Customer Reviews

It Rhymes With Lust

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If you're a big fan of noir novels like the works of Cornell Woolrich or Harry Whittington then you'll like this, and it's fun to read because it's done in comic book format! The ladies look sexy and the action scenes look even more explosive without a lot of overdone exposition.
The novel is about power-hungry tycoon harpy Rust Mason and the evil influence she swings with the politicians in Copper City. The graphic novel from the 1950's was written by Arnold Drake (Deadman, Doom Patrol) and drawn by Matt Baker, one of the very first black comic book artists. Baker was known in his day as the artist for "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" and "Phantom Lady". He was a brilliant GGA (good girl art) cartoonist and worthy of a revival. I highly recommend this very entertaining graphic novel.

Dark Horse did a high quality production for one of the seminal graphic novels. It is a well reproduced, beautiful, digest sized book. The line work is good, and the binding is strong. They used a cream colored paper, that has a bit of texture to it, which I like, tho others may prefer white. But the cream gives the art a richness. The colors of the cover are strong and vibrant. The art by Matt Baker is excellent - he was one of the premier artists of his day, and you can see that here. The story is a noir thriller. I highly recommend it, tho if you don't like zip-a-tone, be warned, for whatever reason, Baker used it for almost all of the backgrounds. It does bring the main figures in the panels forward, but I personally wish he had done less zip-a-tone and just drawn things out. He even used zip-a-tone to out line characters in the background - with no establishing linework at all. But after I got into the book, I got used to it, and it didn't bother me, and I really enjoy Baker's work.

The writing is very literate, unusual for comics of this time period. It is genre work, but that doesn't mean it is intrinsically inferior. It is a taut, well written piece of fiction, with strong underlying social themes, which include worker's rights, the nature of greed, graft in politics, the power of wealth, and the inherent strength in virtue and honor. Tried and true noir themes, but one of the most interesting thing about the novel is the emphasis on labor, and how political graft effects laborers and society as a whole. The dialogue is good, clipped, hard boiled, like Hammet detective fiction, the plot is well paced, and moves to the conclusion of the story at just the right speed.

All in all, a satisfying read - not spectacular in the way Hammet is, but a good, solid piece of work.

If you like Matt Baker art and Arnold (Metel Men) Drakes writing, then your in for a treat of seeing a time capusule of how comics were made for an adult audiance in 1950. The story is a little corny but still is great pulp.

Certainly a contender for the "First Graphic Novel" title, this Matt Baker drawn story of love, corruption and murder is a great read, and Matt's women (he drew most of the Jungle Girls of the 40s) are .... perfection in two dimensions.