canyon. It also helps that this is possibly the best heist story ever written. The passing reference to Mad, Mad, Mad World in the graphic novel only serves to remind us of this.
A great graphic novel. If you read only one of Cooke's Parker adaptations, this is the one you should read.
Another excellent adaptation from Darwyn Cooke. His chosen colour of orange lends much to the feel of the town of Copper Canyon. It also helps that this is possibly the best heist story ever written. The passing reference to Mad, Mad, Mad World in the graphic novel only serves to remind us of this.
A great graphic novel. If you read only one of Cooke's Parker adaptations, this is the one you should read.
January 19, 2013
This is the third book that Darwyn Cooke adapted from Richard Stark's Parker novels. I thought this book was the most fun of the three graphic novels that Darwyn Cooke did. The fun in this case is the planning and execution of a robbery and because of the type of robbery this is there is all kinds of side stories that keep the story moving and interesting. The reader also gets to see a glimpse into some of the characters we have meet that Parker does his jobs with as well as finding out even more about Parker. Though more is not a large volume of information when it comes to this character. Over all this was the most straight forward and best story that really shows that Parker as a criminal in no uncertain way. If you like crime capers this is something you will enjoy. Highly recommended.
Pithy Review - Italian job with a mix of Goodfellas.
Pithy Review - Italian job with a mix of Goodfellas.
July 27, 2020
The series is starting to grow on me. The art is still confusing at times, and this time its done in black and white and yellow. But the more I read the more I realize these stories aren't about sympathizing with anyone but more about just watching a bunch of bastards at work. I still prefer my stories to have a good guy, even if the villains are usually more interesting, but in this case even with a cast of villains it's entertaining.
In this volume Parker and his crew attempt to knock over an entire town, but as usual there's more to the story than what you see at first glance. There's always a nut in the bunch somewhere. Sometimes two.
In this volume Parker and his crew attempt to knock over an entire town, but as usual there's more to the story than what you see at first glance. There's always a nut in the bunch somewhere. Sometimes two.
January 13, 2014
One of my favourite from the original Richard Parker book series, I was worried due to the 'size' and 'scope' of the job. Have no fear, Darwyn Cooke delivers another masterpiece. Written and illustrated by the famous retro-inspired Canadian creator, this series had Donald Westlake (Richard Stark)'s approval - a testament to Darwyn Cooke's passion for this novels.
A fantastic crime (robbery/heist) story, this is the comic book/GN for non-comics/only-superhero readers who want an excellent way to explore beyond their traditional habits. For the rest of us, enjoy!
A fantastic crime (robbery/heist) story, this is the comic book/GN for non-comics/only-superhero readers who want an excellent way to explore beyond their traditional habits. For the rest of us, enjoy!
June 22, 2014
I'm a big fan of Donald Westlake and his alter-ego, Richard Stark. I was just rereading one of his books when I found out this series of graphic novels by Darwyn Cooke, of whom I am also a huge fan because of his work in DC's The New Frontier.
Cooke is not a realistic artist - so what? IMO, he manages to make Parker and his brutality all the more real in his cartoonish-ness (not to mention the femmes fatales he finds along the way, who are as beautiful and intriguing as any real flesh-and-blood actress, even more.
Cooke is not a realistic artist - so what? IMO, he manages to make Parker and his brutality all the more real in his cartoonish-ness (not to mention the femmes fatales he finds along the way, who are as beautiful and intriguing as any real flesh-and-blood actress, even more.
May 31, 2013
These are so great!
I read the Parker novels when I was in my teens. They were all pretty good. Really fast-paced, filled with action. They really felt like a heist movie but with all the bullshit a teen Pete wouldn't have cared about. Less focus on the dissolving marriage between a casino owner and his wife, more talk about modifying a Volkswagen Beetle to outrun a cop car.
These graphic versions are really nice, really stylish adaptations.
I read the Parker novels when I was in my teens. They were all pretty good. Really fast-paced, filled with action. They really felt like a heist movie but with all the bullshit a teen Pete wouldn't have cared about. Less focus on the dissolving marriage between a casino owner and his wife, more talk about modifying a Volkswagen Beetle to outrun a cop car.
These graphic versions are really nice, really stylish adaptations.
August 7, 2016
Cooke's gorgeous retro art fits the theme and feel of the story perfectly, but the scope was so big and the pages so few that it got confusing at times.
The Score is the biggest job Parker has ever taken on. He brings in a lot of great characters to help him do it and the plan and its realization are brilliant. The problem is that so many things happen with so many characters (which are sometimes hard to distinguish) that I had to page back a couple of times to see who was where.
The Score is the biggest job Parker has ever taken on. He brings in a lot of great characters to help him do it and the plan and its realization are brilliant. The problem is that so many things happen with so many characters (which are sometimes hard to distinguish) that I had to page back a couple of times to see who was where.
February 19, 2017
This was my third book in the Parker series of graphic novels, although I'm not sure it's the third book in terms of order. In any event, after the dazzling "The Hunter" and the mystifying misfire of "The Outfit," "The Score" is a huge comeback - maybe the best of the three. "Slayground" is next, and then ... well, it's not clear to me that there are any additional titles in the series. That already makes me sad.
February 17, 2016
From the first page to the last line an absolutely brilliant graphic novel adaptation of a novel by Richard Stark. Darwyn Cooke's art is simply gorgeous, the use a lone color - orange - is incredible. The past three graphic novels I've read in this "series" reinforces my opinion that Cooke is one of the best artists involved in comics today.
December 2, 2019
I liked the previous one more, but this was still entertaining. I read it in one go, but that's not saying much considering it's a damn picture book. I like this series because every installment is a way for me to live out a different heist fantasy. I also love the art style. It fits the time period and subject matter so well
February 21, 2021
Darwyn Cooke's perfect string of Parker adaptations continues. In this volume our titular antihero Parker breaks a lot of his own rules to take on a bizarre heist in which a small army of crooks attempts to knock over an entire town out in the middle of nowhere. Even if the heist doesn't go off like clockwork, Cooke's narrative absolutely does. So good, it's criminal.
July 20, 2012
I do love this series, but this one lacks the story that the other 2 have as this one is just about a single robbery attempt. The book is still beautiful and I like that he changed the color scheme to fit with the book.
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