Playback: A Graphic Novel (Hardcover)

~ Raymond Chandler (Author), Francois Ayroles (Author), (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chandler's 1948 screenplay was presumed lost until its rediscovery in Universal Studios' archives in the 1980s, although the author had adapted it into a Philip Marlowe novel in the meantime. More recently, a French publisher adapted it into a graphic novel that is now being presented in English for the first time. While the story has down the requisite cynicism, acerbic humor and casual violence of film noir, it lacks the compelling plots and timeless characters of the author's classic scripts. A whodunit centering on Betty Mayfield, a beautiful, doomed woman on the run from a troubled past, Playback starts promisingly enough with tough, brisk dialogue and the unusual Vancouver setting. Yet by the third act the plot is bogged down by its own dejected heroine, as Betty's permanent air of defeat proves more tiring than tragic. Despite Philippe Garnier's assertion in his introduction that the script was passed over due to the vicissitudes of the studio system, it's possible that an unrelenting gloom was the real culprit. Ayroles's art employs a stiff, angular woodblocklike style that does little to capture the dark eddies of Chandler's tale. (July)
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From Booklist

Chandler was once approached about writing a newspaper strip. "I wouldn't know how to do it, and if I did I wouldn't want to," the notoriously crusty crime novelist retorted. Hence, this graphic novel adapts a never-produced screenplay, a murder mystery set in Vancouver shortly after World War II. A cad meets a woman fleeing her father-in-law, who thinks she murdered his son, though the trial judge set aside a guilty verdict. The heel gets her into a plush hotel, pushes himself too far, and later is found--by her--dead in her room. A pencil-mustached, monocled, war-hero police detective; a rich wastrel; the dead man's waspish older girlfriend; and an oleaginous PI are the other principals. Climax and denouement are more Hollywood than Chandler, but the tart, brusque, spoiled-romantic patter is breathtaking, and Ayroles' brutal artwork, akin to the blunt, high-contrast noir comics styles of fellow Frenchman Jacques de Loustal (Barney and the Blue Note, 1986), becomes more fitting with every frame. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (July 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559707968
• ISBN-13: 978-1559707961
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #694,528 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Inexpertly-drawn rendition of a good story, November 19, 2007

By	Jean E. Pouliot (Newburyport, MA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Though not an expert (by any means) on the genre, I do love film-noir and had high hopes for this story. This graphic novel, a look at never-filmed script written by the great Raymond Chandler, offers only limited satisfaction.

The story was terrific. A young wife is officially exonerated of her husband's death, but fears retribution from his family who thinks she murdered him. She feels to Vancouver to escape them. While there, another death may be pinned on her. But who is the killer? The desolate young beauty? The aging socialite with the gun in her purse? The mysterious older gentleman? Someone else? The investigation is complicated when the inspector falls in love with one of the suspects.

The tale involves the same easy-to-miss plot points that adorn (bedevil?) old movies, and that need a second reading to pick up. This is not a problem, as it's fun to read a book, once the key to character behavior has been revealed, to see how you were fooled the first time around.

But I found the artwork distracting and hard to decipher. Rendered solely in black and white, without shades of gray, shadowed faces sometimes "read" as weird masks of spilled ink. The inconsistent drawing style made it difficult for me to keep the characters straight. Sometimes I had to look carefully for the one characteristic (an upturned mustache on Inspector Killaine, for instance) that helped identify the character.

I enjoyed the story's twists and the turns of logic that helped identify the killer. Not a standout work, as graphic novels go, but interesting and memorable. A written introduction tells the story of Chandler's star-crossed experience of writing the script.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very strong pick for personal and community library collections, September 4, 2006

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

If you like graphic novels in classic black and white, Raymond Chandler's mysteries, or comics revolving around blackmail and murder, then this Arcade Publishing edition of Playback is for you. It holds plenty of tough talk and strong dialogue, brisk action, and well done characters: combine these with excellent graphic images and you have a very strong pick for personal and community library collections.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Binding, Pitiful Artwork, September 14, 2008

By	Paul Maglic (Garland, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Given the excellent production values that went into this hardback edition of the "lost" Raymond Chandler work "Playback," in graphic novel form, it is regrettable that the artwork is of such mediocre caliber. Francois Ayroles no doubt put a lot of effort and vision into his personal interpretation of the plot. Unfortunately, his characters are uniformly stiff and awkward, their facial expressions taut and unconvincing. The citiscapes are drab and uncompelling.

The project of bringing to life Chandler's final effort is a once-in-a-lifetime endeavor and it is a pity that artists of the competence of R. G. Taylor ("Wordsmith") or Ted Slampyak ("Jazz Age Chronicles)," whose proven artistic mastery of bygone American eras was not chosen.