Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Vol. 1: The Night I Died

Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer #1-4

by Max Allan Collins, Marcelo Salaza (Illustrator)

Mickey Spillane's tough-talking, brawling, skirt-chasing private detective Mike Hammer returns to comics in this thrilling noir series, based on an original plot by Mickey Spillane, written by Max Allan Collins.

When a chance encounter with a captivating femme fatale leads to a violent mob retaliation, hard-boiled detective Mike Hammer finds himself dodging both bullets and hard broads as he undertakes the most dangerous case of his career.

Collects Mike Hammer #1-4.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Crime, Noir, Pulp, Mystery, Thriller

107 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2018

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Readable.
If you're a fan of this genre, that is.



The plot was decent, but some of the dialogue almost seemed like it was written as a parody of a hardboiled crime story. Surprising, because while this is the outline of Spillane's story, Max Allen Collins wrote the comic, and his Ms. Tree series is top-notch.



The interior artwork kind of threw me, too.
Everyone looks glossy and plastic - cheap. I can't explain it any better than that. Those covers are amazing, though.



Ok, so without spoiling anything (though the end result was pretty easy to guess early on), Mike Hammer gets caught up in a sexy blonde and spends the rest of the book protecting her from the mob. But we all know he needs to dump her and hit it with his bad-ass secretary, Velda.



Like I said, the actual plot isn't bad, but there are some pretty cheesy lines in this and that artwork is...woof.
Eh. I've read worse.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She was a beautiful blonde and she was in trouble. Usually, that's all I need to know. When your name is Mike Hammer, certain things are expected of you."

Tricked into meeting a client in the proverbial lions den of mafia land, Mike Hammer's long overdue return to the graphic novel medium sees the perennial private eye come face to face with death - the long one.

Whilst Hammer has been portrayed in comics and newspaper strips previously, the Titan Comics / Hard Case Crime collaboration freshens up the hard man for the modern day audience and the results are largely positive.

In trademark Hammer fashion, the PI falls for a damsel in distress (in this case, Helen Venn), while his secretary with extras, Vera, becomes embedded in the story both as a victim and heroine. The linear nature of the story makes for an easy and entertaining read.

The trade paperback collection also features two short stories entitled Trouble... Come And Get It, and Killer's Turn which, whilst not featuring Mike Hammer, are a nice addition for long time Spillane readers.

My rating: 4/5 stars. Not as hard edged as some of the prose novels yet still captures that tried and true Mike Hammer feel. I hope we see more of the perennial PI in this medium.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Hammer 🔨 in graphic novel form and it's damn good. You get a new Hardboiled Hammer story with a femme fatale, sudden bursts of violence, sexy, dark, foreboding. In short, everything you'd want in a graphic format and doing justice to the characters. All four volumes here for a full story from beginning to end.

[Michael J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of hard-boiled detective fiction I certainly heard of Mickey Spillane and the Mike Hammer character, but I've never read a Spillane novel. This short, four-issue graphic adaptation of an unpublished novel was a quick way for me to get acquainted. That Max Allan Collins (a skilled crime fiction writer) was responsible for the script of the graphic novel was an extra incentive to read this.
While the storyline won't seem very original to followers of this genre, it did accomplish the purpose of introducing me to the character of Mike Hammer. He's a hard ass, and not afraid to use his gun. Seems pretty amazing how many people around him die while the police left him off for "self-defense." I'm not sure how close Collins kept to the spirit and mindset of Spillane's Hammer, but this did enough to convince me to pick up a Spillane book one of these days.
The art is a little inconsistent, but gets the job done. The opening chase scene across the rooftops was quite effective.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good enough Hammer mystery, but the artwork was so terrible that it was distracting. Mike's coat was huge to the point that he looked like a little kid in it, people's limbs were occasionally at weird angles, and it just generally looked like the really bad computer generated art you see on the cover of cheap self-published sci-fi novels.

[AndrewP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A graphic novel collecting together all 4 issues. Based on an original Spillane outline/story, written by Max Allan Collins and published in the year that would have been Spillane's 100th birthday.
Decent plot but although this is based on a Spillane story, certain elements are very reminiscent of the plot to 'I the Jury' and 'The Girl Hunters'. I am always critical of artwork in graphic novels, but in this case I couldn't find anything to complain about. Great realistic style that perfectly fits the genre.
Recommended for Spillane/Mike Hammer fans.

[Vishy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a kid, the local newspaper had a thick Sunday magazine. One section of the Sunday magazine was entirely about books. I used to look forward to that Sunday magazine every weekend. Once, there was an article in it by a local mystery novelist about the history of detective fiction. It started with Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Then it talked about hard-boiled detective fiction and described Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. After that the article mentioned Mickey Spillane and his detective Mike Hammer. I've never heard of these two before. I couldn't find Mickey Spillane's books at the library. I hoped that one day I could find them and get to read a Mike Hammer book. Sometime back the comics publisher that I subscribe to brought out a Mickey Spillane / Mike Hammer book. I was surprised and excited and today I finally got around to reading it.

