Westlake Score #1: Levine

I should have a few Donald Westlake books turning up this week, all of them eBay scores, hence the title of this post. (See what I did there? 'Score'? Like 'heist'? And to think, you get this shit for free.) First to arrive is this:













A 1984 US hardback first edition of Levine, published by Mysterious Press. Copies of this one aren't readily available in the UK – I don't know if it was even published over here – and the most recent edition of it seems to have been 1987. Levine is actually a collection of six novellas, all centring on the eponymous cop. Four of them were written in the late '50s and early '60s for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, one was written in 1965 for Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine, and the final one was written especially for this collection, on the request of the publisher, Otto Penzler, as Westlake outlines in his introduction.

And in fact it's the introduction that's possibly the real draw here, as over thirteen pages Westlake details the creation of the novellas, explores his early years churning out short stories for all and sundry, and gives a few insights into his writing process. I read it last night and it's really interesting stuff. Here he is on novel series:

The repetition of characters makes a series, but if the characters in the original story are tied to a theme or a concern or a view of life that colors them and helps to create them, can they live in stories that are irrelevant to that extra element? I don't think so, and I think over the years there have been several series characters who have been less than they might have been because their later adventures never touched upon those thematic elements which had created their character in the first place.

Having now read the first Alan Grofield novel, The Damsel, I reckon you could make a case for that being the problem with the Grofield-starring Parker spin-off books. Anyway, there's lots more fascinating insights in the intro, including how Westlake stopped writing his early experiment with an emotionless character, 361, to write another book starring an emotionless character instead – The Hunter, written as Richard Stark; and how he suddenly found himself writing comedy caper novels, despite never having been, as he says, "the funniest kid in class. I was always, invariably, the funniest kid's best friend... I wasn't the guy with the quick line; I was the guy who loved the quick line."

So, what will be the next Westlake Score to turn up? You'll just have to wait and see...

Voici! La Liste!

I realise these weekly rundowns of the comics I'll be getting are almost certainly of no interest to anyone other than me, but it keeps me happy, and I got nuffink else to post today, so like it or lump it. Anyway, there's a fair clutch of new comics I'd like to get this week; at least four, possibly even five or six. Pretty good week then potentially. Top of the pops is this:














Batman #700. I love anniversary issues, even though they're almost always disappointing. But this should be a good'un: words by Grant Morrison, art by the likes of Andy Kubert, Frank Quitely, David Finch... and a variant cover by Hellboy legend Mike Mignola (the one on the right there; regular cover by David Finch on the left). Apparently this'll feature stories spotlighting Batmen of different eras: Bruce Wayne; Dick Grayson, the current Batman... and the future Batman, Damian Wayne, currently Robin. That last one was last seen in Batman #666, a future tale of a demonic Gotham where the world's gone to pot and Batman's equally mental, possibly Morrison's finest issue of his whole run.

For some reason Morrison seems to get a lot of stick online for his Batman comics, but in truth there are few mainstream superhero comics being published today with the scope and ambition of Morrison's excursions in the Bat-universe. He's been writing various Batbooks for four years now, which is a lot longer than I expected him to stick around, and he's still going strong, which makes his Batman comics the longest sustained run he's had since New X-Men. I'm looking forward to re-reading them soon; it's basically been one long, strange, twisting story.

Also from DC (or rather Vertigo) this week, I'll probably get Unwritten #14, which, as I've mentioned before, I'm sort-of-enjoying-although-it's-not-as-good-as-Lucifer, so I won't bother to throw a cover up here. Or, on the Marvel side of things, for Iron Man #27, 'cos I got nothing to say about it; S.H.I.E.L.D. #2, 'cos I'm not sure I'll get it anyway; or Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's Nemesis #2, 'cos I can't really remember much about the first issue, which means I might not get this one either. But let's have a cover for this one:













Captain America #606. Yay for Ed Brubaker. And Baron Zemo's back too. What's not to love? Oh, and apparently this is out too:













Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle #6. Kupperman is an absurdist comedy genius, and there's usually at least a couple of strips in this that make me laugh out loud. For example:













It's the heightened, hysterical final panel pay-offs that do it for me. And that's about it for this week, although I might grab this if I see it:













A graphic novel adaptation of Donald Westlake's first Dortmunder book, The Hot Rock. I haven't read the original, although I plan to at some point, but I might give this a go in the meantime. Or I might not. I know, the suspense is killing you. And speaking of graphic novels, I picked up these in the last couple of weeks:













Jim Woodring's Weathercraft, and John Arcudi and Peter Snejberg's A God Somewhere. I read Weathercraft over the weekend, and it's very good: as strange and unnerving as Woodring's other Frank comics – possibly even stranger, as at one point I sort of lost the thread of what the hell was going on. There's an interesting look at the book here, along with some art from it, and some thoughts about the parallels between Woodring's comics and, of all things, Rupert the Bear.

I've started A God Somewhere, which is a tale of a regular guy who suddenly gains superpowers. Been done before, right? Well, yes, but this one seems to be a more realistic take on the idea. The characters are well realised, and Snejberg's artwork is, as usual (check out The Light Brigade or his Starman run if you don't believe me), terrific:













You don't see much from Arcudi these days; I really liked his run on Gen13 from about ten years ago, which again attempted a more realistic approach to superheroes. So we'll see how A God Somewhere plays out. One thing to note is it's an original paperback graphic novel, not a collection of previously released comics. I think we'll be seeing more of this sort of thing; sales are so low now on some periodical comics that they wouldn't even act as a loss-leader for an eventual collection. So kudos to WildStorm for at least trying something a bit different. It'll probably still sell bugger-all, but at least they're giving it a go.

The Grofield Files: The Damsel (1967) by Richard Stark; a Review

Finally polished this one off over the weekend, the first of Richard Stark's four novels starring actor-turned-heister Alan Grofield. Chronologically The Damsel follows on from the eighth Parker novel, The Handle, at the end of which Grofield is left by Parker in a Mexican hotel room recovering from bullet wounds. The Damsel picks up almost immediately after that, as a girl, Elly, swings into Grofield's room through the window and the two of them embark on a cross-country Mexican adventure to stop the assassination of a South American dictator.

Doesn't sound much like a Parker novel, does it? And the Stark four-part structure aside, it's really not. There's some violence, but on the whole the tone is light and often played for laughs – except without actually being funny. I'd read various reports that the Grofield novels kind of fall between two stools: not as hardcore as the Parkers, not as funny as some of the Westlakes. I haven't read any comedy caper Westlakes yet, but that criticism sounds about right to me.

Which isn't to say The Damsel is completely without merit. It's a decent enough read, and actually comes into its own in part three, where we get the Stark Cutaway to, variously, the dictator, General Pozos; his son, Juan; Luke Harrison, the former governor of Pennsylvania (who is plotting to kill Pozos); his son, Bob; and Dr. Fitzgerald, Elly's father and the man tasked with actually offing Pozos. Westlake does something interesting here, moving from one character to the next tag-team style: Harrison sees Pozos' yacht out at sea, and in the following chapter we jump to the yacht; Bob sees Acapulco below him as he flies in on a plane, and then in the next chapter we jump to his father's house below.

Unfortunately it feels as if Westlake loses interest in the final part, which is slightly tossed off and perfunctory. So I'm not sure if I'll bother with the next two Grofield books, The Dame and The Blackbird. I have a lead on a first edition of The Dame, so if that pans out I'll try it, but if not, I'll just read the final Grofield, Lemons Never Lie, which is reportedly much closer in tone to the Parker novels. Speaking of which, it's The Rare Coin Score next for me...

New Arrival: The Man with the Getaway Face by Richard Stark (US Pocket Edition)

Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking. I mean, other than, 'Who are you and why am I reading this blog?' You're thinking, 'Doesn't this guy already have a 1984 Allison & Busby UK hardback of this one, and a 1971 Coronet UK paperback of the same book (under the title The Steel Hit)?' And yes, it's true, I do. But, hopeless collector that I am, I just couldn't resist this when it popped up from a UK seller on eBay:













Because it's the 1963 US first edition, and therefore a little piece of history. The Man with the Getaway Face is the second of Donald 'Richard Stark' Westlake's Parker novels, and like, I believe, the eleven other Parkers up to and including The Sour Lemon Score, it was first issued in paperback in the States, by Pocket Books in this instance. And thus far it's one of my favourites in the series, for a couple of reasons: for the way Westlake details the meticulous, methodical planning of the heist for over half the book, and then dispenses with the crime itself (and its double-cross aftermath) in about eight pages; and for the misadventures of Stubbs, my favourite Stark Stooge. I also really like the scratchy cover illo on this paperback, by one Harry Bennett.

The original American first editions of the Parker novels don't crop up on eBay too often, at least not from UK sellers, so I'm glad I nabbed it. Even though I do now have three different editions of the same book...

New Arrival: Elizabeth Taylor by John B. Allan (A Biography by Donald E. Westlake)

Here's something a bit different; this turned up yesterday, a late birthday present from my friend Adam:














A 1961 US Monarch paperback biography of Elizabeth Taylor by one John B. Allan – "first publication anywhere", as it helpfully states on the cover, with the alluring tag line, "The fascinating story of America's most talented actress and the world's most beautiful woman" – which makes it sound slightly as if the book's an expose of a lesbian romance between Liz and another (unnamed, but apparently beautiful) woman.

So the obvious question here is: why on earth would I be interested in this book? And indeed I was similarly perplexed when Adam told me he'd got it for me, standing, as we were, in a queue for the toilet at a London pub over the weekend. Probably not the strangest conversation I've ever had in a pub loo queue, but certainly right up there. Thankfully, Adam later explained why he'd got it for me: John B. Allan was one of Donald Westlake's many pseudonyms, alongside the likes of Tucker Coe, Alan Marshall, and, of course, Richard Stark. And actually, reading the first line of the book, you can really feel that Westlake/Stark touch:

"When Richard Burton walked in the room, Liz threw the whiskey bottle at him."

OK, I made that up; the Taylor aficionados out there would of course know that Liz didn't meet Burton until the filming of Cleopatra, which happened after this book was written. (In fact, this brief volume begins with an account of Liz's brush with death in a Dorchester hotel suite in 1961, which in its own way is a very Westlake starting point.) Anyway, it's a splendid curio, and not readily available this side of the pond, so thank you very much, Adam!

The List! And Apocalypse War Revisited

Aaaaaand we're back. Not a great week for new comics this week. There's only one definite for me, which is this:













Brian Michael Bendis and Alan Davis' Avengers Prime #1. This will apparently send Captain America, Iron Man and Thor off on a multidimensional adventure during which the rift between the characters will be healed, a kind of deck-clearing exercise so that the recently launched Avengers #1 doesn't have to deal with all the emotional baggage. What baggage? What rift? Well, the fact that Cap and Iron Man were on opposing sides during Civil War, and that Iron Man and Mister Fantastic (from the Fantastic Four) created a clone of the at-the-time MIA Thor which then killed Giant Man. Like that. Then again, Iron Man wouldn't remember any of that because his mind was subsequently wiped (by, er, himself) and the memory reinstall conveniently only went up to just prior to Civil War. Good lord, comics are complicated. Anyway, it's Alan Davis drawing it, so it'll look gorgeous.

Other than that, I might give these a look:













iZombie #2. I quite enjoyed the first issue of this – wherein gravedigger Gwen is actually dead herself, and has to snack on the occasional brain – so let's give the second one a go, shall we?













Red Hood Lost Days #1. This one's much less certain a buy. Judd Winick, who wroted this, also wrote the run of Batman where former Robin Jason Todd came back from the dead and made Batman's life a misery, which I liked at the time. Since then the character's been completely mishandled (typical for DC Comics these days really), but I'm still intrigued to see what Winick does with Jason/Red Hood.













Superman Batman Annual #4. I don't know why I'm interested in this. Paul Levitz is a dated writer, I was never into Batman Beyond... and yet... no, no idea why I want to check this one out. So I probably won't. Apologies for wasting your time there, but evidently I needed to work through that one.

In other news, I went up in my ma and pa's loft at the weekend and dug a bunch of stuff out, including this:













The complete collection of the Judge Dredd story The Apocalypse War, which originally ran in 2000 AD in the early '80s. It also includes the preceding story Block Mania, which sets up the events of the Apocalypse War.











Mick McMahon artwork there. These were the golden years for 2000 AD, stories like this and Cursed Earth and Necropolis (I also retrieved my collections of Necropolis – and the Dead Man collection which precedes it – from the loft). I was reading 2000 AD at the time, and have fond memories of this stuff, most of which was written by Alan Grant and John Wagner (with some by Pat Mills). I remember this scene being quite shocking at the time:













That's the death of Judge Giant, as depicted by Steve Dillon. Giant was a regular supporting character in the Dredd stories, so to see him offed like this was jarring. Reading the comics again, the manic energy that informed them is still apparent, with death and destruction on an awesome scale. I've just got to this part of the Apocalypse War storyline:












where East-Meg One has unleashed its nuclear arsenal on Mega-City One, wiping out a third of the sprawling metropolis, and the invasion is about to begin. It's fantastic stuff, the whole thing drawn by Carlos Ezquerra, full of mayhem and black comedy, utterly unlike American comics, where this kind of gleeful demolition and giggling mass-murder was unheard of (although less so these days). (Oddly, there's a switch in tense in the captions from Block Mania to Apocalypse War, from past to present, which makes Apocalypse War seem more vital and urgent somehow. Tenses in comics are a bit of a bugbear of mine, and I probably wouldn't have noticed at the time, but it makes quite a difference now.)

Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying this at the moment. Necropolis next...?