Darwyn Cooke's Parker

[Gabe99]

From CBR:
WC11: IDW Goes Deluxe for Stevens & "Parker"

Originally Posted by Shaun Manning

In addition to announcing a new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series and "Walter Simonson's The Mighty Thor: Artist's Edition," IDW Publishing revealed two additional prestige hardcovers at WonderCon, one focusing on the little-seen sketches of a beloved artist and the other presenting one of the publisher's most acclaimed series of graphic novels in a new, oversized format. CBR News spoke with editor Scott Dunbier about the "Dave Stevens Sketchbook" and "Parker: The Martini Edition," which collects the first two of Darwyn Cooke's Parker books at a larger size and with additional material.

Originally Posted by Shaun Manning

Dunbier spoke about "Richard Stark's Parker: The Martini Edition," which collects Darwyn Cooke's lauded adaptations of "The Hunter" and "The Outfit" at a size similar to the "Man with the Getaway Face" preview comic, which bridged the gap between the Parker graphic novels. "It's called the 'Parker Martini Edition,' because we wanted something that got the feel of the book," Dunbier said. "Fans really reacted very well to the 'Man with the Getaway Face' preview comic we did last year, which was 8x12 inches. We are actually doing the Martini Edition a little bit larger than that, it will be 9x13 inches, it will have a slipcase, it will be 344 pages. That'll contain both of the graphic novels that Darwyn did -- both of them were pretty widely acclaimed. It'll have a number of illustrations, sketchbook material, a lot of cool little extras. One of the best is, it'll actually have an original eight-page story that will only be available in this Martini Edition."

Though the "Man with the Getaway Face" is the most immediate influence for "Parker: The Martini Edition," the deluxe volume also continues a pattern in Dunbier's editorial interests. "Anybody who knows my past history knows that I like to do big books," Dunbier laughed. He was also responsible for DC Comics' Absolute Edition line and of course IDW's own Artist's Edition books are presented at a larger size. "Part of it's just my general nature likes to do things like this."

Even with his avowed interest in big books, though, Dunbier recognizes that not every artist would benefit from the large-as-life treatment. "If you look at Darwyn's work, he's a very interesting artist in that his art works on a number of different levels. We do the regular graphic novels, they come at 6x9 inches, which is considerably smaller than 8x12. It works perfectly in that size and format, but I think it works just as well in that larger size, too. And a lot of artists can't do that. You have a guy who is printed very small and it looks great, but then you blow it up and it doesn't look quite as good. But with Darwyn, the nature of his style allows it to be large and small and not lose what makes it special."

With two more Parker books coming from Cooke in the future, it's a safe bet there will be a second Martini Edition, as well. "It would kind of seem like a wasted opportunity if we didn't," Dunbier said. "I would think that probably just having one on your bookshelf isn't enough."

From B.A.D.:
Darwyn Cooke Does Lee Marvin In POINT BLANK

[hammerhedd11]

I read the first two collections and enjoyed them quite a bit. It's worth a look at least for Cooke's art.

[Watchman]

Cooke is really firing on all his cylinders with these books. Especially in The Outfit where he plays around with the style for each heist. I own both books but I really want to get the Martini edition.

[Gabe99]

From the RyallTime Blog:
Visions of 2012 – Parker: The Score

Originally Posted by Chris Ryall

Coming in May, the third volume of Darwyn Cooke‘s acclaimed, award-winning PARKER graphic novel series, THE SCORE.

[Gabe99]

PRESS RELEASE: Darwyn Cooke's Take on Parker returns in "The Score"

From THR:
Comic-Con 2012: Darwyn Cooke Launches Latest 'Parker' Epic

“Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score,” the third entry in the gritty graphic novel series, debuts at Comic-Con on July 11.

[Gabe99]

SDCC 12: The Darwyn Cooke Panel — The Handle is coming

Originally Posted by Gabriel Neeb

On Sunday at Comic Con panel dedicated to Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series of graphic novels, Darwyn Cooke and editor Scott Dunbier announced that a fourth Parker adaptation would be published in late 2013 and that it would be based on Donald Westlake’s Parker novel, The Mourner.

With this the audience burst into applause with knowledge that the latest ParkerGN, The Score – just published that Wednesday, would not be the end of Darwyn Cooke’s award winning series. Dunbier and Cooke, however, knew that just one announcement would make the panel exciting, but not insanely exciting.

So they announced that Cooke had recently agreed to do a fifth Parker GN after the conclusion of several other ongoing projects. This pleased the audience more, and Dunbier also expressed his hope that Cooke would someday do a sixth. Nothing for this has been planned and it was merely a desire on Dunbier’s part.

With that, Cooke and Dunbier opened the floor to questions from the audience. Audience members were quick to ask about Cooke’s attitudes towards the 1960s and the past in general, and about the AMC show Mad Men.

Cooke revealed he has a deep affection for the past, especially the 1960s, but he keeps himself tempered and away from idealistic nostalgia that infects too many stories set in that time. He is also well aware that the people that lived through it maintain a subdued attitude to the things those that didn’t might delight in. Cooke recounted a story where he purchased a 1960s era suit from a thrift shop in the early 1980s and completely surprised his father who… wasn’t all that impressed. Cooke was also positive that Mad Men would fail, probably due to the unsympathetic approach the show took to the time period and the fact that it was set in the non-stereotypical (no hippies) 1960s.

Perhaps the most controversial comment Cooke made was that he considers Parker’s creator Donald Westlake to be a better writer than hallowed author Raymond Chandler of the Philip Marlowe novels. Cooke is probably unaware (or maybe he is!) that he’ll have to answer for this belief whenever he is invited to speak at colleges and crime story gatherings in the future.

Finally, when asked about the possibility of an Artist’s Edition for the Parkernovels, Cooke felt that “they’re something I always felt when you were dead or at the end of your career.” A slightly different question posed to Scott Dunbier about whether or not the Parker GNs would be published in softcover editions was answered with “Yes.” Dunbier did not say when this would occur.