A hard-boiled detective mystery follows a standard plot. There is a private investigator. One day a beautiful, mysterious woman walks into his office and says that she is in danger and needs his help. After that one thing leads to another, many shady characters appear on the scene and try to kill our private investigator and this mysterious woman. The events move at a startling pace, there is a lot of cool, stylish dialogue, and towards the end the needle points at this mysterious woman, who it appears orchestrated the whole thing. Occasionally, though the needle of suspicion points at her, the mysterious woman turns out to be innocent. This is the typical story in a hard-boiled detective mystery. This is the exact story in the present book. Whether the mysterious woman turns out to be bad or innocent – that, I won't tell you. You've to read the book and find out 😊

I enjoyed reading 'The Night I Die'. The artwork was beautiful and the story had a noir feeling throughout. Sometimes the violence was too much – I don't know whether Mickey Spillane wrote this in the original books or whether this is a modern day representation of his story. The dialogue and the narration were cool and stylish and were a pleasure to read. I'm not sure whether other Mike Hammer comics are there. This appears to be the only one. I'm hoping to read one of the Mike Hammer novels one day and see whether it is better.

Have you read any Mickey Spillane / Mike Hammer books?

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike Hammer is not just a tough guy-he is THE tough guy. Hammer is the prototype-the spiritual godfather of every hard boiled sleuth you've every read about. Mickey Spillane (Hammer's creator) was hated by the critics-he laughed all the way to the bank. Max Allan Collins, who often collaborated with Spillane, penned The Night I Died to help celebrate Spillane's centennial in 2018. This story is classic Hammer. I did not care much for the art-Hammer is a little too pretty in my opinion, I always pictured him as being a little more rough and tumble-but that is small potatoes. Good stuff.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Mike Hammer. You won't see anything you haven't seen before, but if you are looking for a graphic novel that captures the essence of the Mike Hammer character, this is it. Gangsters, femme fatales and some really sexy art to boot.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Spillaine in every sense - girls, guns, and death.

[Craig Childs · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this project…. After 25 novels and countless short stories, radio dramas, movies, television shows, original audiobooks and even a Sunday morning comic strip, legendary hardboiled detective Mike Hammer finally gets a proper comic book/graphic novel treatment. Max Allan Collins adapted it from a story outline from Hammer's creator Mickey Spillane.

It is unfortunate the results are so subpar. Maybe Spillane was wise to let this one lie in a drawer forgotten forever.

There is an initial effective setup that establishes Hammer shot mobster boss Carmen Rich in the kneecap one year ago during a murder investigation. Carmen was not actually responsible for the crime--the culprit turned out to be the victim's cheating wife--so Carmen carries a massive grudge against the private investigator.

A year later, Hammer brazenly wanders into one of Carmen's clubs looking for a client. Instead, he finds another beautiful dame being chased by Carmen's thugs. Hammer kills them and goes after Carmen for revenge. He learns about $10 million of missing mob money. Carmen wants it back more than he wants Hammer dead. Once again, the lady with the lovely face may not be as innocent as she appears.

Max Allan Collins knows how to craft memorable graphic novels, just refer to 2018's Quarry's War. However, this plot is thin and generally lame. Carmen keeps turning out to be the mob boss with a soft heart. The women may be beautiful, but they lack any defining personality features other than greed and horniness. The plot twists are telegraphed from a mile away.

There was one point in the third issue where Velda gets kidnapped and Hammer rushes to rescue her. I thought Spillane and Collins might do something creative and different. Velda's keen intellect and detective skills had already been foreshadowed, so I thought she might get loose from her captors and solve the mystery ahead of Hammer. That could have been a nice twist for an old-school series--but no, it was just another run of the mill damsel-in-distress subplot.

Perhaps the biggest flaw of this project is the flat, uninspired artwork. The covers paintings are great, but they bear little resemblance to the internal drawings by Marcelo Salaza and Marcio Freire. Hammer looks too young, like he just turned thirty. All the females are drawn identically, with voluptuous legs and balloon-sized, silicon-enhanced busts. In most panels, the characters seem to stare at the reader with frozen dead-mannequin eyes. There is no sense of fluidity or movement from panel to panel.

This is Hard Case Crime's poorest graphic novel offering, even worse than Triggerman.

If you want to read a truly great crime comic--one that synthesizes depth of character, complex plotting, and striking art into a unique experience-- skip this one in favor of John K Snyder III's Eight Million Ways to Die.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review coming soon on CriminOlly.wordpress.com

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story line was thin, but Collins does a decent job channeling Spillane and Hammer. The artwork didn't get me jazzed for more. So probably will not continue with this series.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This comic adaptation was OK, but I probably would have enjoyed the story more in its original prose format.

[Donnie]

liked

[Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another in the Hard Case Crime graphic novels, The Night I Died does justice to each genre. Mike Hammer, hard boiled? Check! Femme Fatale? Oh yes, check! Dashing art work? Check! Max Allan Collins story? Check!

The story is predictable, and that is okay. An enjoyable read as I make my way through Hard Case Crime.
Recommended!

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is difficult to believe that Mike Hammer has never had a comic book to call his own. Yes, I am aware that there have been collections of the short-lived comic strip version of Hammer’s exploits published in the 1980s, but that’s not the same. I’m talking about going to the store every month or two and picking up a Mike Hammer comic.

Creator Mickey Spillane never lived to see it, but in the year celebrating what would have been his 100th birthday, Titan Comics, Hard Case Crime and longtime Spillane collaborator and successor Max Allan Collins have resolved that error and omission. It comes in the form of a four-issue limited series titled The Night I Died, an original story written by Collins and wonderfully drawn by artists Marcelo Salaza and Marcio Freire. These four issues have now been collected in graphic novel form with a couple of very cool extras that I describe in greater detail below. (Yes, I am a comic fanboy emeritus.)

The project is a fitting one. Spillane started his writing career during the early days of the 1940s in the comics industry, producing scripts for such titles as Captain America, Superman and Sub-Mariner (among many others), as well as penning several dozen two-page text stories included in the comic books to meet second-class mail requirements. Collins, of course, is no stranger to the sequential art medium, having written the award-winning graphic novel THE ROAD TO PERDITION and the comic book series Ms. Tree (yes, I have a complete run of the series), while taking a turn at the helm of the immortal Dick Tracy comic strip. While Collins has authored or co-authored other Hammer novels, THE NIGHT I DIED is arguably the tip of the spear where everything comes together, due not only to his major writing chops but also to Salaza and Freire, whose artwork is a tribute to Spillane’s written words and the movie and television efforts that were based on them.

THE NIGHT I DIED is the perfect way to read what Collins hath wrought, given the complex nature of the work --- a tale full of twists, turns and double-crosses of all manners and forms. It contains virtually everything one could reasonably want and expect in a Hammer adventure: violence, sex, crime, beautiful women, violence, guns and violence.

The story kicks off with a vignette that features Hammer avenging the death of a friend --- not once, but twice --- before he is lured to an illegal gambling establishment known as the Zero Club. Hammer is supposed to meet a prospective client, who turns out to be a no-show. What he does encounter, though, is a damsel in distress named Helen Venn, who is the former girlfriend of recently deceased mobster Marty Wellman, who in turn was part owner of the Zero Club. Word is that Wellman met his untimely demise because he was skimming the profits of the club out of the Mob’s share. Carmen Rich, Marty’s second in command, supposedly told the Mob about Wellman’s light fingers and is now spreading the word that Helen has the funds that Wellman lifted, which are reputed to total upwards of $10 million. Helen has a lot of angry people after her, and Hammer is all that stands between her and them.

It’s not an unusual position for Hammer by any means, nor is the fact that the passionate feelings he is developing for Helen are standing in the way of his erstwhile relationship with Velda Sterling, his investigative partner. This is one caper that Hammer will find much more dangerous than those with which he is normally involved. As the title indicates, he doesn’t walk away unscathed. In fact, you’ll need to read the book to see if he walks away at all.

THE NIGHT I DIED would be worth the price of admission just for collecting the four single issues in one place, but it offers much more. In addition to presenting the main and variant covers of each of these issues, it includes two of those text stories that I mentioned earlier. They’re not quite what we now call flash fiction, but they’re close. What is remarkable about them is that they demonstrate that Spillane, even at that very early point in his career, was the consummate professional, bringing his rapidly evolving skill set to everything he did. You may not come to THE NIGHT I DIED for the text stories, but you still will want to check them out. I strongly recommended the whole package, even for those who don’t normally read graphic novels.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn’t know if I would like this graphic or not. But I do like Hammer and I do like Spillane and I love how Max Allen Collins has carried on Hammer for Mickey. Well I loved this Graphic Novel, it was a fast read like the cross between a movie and a book. Fun and highly recommend

[Zare · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit I have not read any Mike Hammer novel before. I chose this one to be a starting point because I expected it to be a quick-and-dirty introduction to the character and considering that Max Allan Collins was the author of the story (and his books about Quarry are truly good - if you have not read anything from the series do yourself a favor and start reading it :))

Unfortunately this did not work as expected... First the story. It was short and with a twist (alas it does require some knowledge of protagonist's biography but lately I have been reading a lot of books from the wrong end in the series so I did not mind :) ) and it gave me an idea about who is Mike Hammer, who are his allies and his stand on the topic of crime fighting (reminds me very much of Frank Castle because of his negotiation skills :)).
But unfortunately art was a true let down for me. All the characters are so blocky and lifeless - they seem to be completely artificial looking. I have read a lot of comics and graphic novels and I prefer some styles over the others but this one did not click with me. I think it is just not matching the story setting - i.e. similar art is in the Altered Carbon comic Download Blues but here all characters are strangers in their own bodies so to speak, so this blockiness made sense. Here that is not the case.

