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High Rollers #1-4
High Rollers
Crime does pay! Meet Cameron Quinn, a ruthless upstart out to make a name for himself in the underworld of Los Angeles! Award-winning mystery novelist Gary Phillips (High Hand, Bangers) shines a harsh light on the action and drama of the L.A. underworld with this inner-city spin on The Sopranos! For fans of The Wire and Ed Brubaker's Criminal! Collects HIGH ROLLERS #1-4.
114 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2009
13 people want to read
About the author
Gary Phillips
201 books230 followersGARY PHILLIPS has been a community activist, labor organizer and delivered dog cages. He’s published various novels, comics, short stories and edited several anthologies including South Central Noir and the Anthony award-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. Violent Spring, first published in 1994 was named in 2020 one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He was also a writer/co-producer on FX’s Snowfall (streaming on Hulu), about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central where he grew up. Recent novels include One-Shot Harry and Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem. He lives with his family in the wilds of Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 14, 2015
Glad that's over. Gangster warfare, drug trafficking. I couldn't figure out who was who and what was going on. I read this in a state of perpetual confusion. And who was the good guy? I think no one was. Cameron - CQ - might be the anti-hero but I still had no idea what was happening. People died. More people are going to die. This might have played better as a movie but as a graphic novel I really struggled.
April 16, 2022
Who can forget the action drama High Rollers? The 2008 blockbuster was filled with A List in roles you never imagined some of your favorites ever playing.
Jamie Foxx played CQ, a captain in one of L.A.'s deadliest gangs.
Will Smith starred as Trey Loc, the coke-addled leader of a South Central drug empire.
Thandie Newton portrayed Rita, a desperate woman willing to make a deal with the devil to save her family.
Ben Stiller as Machete, a smarmy bookie with a knack for the ponies.
Wait a minute? You've never heard of this film? Oh, that's right. That's because High Rollers was a 2008 graphic novel from Boom Studios. But I didn't lie about the amazing cast that fills these pages. Artist Sergio Carrera (Green Lantern) illustrates a slew of amazing talent as the players in this story that has no heroes; only devils and fallen angels. Carrera also casts Matthew Modine, Jason Stratham and Outkast's Andre3000 in important roles in this story. There might be other celebs in here that I just don't recognize. But thanks to the likenesses I did recognize, High Rollers feels like watching a movie from an alternate earth.
High Rollers is written by crime novelist Gary Phillips (Perdition, U.S.A.). With titles like Peepland and Vigilante: Southland under his belt, this is not the author's first and only foray into comics and graphic novels. However, I liked his overall story a lot better than the prose chapter that introduces all the major players at the beginning of this book. I am also glad I didn't give up on High Rollers because of that opening segment.
The prose part of High Rollers is filled with dime paperback cliches. The dialogue reads like a stereotype of blacks and South Central gangs. Not the kind of stuff I'd expect from an award winning author. Phillips in an interview with Greg Rucka (Whiteout), found at the back of this book, mentions that editor Mark Waid (Daredevil) made some notes on story improvement that Phillips wasn't a big fan of. But he did agree on some 'compromises.' With such a large cast and how the story begins in the middle of CQ's latest assignment from his boss, perhaps some story setup was needed. However, the quality of those pages didn't meet the superiority of the majority of this book.
This story is presented in 4 chapters. Chapters 1-3 of High Rollers is action-packed as CQ rises in the ranks as head of the gang. The first half of chapter 4 continues at that pace. But the way everything feels rushed to the conclusion, I wasn't satisfied with the ending. I like more definite endings. High Rollers concludes with the promise of more to come. Yet, it's 14 years later and there doesn't seem to be a sequel out there.
I also know that we aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover. But when the cover includes items that you cannot find anywhere in the book, that annoys me. The outline of the stripper is okay as even though there are no scenes occurring in a strip club, it is mentioned a couple of times that some characters enjoy the company of them as lovers. However, there are playing cards on the front and a roulette wheel on the back cover and that's not the kind of gambling that occurs in High Rollers. Machete is a bookie to whom Rita's husband is greatly in debt. I'm also assuming that the 'high' in the title is in regards to the drugs dealt by CQ's gang.
High Rollers was originally released as a 4-issue miniseries. The prose prologue was added just to the graphic novel. So if I had read the floppies instead of the trade paper back, I might have a slightly different attitude towards the beginning of the story. That still leaves the ending, which in my mind is still unforgivable.
Also, I read this as a trade. So while I understand that my attitude towards the cover and chosen title might also be varied, my feelings towards this format remains the same. It's like watching Blade Runner. You have differing attitudes to the director's cut version you view. Still, the interior artwork was an amazing star-studded affair that kept me reading. So did the improved storytelling. I would just recommend that you find the back issues instead of reading the trade if High Rollers is of interest to you!
Jamie Foxx played CQ, a captain in one of L.A.'s deadliest gangs.
Will Smith starred as Trey Loc, the coke-addled leader of a South Central drug empire.
Thandie Newton portrayed Rita, a desperate woman willing to make a deal with the devil to save her family.
Ben Stiller as Machete, a smarmy bookie with a knack for the ponies.
Wait a minute? You've never heard of this film? Oh, that's right. That's because High Rollers was a 2008 graphic novel from Boom Studios. But I didn't lie about the amazing cast that fills these pages. Artist Sergio Carrera (Green Lantern) illustrates a slew of amazing talent as the players in this story that has no heroes; only devils and fallen angels. Carrera also casts Matthew Modine, Jason Stratham and Outkast's Andre3000 in important roles in this story. There might be other celebs in here that I just don't recognize. But thanks to the likenesses I did recognize, High Rollers feels like watching a movie from an alternate earth.
High Rollers is written by crime novelist Gary Phillips (Perdition, U.S.A.). With titles like Peepland and Vigilante: Southland under his belt, this is not the author's first and only foray into comics and graphic novels. However, I liked his overall story a lot better than the prose chapter that introduces all the major players at the beginning of this book. I am also glad I didn't give up on High Rollers because of that opening segment.
The prose part of High Rollers is filled with dime paperback cliches. The dialogue reads like a stereotype of blacks and South Central gangs. Not the kind of stuff I'd expect from an award winning author. Phillips in an interview with Greg Rucka (Whiteout), found at the back of this book, mentions that editor Mark Waid (Daredevil) made some notes on story improvement that Phillips wasn't a big fan of. But he did agree on some 'compromises.' With such a large cast and how the story begins in the middle of CQ's latest assignment from his boss, perhaps some story setup was needed. However, the quality of those pages didn't meet the superiority of the majority of this book.
This story is presented in 4 chapters. Chapters 1-3 of High Rollers is action-packed as CQ rises in the ranks as head of the gang. The first half of chapter 4 continues at that pace. But the way everything feels rushed to the conclusion, I wasn't satisfied with the ending. I like more definite endings. High Rollers concludes with the promise of more to come. Yet, it's 14 years later and there doesn't seem to be a sequel out there.
I also know that we aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover. But when the cover includes items that you cannot find anywhere in the book, that annoys me. The outline of the stripper is okay as even though there are no scenes occurring in a strip club, it is mentioned a couple of times that some characters enjoy the company of them as lovers. However, there are playing cards on the front and a roulette wheel on the back cover and that's not the kind of gambling that occurs in High Rollers. Machete is a bookie to whom Rita's husband is greatly in debt. I'm also assuming that the 'high' in the title is in regards to the drugs dealt by CQ's gang.
High Rollers was originally released as a 4-issue miniseries. The prose prologue was added just to the graphic novel. So if I had read the floppies instead of the trade paper back, I might have a slightly different attitude towards the beginning of the story. That still leaves the ending, which in my mind is still unforgivable.
Also, I read this as a trade. So while I understand that my attitude towards the cover and chosen title might also be varied, my feelings towards this format remains the same. It's like watching Blade Runner. You have differing attitudes to the director's cut version you view. Still, the interior artwork was an amazing star-studded affair that kept me reading. So did the improved storytelling. I would just recommend that you find the back issues instead of reading the trade if High Rollers is of interest to you!
February 5, 2024
An OK story about a drug dealer on the rise. The story has a lot of characters in it and can be hard to follow at times. It also kind of ends without ending, kind of like life.
November 2, 2010
To sum up this work in two words: unfulfilled potential. The back cover describes the story as a cross between the Sopranos and the Wire, and that is pretty much what you get on the inside. A young but ambitious and savvy enforcer makes his play for control of the drug empire after the current boss crosses the line into paranoia and makes a fatal mistake. Its got all your genre standards; betrayal, organized crime, sex, murder, drug abuse, family conflict, conspiracy, international intrigue and plenty of action. The story and concept are solid and interesting, if not wholly original. Unfortunately, the characters never seem fully developed beyond the cliches they represent. This would have been better stretched out over more than the four issues that exist here, allowing the characters to reach greater depths and thereby enriching the experience for the reader and making us actually care when horrible things happen to them (the prose prologue helps). Additionally, the artwork is not in a style i enjoy overly much and at times distracted me, pulling me out of the story. All in all, its a decent and quick read, worth checking out as an entry in the underdeveloped genre of crime fiction in graphic novels, but not something i would eagerly champion to others as the lack of character development and artwork keep this from reaching its full potential. Ultimately, I am interested in checking out some of the author's prose work as this was good enough for me to wish it was so much more.
May 5, 2009
Gary Phillips' first foray into comic books makes me wish more prose authors would take up the medium. The dialogue is rich and never stilted, the characters are well depicted, and the story isn't something that I've seen in the medium before. Unfortunately, taken altogether I'm just not feeling this one that much.
The main issue for me is, the book is too plot-heavy. There isn't a whole lot of character development over the admittedly short story arc- in fact, the whole thing kind of feels like the set-up for a more nuanced tale. Hopefully that's the case, and if Gary and artist Sergio Carrera come out with a sequel I'll more than likely buy it. As it stands, it's a little forgettable.
The main issue for me is, the book is too plot-heavy. There isn't a whole lot of character development over the admittedly short story arc- in fact, the whole thing kind of feels like the set-up for a more nuanced tale. Hopefully that's the case, and if Gary and artist Sergio Carrera come out with a sequel I'll more than likely buy it. As it stands, it's a little forgettable.
March 14, 2011
I remember reading about retailers complaining about this work as an example of them being unable to sell it. I don't get that. Anyone that likes the HBO show The Wire (or crime fiction) would love this work and anything else Gary Phillips writes. It's still crime fiction regardless of the skin color of the cast.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews