Stumptown, Vol. 3: The Case of the King of Clubs

Stumptown #3

by Greg Rucka, Justin Greenwood (Illustrations), Ryan August Hill (Illustrations)

Greg Rucka's fan-favorite P.I. is back on the case in this new hardcover! When one of investigator Dex Parios's dearest friends is brutalized following a Portland Timbers match, Dex is determined to get to the bottom of the attack no matter who stands in her way! Join Eisner Award-winner Rucka and new series artist Justin Greenwood (The Fuse) as Dex kicks more than just soccer balls in her pursuit of the assailant.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2015

About the author

Greg Rucka, is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his work on such comics as Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton for DC Comics, and for novels such as his Queen & Country series.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dex gets involved when a friend of hers is severely beaten after a Portland Timbers game. This was a more than a little too Portland and to be more specific Portland soccer-centric. I didn't know what was being talked about most of the time. Jimmy Greenwood's art didn't help. I thought half the characters playing soccer at the beginning were men until I was at least 15 pages in. There's no detective work in this volume. It's just Dex not being able to control her anger as she goes around Portland, pissing people off. Eventually the case is solved for her. A surprisingly (and rare) poor story from the mind of Mr. Rucka.

[CS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

The artist has changed and I'm not sure I'm keen on the new direction. Also, this volume is way more character driven than earlier volumes, which leads to a bit slower of a story.

I LOVE the bit where a character off-handedly mentions that Star Wars EU has been erased.

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

The choice of new artist for the third Dex 'Kinsey Millhone' Parios case demonstrates with great clarity the direction Rucka is taking this once down and dirty PI series - it's now safe, tame, fluffy, generic etc etc blah blah blah - and that's OK if you want that kind of thing but for me it is clear that the disappointing second volume owed a lot of its depth to artist Matthew Southworth and without him Rucka's insipid story offers nothing to the seasoned crime reader.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I expected the third volume to connect volumes one and two, and there was a new artist to work with Rucka, Justin Greenwood's instead of Matt Southworth, so these are adjustments. I liked Southworth's approach better than this somewhat less precise, harder to see expressions approach, but you know, I am getting used to Greenwood's work, and in general I am liking the main character, P.I. Dex Parrios, a lot.

And the background and the focus of a long opening of the story was surprising, a Portland-Seattle soccer game, with some borderline hooligan behavior that may have led to the murder of one of Dex's friends, which triggers what gets revealed as PTSD from Dex's military experience. There's some complex friend relations as Dex gets lucky with one of the Timbers. It's a good story!

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this one nearly as much as the previous 2 volumes in this series. It's so Portland-centric, that the story really doesn't resonate that well for outsiders. And the mystery isn't really resolved by the end. Artwork isn't bad and the inclusion of color is a step forward. But the previous volumes had actual mysteries that were solved by detective work and were stories that anyone could relate to. Disappointing.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soccer is about the least interesting thing in the world and this book does little to change my opinion despite the obvious affection Rucka has for the sport.

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dear friend of Dex and Ansel’s is beaten into a coma after a soccer game, and the culprit appears to be burgeoning European style hooliganism. Partly to head off a street war and partly out of rage, Dex and a friend/rival PI undertake to catch the attacker themselves. Which puts them at odds with the local cops, who may or may not be making progress on the case.

V3 is as well written as the previous volumes, but it didn’t grab me the way those did. Rabid soccer fandom holds no interest for me and the manufacture of new close friends for Dex was abrupt and felt contrived.

But the advancement of the larger series story arc is satisfying and the dialogue and illustration are again excellent.