So overall good crime story that for me could benefit from the different art approach. Recommended to fans of noir and crime.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)

I'm finally going through my physical library owned book list, to add more older basic reviews. If I liked a book enough to keep then they are at the least a 3 star.

I'm only adding one book per author and I'm not going to re-read every book to be more accurate, not when I have 1000s of new to me authors to try (I can't say no to free books....)

First time read the author's work?: Yes

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes


------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm, if I were to sum up this book in a word, it would have to be: cartoonish. That certainly covers the artwork, but it also pretty well describes the narrative and plot line. The only Spillane I'd ever read was a short story or two and was many years ago. So I considered it possible that the cartoonish quality I was seeing might be an accommodation for the graphic novel format. But then I read the two short stories (each only about three pages long) included at the end of this volume and it all came back to me. Yup, Spillane was over the top, ham-fisted, and pretty unoriginal at that. So the story presented here probably is fairly true to the source material. But that makes it no less cartoonish. I guess it's OK for what it is , but it seems a bit of a shame really. I thought a hard-boiled detective tale in graphic novel form could be fun. But with so much better source material out there (think Hammet, Gardner, Woolrich, etc.) a Mike Hammer story turns out to be a rather disappointing translation.

[Awake at Midnight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard-boiled detective doesn't always translate well to graphic novel format. This story is well worth the ride. I was pulled in by the relationship between Mike and Velda, and there are a number of characters who all have clear motivations. The cover has art by McGinnis, so it's already off to a good start. There is plenty of sexy here. As always, Hammer is a vengeful killer but he does it for reasons that make him measure up to be a good man deep down. He gets played by a number of people, each with their own angle, their own grift, and Mike has to sort it all out. He does so in blood and pain, often his own. The ending is satisfying. Hard Case Crime delivers again.

[Robert Henderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good enough story esp as it's from Mickey Spillane, but the artwork lets it down especially with the faces. Bodies and angles are fine, but all the women are drawn sexily, with that body shape that comes with high heels (back arched, arse out), even a waitress at a diner. The artists clearly are hopeless with drawing faces. They are blank looking, expressionless, and just plain non-descript. Frankly you need to look at there hair and clothing to tell them apart. Cover art by a different artist.

[P · Rating 3 out of 5]

The two short stories at the back were pretty bad. The art was meh—I recognize people by their hair and outfit instead of face or body. Characters were pulpy (I mean, the assistant is supposed to be smart? All I see is a sex object Hammer can have any time he wants), but the main story's plot has a decent amount of twists and turns. Nothing surprising but it's complicated enough to keep me engaged, without too many plot holes.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid noir comic. The storytelling is lean and twisty, but the art, for me, falls a bit into the uncanny valley. I appreciate the intention behind the stylization of characters but the resemblance to sinisterly sentient Guess Who characters proved distracting. It made me miss the Parker graphic novels that came out ten years ago.

[David Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never read any of Collins proper writing. I’m tempted after this graphic book published to coincide with Mickey Spillanes 100th birthday in 2018.

Helen Venn is a great character. When she arrived in Mikes world i knew she is a black one!! Shades of Mickeys first Mike Hammer book I the jury !! Saw it coming but still enjoyable!!

[Rubin Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max Allan Collins is the true successor to Mickey Spillane and his Mike Hammer is the best representation of the character A straight forward tale that didn't have any real surprises but it makes no apologies for it it's what you come looking for in a Mike Hammer story and it delivers

[Stephen Snead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Standard tuff guy but, fun.

Not a bad little graphic novel. Doesn't try to be great list but it's fast and easy and pulls you in. Drawn cartoony but it is a series of comic books. All in all it's a good action shoot em up.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun new Mike Hammer story by Max Allan Collins. It was treat to have the story in a visual format. The story pulls you in right away and does not let up until the end. If you enjoy the Mike Hammer novels, or just want a good mystery graphic novel, give this one a try

[Milford Public Library Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of several graphic novels published under the Hard Case Crime imprint, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is well-suited to the format.
Spillane's frequent contributor, Max Allan Collins, penned this story for Spillane's centenary.