Parker: The Score [Hardcover]

Darwyn Cooke (Author), Scott Dunbier (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2012 | Series: Parker (Book 3)

Fresh from his Eisner Award-winning efforts on The Hunter and The Outfit, Darwyn Cooke now sets his steely sights on The Score, the classic Richard Stark Parker novel from 1964. Parker becomes embroiled in a plot with a dozen partners in crime to pull off what might be the ultimate heist - robbing an entire town. Everything was going fine for a while, and then things got bad. Considered one of the best in the Parker series, The Score is the perfect vehicle for Darwyn Cooke to pull out all the stops and let loose with a book that has all the impact of a brutal kick to the solar plexus!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: IDW Publishing (July 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1613772084
• ISBN-13: 978-1613772089
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A very daring heist July 13, 2012

By Ian

Format:Hardcover

I'm a huge fan of Darwyn Cooke's work on these Parker graphic novels. They are so stylish and cool, but they are also very compelling stories. This is his third adaptation of the Richard Stark novels, and while you don't need to read the previous two to enjoy this one, I would highly recommend that you do. So here's the story: Parker is our protagonist, but he's definitely not a hero. He's a cold, ruthless thief who would just as soon kill you as look at you. Naturally, he's a perfect fit for this kind of story. The year is 1964, and Parker spends his time living in Miami when he's not doing a job. One day, he gets a call from a fellow that he worked with in the past. It's about a job. The "job" in question is Copper Canyon, a small mining town in North Dakota. Yes, the plan is to rob the entire town! Right off the bat, several things don't jive with Parker. For one; the guy who put the heist together is an amateur who has personal reasons for wanting to rob the town. The other thing is that it will require a dozen men to pull off the job. Parker is ready to cut his losses and leave, but he becomes so impressed by the sheer audacity and scope of the job that he believes it's crazy enough to work. From here the story starts to sound a bit like Ocean's 11, but it's not as flashy and cocky. Parker and his crew are true professionals who plan everything out to the last detail. Naturally, this story wouldn't be as compelling if something didn't go wrong, and boy does it ever! I was totally enthralled by this book, and finished it in about 40 minutes. It was a real page turner. As I said before, Cooke is an amazing storyteller. He worked in animation for years before switching to comic books. His art style is very retro-cool, which makes it a perfect fit for these stories since they're set in the sixties. You can tell these books are a real labor of love for him, and that is why I highly recommend it because if you love a good crime story, then you can't get much better than this. The only complaint I have about this book is that we have to wait until 2013 for the next Parker story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally Parker is Reborn! July 18, 2012

By Fla Fla Flo Flee

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Parker is not a widespread cultural icon, but to those who love crime fiction he is paramount. Stark's books are some of the best in the genre ( I read all of them in one year). I was so starved for more I even read the Grofield novel offshoots. Cooke, however, has really brought to life the visual elements from these books, something all film adaptations have failed at. Hollywood wants to change Parker and make him what he is not: He is a criminal and there's nothing nice about it. The Score captures all the brutality of the character, and doesn't gloss over the details or try to add superfluous characters or trendy modern plot developements to the story. Cooke masterfully paints this graphic novel in the style of the times -- the early 60s. Cooke knows his subject and chooses the right imagery to extract. His light and shadow touch lightly on noir, but he doesn't submerge the reader in darkness. In this novel especially, he allows Parker to fully realized.
If you are a graphic novel fan, this should appeal to you, mainly those who enjoy Frank Miller. Unlike many novel-to-graphic novel adaptations, Cooke doesn't force too much text upon the reader. He pulls enough from the book and lets the story live through his brush strokes. The book had some delay coming out (first scheduled for May, then June and now finally out in July), but it was well worth the wait. We can only hope he will continue this work.
England may have Bond, with all of his cheesy romanticism and judo chops, but America has Parker, a true reflection of the country -- brutal, industrious, intelligent and relentlessly confident.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not great. August 6, 2012

By P. M. Bradshaw

Format:Hardcover

Darwyn Cooke is one of the best things happening in comics today. His take on the new Before Watchmen series - The Minutemen, as well as Catwoman, and the first two `Parker' novels are nothing short of brilliant! That's why it pains me to say that the Score is good, but not great.

To be fair, I don't think this is Cooke's fault. His two-color, noir artwork is glorious again. But the story itself is a bit ponderous. With a 12-man team, and five or six locals, and five or six others, there are simply too many characters. The Hunter moved at a brisk pace, in part because of the smallish world it inhabited. In `The Score' the voluminous characters bogs things down, and this is true of the original novel as well. Not enough time is afforded to the Edgars character, for example, to make much of an impact before the conclusion.

That being said, this is still on a higher level than quite a bit of what's coming out today. If you don't already have the first two, I suggest you get `Parker: The Martini Edition' instead. It has the first two graphic novels - The Hunter and The Outfit, and also the in-between, stand-alone story The Man With the Getaway Face.