Plot points:
--After Dex’s friend is hospitalized in a coma, CK—a PI from a rival soccer club—joins Dex to find the attacker and head off inter-fan base warfare.
--CK coaxes some of Dex’s backstory out of her. Dex was once Army intelligence but left for murky reasons.
--Dex gets laid but Grey and Ansel walk in while her conquest is loitering naked in the kitchen. Grey and his simmering crush on Dex don’t handle it well, Dex doesn’t handle it well, and it looks like Dex will need a new babysitter.
-- Dex and CK get caught up in a police bust of the perpetrators, and while the can’t-sit-back thing is in character for Dex, it’s interesting that the series hero’s efforts were completely wasted in v3. That’s a good bit of world building.
--The perps turn out to be a crew of organized scalpers associated with none other than Oscar Marenco. Dex and the Marenco organization unintentionally cross paths yet again. The pressure mounts for some kind of final resolution. This truce can’t hold forever.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit, the first few pages of this book were a little disappointing - the change in the art style is evident from the first page, and it felt like it killed a lot of the book's style. But I quickly came to terms with the art, and it ends up working well for the story; it feels a little less gritty, but the story is easier to read. Dex gets overly invested when a friend gets beaten after a soccer match, and it flares up some unwanted feelings. Rucka does a good job of capturing the look and feel of sports followers (although my comparison point is hockey rather than soccer), and it has a strong throughline in the story. It's also good to see Dex team up with another detective, not entirely willingly, but someone who gives her a good dynamic to work with. It also manages to tie this volume into the first one in a logical way. I still think the art is a bit of a step back, but not nearly as much of one as I thought initially.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. The artist changed. The story was ok. It just generally felt off. But hey I'm also not a soccer fan, not even for Timbers. I didn't like the buddy PI thing. The ending was okay. And I'll keep on reading.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of an odd entry in the Stumptown series, primarily because it hews closest to the title: this volume is pure Portland. A friend of Dex's, a rabid Portland Timbers supporter, is beaten nearly to death after a rivalry match. Could it be hooliganism? Or something more? Dex is bound to find out!

There's a great deal of Portland vs Seattle commentary, a whole lot of soccer stuff, and very few plot twists. The resolution is pretty shrug-worthy and Dex's investigations seem more like an excuse for her to grumble at her Seattle friend. A late-stage revelation about PTSD and Dex's Army career comes out of left field.

Since volume one, Rucka has been hinting at a big showdown between Dex and the local kingpin, but at this point it feels like it's never going to happen and we're only ever going to get these wimpy placeholder mysteries instead. And Justin Greenwood's art is just...not great.

[Erin Cataldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't tell if they brought in a new artist on this one, but there seems to be some subtle changes in some of the characters. It's not bad, it was just my first observation. The first third of the book I was a little underwhelmed. Soccer? Ugh. But by the halfway point I was intrigued and per usual I couldn't put it down. One of Dex's good friends is found beaten nearly to death right outside the stadium where they just watched a soccer game together. He's in a coma and Dex is pissed. This isn't just a case, this is personal! At first she thinks that maybe the opposing team did it, is hooliganism going to catch on in the states? But then she starts to sniff out something in else, something even fishier. Loved it!

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

A soccer game won by the Vancouver team turns into a tragedy when Dex finds Mercury, a close friend, badly beaten and left in a coma. CK, a supporter from the rival soccer team in Seattle, is also a PI who teams with Dex to find the culprit. Dex is finding it difficult to keep a level head because the assault struck so close to her heart and her friends notice the change in her attitude. As always, the officials warn her to not interfere, but she refuses to let things go. CK doesn't leave her side to try to balance her out, but it's an uphill battle.

It turns out the police's investigation was better than Dex thought. They bust the group responsible for the murder right after Dex and CK film an illegal transaction on their phones. Dex figures out that Oscar Marenco was behind a pseudo-legal ticket scalping operation and the murderers were hired by Oscar's father to fix the mess.

[Kieran Healy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rucka is definitely not bringing his A game to this series. Weak attempts at building “depth” in the main character through “War PTSD” comes across as forced and shallow. Mostly makes Dex Parios annoying and the story a bad PI plot. The art certainly does not do this any favors either. There’s enough quality Rucka out there that I will drop this series and move on, which is disappointing.

[Artemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't as enjoyable as the first two volumes. Partly because I don't care much for, and do not know a lot about football, which was part of the theme of the story, and partly because I didn't understand whatever was the conclusion to the case itself (what the hell is scalping? Even after googling it I still don't understand it. I am spoilering the word in case it could be a spoiler to other people, although I'm not sure. Sorry, non-native english speaker, etc, etc). I also did not like the art in this volume. In previous books, it was good, although nothing special, but in this one some things clearly bothered me visually at certain moments, mostly the faces, noses, that stuff.
I did, however, like the darker tone to this one. Dex clearly loses it a bit during the story, and we get some important background to her past. There is also a growing conflict that goes on from the very first volume, and I am really interested in seeing how this is going to go down.
To conclude, that was still not a bad book, but it did have some stuff that didn't sit well with me. Still, looking forward to the next Dex story.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last volume of Stumptown was amazing. It had witty and humorous dialogue. It even had an incredible action sequence. The same could not be said about this volume, unfortunately. It seemed that more time was spent on developing the town of Portland rather than developing the plot or characters. We do get a chance to take a closer look into Dex's past and how its details may have an impact on where she now is in life.

Although this collection ended up being unremarkable, I still enjoyed Rucka's writing. He has a gift with crafting realistic dialogue spoken by what seems like real people. The art did its job but didn't stand out much. The squiggly pencil style was fine, but I had a problem with how the facial expressions were designed. Each face in every panel looked irate. Sometimes, it was difficult to determine the emotion or reaction that was being attempted by this new artist. I'd say this volume is still worth checking out, despite its flaws.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rucka wanders afield from the straight-up detective story here to focus on Dex's problems, friendships, and involvement in the Portland soccer scene. When one of her friends is badly beaten after a game, Dex tries to dig up who's responsible before fan rivalries spark more violence, but her behavior is erratic and hints at PTSD from her heretofore unmentioned military career.

It's all good stuff, and new illustrator Justin Greenwood does a solid job, but it feels ... lightweight. Or, rather, like it's the content of a couple of issues of comic expanded into several and packaged in a very nice oversized hardcover. It's easily readable in a decent-length sitting, which may make the $30 h/c edition a bit pricey. Though, again, it's good at what it does, and worth a read in at least principle.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruck continues to write interesting Stumptown books. I barely remembered the characters this time around, but enjoyed quickly being reintroduced to them. The book is really all about the characters — what we learn about them, and how they react. The mystery is pretty minor in comparison, made important only by the importance it has to Dex.

I do wish Oni would produce these books as something other than overpriced hardcovers on poor-quality paper, though.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I enjoyed the undercurrent of Portland/ Seattle rivalry here, and that it took a little more time to develop the characters, but the tone occasionally verged on mawkish. Could have used a little more of the humor from the first volume to even things out.

[Neil Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

A real disappointment. The art is considerably less good (Dex looks barely recognisable) compared to the 1st 2 books, and none of the characters are drawn well or even consistently even from page to page within this volume. The story is also lacking - Dex (and CK) barely have any impact on what transpires, there's no PI detection to speak of, the scenario is meh, and the resolution is obvious (they might as well have drawn a big arrow saying "bad guy" pointing at the bad guy in one of the cells early on, it was that obvious). Big fat meh.

Having said that I will probs read the next one in case it picks up because I enjoyed book 1 so much.

[Chad Malkamaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story line that was about soccer fans, being one, and it being a small community, but this was a series where the new artwork was way too different and made it feel like a whole new story. Sorry, but if this is the new direction the artist failed. Story-line was okay as well, but this read like a teenage comic, instead of the dark, gritty, action packed adventure that the first two installments were.

[Andrew A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid installment of stumptown, however feels more like a building block than a solid tale.

While the football setting leaves me cold I agree, this mostly feels like a slightly rushed tale.

Dex is uncharacteristically angry throughout which while is explained feels left field. The wider mystery grows and we see more of the history of dex.

Art is good but a little too messy compared to prior volumes.

Worth a read but the weakest stump town thus far

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is weaker than the previous two volumes. The soccer theme is not as interesting, and the new artist cannot match the atmosphere and tone of the original books. The art style did make it easier to follow what was happening though. I'll be interested to see if the next volume is more of the same. If so, I'll be disappointed.

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

loving every minute of this series. gritty, real and most of all, plausible stories and far reaching webs.
Rucka is a master of noir.

[Melissa Jacobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 4.75

I loved this third volume. I am so invested in DeX and Ansel and I need more info on Gray! I also love how unique each one of the cases are. Big fan!

[torin_kylara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of the entire series as a whole, not just this volume.

So, this is a weird coincidence. I kid you not, this is how it happened. I just finished Lazarus and I was so impressed with the absolutely gorgeous world-building, that I felt the need to immediately research and read all the other Greg Rucka books I could get my hands on. So I see what books he has at the library (that and my bookstore are the 2 main ways I read books), and the only series the library has is Stumptown. So I put all 4 books on hold and ready myself to pick them up next week. The week after that, I see a preview for a new show called "Stumptown." Now, at this point, the name didn't ring a bell with me. It took me all of 5 minutes to Google Rucka, check the library and put the books on hold. So I've already pretty much forgotten the title of the comics I'm checking out. I see the preview, think it sounds cool, and decide to check it out. I go on hulu to see the first episode and it's awesome, I'm all in. Then I go to the library and get the books I've put on hold, and the pieces click together. So tell me, what are the odds that I spontaneously check out Stumptown the same week the first episode drops? What are the odds of that? It's kismet, is what it is.

Anyway, on to the review...

This series is pretty great overall. I thought the last volume was a little lacking in plot development, but I feel like it was never intended to be the final volume, maybe just a filler one, so I don't blame it for not having a strong ending plot if it didn't know it wasn't supposed to have one. Other than that, it's pretty much just solid gold throughout. None of my usual vampire or werewolves or other creepy crawlies in the night that I normally read when I read PI stuff, but I had just come down off of Rucka's Lazarus, and I needed to read more of his wonderfully crafted stories, and this one did not disappoint. I won't lie and say it's of the same quality as Lazarus. That could never be true. But if you're looking for something with a heart of gold; a snazzy, catchy plot in every volume; a very compelling and tragic and dysfunctional MC who is also bi; several other LGBTQIA+ supporting characters; and various indigenous supporting characters, then give this series a try, because it really is worth the read, and Rucka is in great form the entire time.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't love the new artist's style, it felt like it lost some of its grit. Also, not a sports person, so a lot of that talk went over my head and just didn't appeal to me.

[Lewis Manalo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a big disappointment. I like Rucka's work, including the previous STUMPTOWN volumes, but this stuff just didn't measure up. The characters are, for the most part, well-developed, and you get a lot of detail about the Portland soccer scene; but it's just not thrilling or interesting enough make you care.

**SPOILERS FORTHCOMING.**

I like Greenwood's work here, and like his other work, he makes good use of "camera" placement. He also brings a detail of expression that's not often achieved in comics. But it's not enough. There's a lot of arguing and scowling, sneering and smirking, but that's as involved as the story gets. Dex, the protagonist, pulls her gun from its drawer, but she never fires it. Hell, she doesn't even catch the bad guys.

And while we're on Dex, can I just say that giving every veteran character PTSD is no longer socially responsible or even interesting; it's cliché. Greg Rucka's usually a lot better than that.

[Chessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story here wasn't the strongest in my opinion, but I'm here for the characters. I love Dex's relationship with her brother, Ansel. I also really liked her working with CK in this arc - hoping to see her back again. Nerdy references and panels that make me cry = win.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mystery crafted for passionate, in-the-know soccer fans -- of which I am not one.

[RND · Rating 2 out of 5]

This felt a little bit padded. Granted, it wasn't too much of a mystery and was more about Dex's reaction to the crime. Art by new guy Greenwood is a little too loose than I usually like.