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Chandler
Chandler... Over six feet of hard-boiled private eye with a talent for trouble and an eye for beauty, all rolled up in a wrinkled trenchcoat with a pocketful of bad luck.
Chandler... A sucker, a suspect, a lover, a loser, a victim, and a hero with a ticket to hell.
Chandler... In his first appearance—a high voltage manhunt to find a sadistic murderer without a face, on the loose in the night world on New York.
Chandler... An exciting new concept by Steranko, award winning author and illustrator. Here is his first move-length visual novel, created in the tradition of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, a bare-knuckled mystery that will keep you guessing right up to the last page.
Chandler... A sucker, a suspect, a lover, a loser, a victim, and a hero with a ticket to hell.
Chandler... In his first appearance—a high voltage manhunt to find a sadistic murderer without a face, on the loose in the night world on New York.
Chandler... An exciting new concept by Steranko, award winning author and illustrator. Here is his first move-length visual novel, created in the tradition of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, a bare-knuckled mystery that will keep you guessing right up to the last page.
127 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1976
About the author
Jim Steranko
299 books49 followersJames Steranko is an American graphic artist, comic book writer-artist-historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator who has work for decades till the present.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 22, 2021
This was an even quicker read than I'd imagined it would be. The art and overall design of the book are fantastic, the writing is definitely solid, and the ending genuinely surprised me. What gets this one "only" a 4-star rating from me, though, is the fact that it's a pretty run-of-three-mill noir plot, plus the fact that the ending offers no real resolution. I definitely recommend owning and reading this as a piece of history, but I think it falls just short of classic status as an actual novel.
July 31, 2023
This certainly turned out to be a faster read than I expected. I began it while my partner was having tests run at the hospital, and was nearly finished by the same time she was.
This title was among the late Byron Preiss' multiple attempts to fuse comics with prose fiction. Unlike Starfawn he chose a much better talent to try this experiment with in Steranko. Steranko was always pretty much open to experiments in storytelling, and it turns out that he is a much better writer than Preiss (see Starfawn).
The choice of Chandler's name is probably an homage to the author who is one of the parents of the hard boiled PI genre. Though, in my mind while this begins in the hard boiled vein, I would say story wise it jumps head 20 years from Chandler (the author) to the much more noir tinged films and paperbacks of the 1950s.
Steranko makes very good use of all the tropes. A tough guy PI, a murder to be investigated, double crosses, and femme fatale. Steranko uses all of these but somehow he makes the story feel fresh and new.
This title was among the late Byron Preiss' multiple attempts to fuse comics with prose fiction. Unlike Starfawn he chose a much better talent to try this experiment with in Steranko. Steranko was always pretty much open to experiments in storytelling, and it turns out that he is a much better writer than Preiss (see Starfawn).
The choice of Chandler's name is probably an homage to the author who is one of the parents of the hard boiled PI genre. Though, in my mind while this begins in the hard boiled vein, I would say story wise it jumps head 20 years from Chandler (the author) to the much more noir tinged films and paperbacks of the 1950s.
Steranko makes very good use of all the tropes. A tough guy PI, a murder to be investigated, double crosses, and femme fatale. Steranko uses all of these but somehow he makes the story feel fresh and new.
December 20, 2019
¿Me gusta “Chandler: Marea roja” de Steranko? Pues ni idea. Yo diría que sí, pero vete a saber. El problema es que esta “edición informativa sin ánimo de lucro”de Kaleidoscope es, a parte de perder el color por el camino, un auténtico despropósito a nivel gramatical y ortográfico. Que es difícil valorar la obra original, vamos.
Se intuye que el guión debe ser tirando a aceptable, el apartado gráfico deslumbrante y para Steranko debió ser un proyecto bastante ambicioso (en entrevistas y introducciones habla de “novela gráfica”, la sección áurea y otras megalomanías).
En el apartado de parecidos razonables parece obvio que influyó bastante en el Sin City de Miller y en las escenas más "noir" del Watchmen de Gibbons.
A ver si alguien se anima a editarlo en condiciones.
Se intuye que el guión debe ser tirando a aceptable, el apartado gráfico deslumbrante y para Steranko debió ser un proyecto bastante ambicioso (en entrevistas y introducciones habla de “novela gráfica”, la sección áurea y otras megalomanías).
En el apartado de parecidos razonables parece obvio que influyó bastante en el Sin City de Miller y en las escenas más "noir" del Watchmen de Gibbons.
A ver si alguien se anima a editarlo en condiciones.
August 31, 2018
Una de las primeras novelas gráficas estadounidenses (o novela visual, como se promocionó en su momento) recoge tópicos de Raymond Chandler y Dashiell Hammett en un entramado clásico: El detective barato inmerso en un encargo peligroso, donde los problemas abundan y surgen viejos fantasmas. Cuando Chandler acepta buscar al asesino de un hombre envenenado al que solo le quedan 72 horas de vida, gatilla una persecución donde es víctima y cómplice, registrada en un -entonces- vanguardista complemento entre imágenes y texto; se echa en falta un remate menos obvio, aunque el ejercicio noir resulta excelente y ameno para los aficionados al género.
April 12, 2021
A nifty foray into hardboiled noir from the pen and brush of Jim Steranko. By itself, the prose more than holds its own as a retro-PI novella. But its Steranko's brillian illustrations that elevate this one into the special category. I'm still kicking my teen-age self for not buying the deluxe edition.
July 3, 2024
This is just the best thing in the world: a world-weary, wise-cracking private eye, a noir, Marlow-esque mystery and a race against time to find a murderer, all topped off with a glorious Jim Steranko art panel above each section of text, two per page. The story is good, the artwork fantastic. The concept is great, the execution phenomenal. A graphic novel before such a term existed. I love it.
August 23, 2012
Steranko. The man is a legend. Here he takes on an illustrated novel that was ahead of its time upon publication. With amazing artwork and a good story, Steranko once again proves himself to be a creator on the cutting edge. His artistic style clearly influenced a generation of artists including the likes of Paul Gulacy and others.
May 6, 2013
You definitely want the 1979 Pyramid edition. This is really something special. A triumph.
September 2, 2017
An incredible work of art! The writing, story, twists, turns, and gritty violence give life to a Marlowe-like figure in the very vein of Chandler, yet also very much a noir style all Steranko's own!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews