Euro Books – Lucky Luke | 24 Albums | 2009

I am Back and have a story to tell about my recent absence at Comicology, which is by the way reserved for the end of the post; to save you from my blabbering and more importantly to pave way for the topic which turbo-charged me to comeback quicker: Euro Book’s Lucky Luke venture.

I am no stranger to the generation of kids who have grown reading Lion Comics, a Tamil comics brand from Southern India. My first encounters with Lucky Luke (for an Intro about this famous Franco-Belgian character, refer to the Lucky Luke debut post, here), were only through them. Even though later on I read on the web that few other publications have tried their hands on Lucky adventures in India, with mixed success. (For eg. Gowarsons).

Offlate, I need to admit that the humour in Lucky Luke stories have failed to tickle the fun bone in me, may be because we could have grown out of that target audience, or maybe because the Morris & Goscinny era is now over.

But the sheer glimpse of holding a Lucky Luke adventure and flipping through its pages is matched only by a handful of other series. It’s sure to bring you Nostalgic feeling and also take you back to your favourite childhood moments.

And not to forget Lucky Luke series own style of featuring historical figures from the wild west in their comic books time and again with a comical style of representation (for eg., Dalton Brothers, Calamity Jane, Jesse James, etc.), and also for cultivating the good habits, as the series progressed into more titles (for eg., Lucky used to be featured as a smoker in his initial run, before turning to a non-smoker in response to the non-smoking campaign on the rise in those times).

Lion Comics continues to feature Lucky Luke in their line-up, but their infrequent releases (their last Lucky exclusive release was in early 2008) meant that seeing a Lucky Luke adventure was increasingly difficult in India.

Surprisingly in 2007, Tara Press launched a limited edition 5 Set Luke series, and had plans to feature another series in Iznogoud, having obtained the copyrights for both of them. For whatever reasons, they chose not to continue the comics venture forward.

Later on CineBook’s debut in India, brought a host of Lucky Luke titles along with it, and they continue to release and add more titles on an incremental basis, every month. I have always been a great fan of CineBook, ever since they made their foray in India on 2008, due to their top notch quality of releases. So, these incredible Lucky Luke titles filled the void, now and then.

But in early 2009, Euro Books India, a comics publisher known for a set of graphic novel releases in one bunch (Ref. Biggles & Spirou and Fantasio Set releases in 2007), announced that they were working on a 24 set Lucky Luke release. Ever since hearing the news, I had been checking the stores, and bugging their local distributors, to check on their availability, but the announcement remained as Coming soon until now.

A couple of weeks back, I heard from some friends in the other cities that they have started to see the 24 set Lucky Luke Euro books editions on their local bookshops. I couldn’t wait to grab the copy, as the Chennai stores were still not showing any signs of their availability. So I managed to procure a set and had it shipped to me last week, through a friend.

So here is the list of 24 titles and their incredibly drawn cover arts, online first-up at Comicology.

Typical to Euro Books Quality, these editions of Lucky Luke are incredibly well packaged. Waxed good quality papers, carefully bound on the edges, cost priced at INR 199 each, with A4 Size, all adds up to the value. Euro Books this time around, even decided to not feature their logo on the front-cover, instead pushing it to   the back-cover. It highlights that they themselves didn’t want to disturb the incredibly drawn cover-art of each of these Lucky Luke golden titles. Look at the funny extras found inside the books.

Unlike Tara Press and CineBook, who relied on the Original albums released in early 60s (starting from 1962) to early 70s (up to 1971, as of their latest release); Euro Books have steered away from the current CineBook’s selection lot, by mostly selecting titles from the original albums released in 80’s, to the recent editions released a couple of years ago in 2006.

Talking more about that 2006 edition, The Beautiful Province, is said to be the highest sold Lucky Luke title post Morris & Goscinny’s successful partnership, where various writers worked with Morris to fill the void left by Goscinny’s demise in 1977. Later when Morris passed away in 2001, the series was taken over by French artist Hervé Darmenton, who is more famously known under his pseudonym Achdé. He was assisted in writing duties by Laurent Gerra.

It is said that the duo of Achdé and Gerra, relied heavily on the instruction left over by Morris to base their storylines. Isn’t it a tribute to the legendary man who revolutionised the Lucky Luke series in his time with the venture. Thanks to Euro Books for bringing this landmark title to India, which was the first title to have been produced under Achdé and Gerra partnership.

And does the title, From the Gallows to the Altar, remind you something very recently. Yes it’s indeed the title which fellow comiker, Lover of Dreams Shankar, enriched us with his wonderful translation on his blog, over here.

I would remember him, while reading this story. I don’t have high hopes over the English translation though, as compared to our desi version :). Moreover, there are no credits given for the English Translation in these Euro Book set. (Just like the Spirou & Fantasio series released a couple of years back).

I wonder, how would that change the storyline, as everyone knows that Translation plays a major part in making or breaking a series originally released in another language. I am not staying too optimistic, but let me give a final verdict after going through these titles. If not for anything, I would at least enjoy the incredible artwork, for which Lucky series is known for.

Other than the regular series, this lot of Euro Book also includes two unique titles to have been released in the Lucky Luke series. The ones which talked about the Lucky Luke’s early years as a kid.

Kid Lucky is the title, in which Lucky is said to have befriended Jolly Jumper, his most loyal friend and companion in many adventures. Oklahoma Jim is the other title which wraps up the Kid Lucky twin title limited edition series.

Everyone knows that Lucky is credited to be the man who shoots faster than his own shadow.

Not many know that his trusted ally, Jolly Jumper, is credited as the most intelligent horse in the world.

Not only that, Lucky is also accompanied in many of his adventures by a prison dog named Rantanplan, which is credited as the dumbest dog in the world. I don’t remember reading such a diverse character set in any of the comic series in my collection. Talking of Rantanplan, it had its own spin-off series which lasted for some years. Clearly, the dumbest dog, scored over the smartest horse, in fan-base .

So with this batch of Euro Books, the total number of English editions of Lucky Luke in my collection has risen up to 41 (12 CineBook + 5 Tara Press + 24 Euro Books). , astonishing to know that 2 years back it was a total blank. Thanks To Tara Press, CineBook, and Euro Books, and Bye-Bye, my hard earned money, once again .

 

Euro Books Lucky Luke Series’ Origins: Here is the list of titles published by Euro Books in their 24 issue set, with their corresponding original reference. Morris was involved in all of them, until his demise in 2001. But he was mentioned in the credits even when other Artists or Writers took over the reigns.

#	Euro Books Title	Original Album (French)	Writers/Artists	Publisher Year
1.	Daisy Town	#51: Daisy Town	Goscinny	DG, 1983
2.	Fingers	#52: Fingers	Lo Van Banda	DG, 1983
3.	Marcel Dalton	#67: Marcel Dalton	Bob de Groot	LP, 1998
4.	The Artist	#69: L'Artiste peintre	Bob de Groot	LP, 2001
5.	The Legend of the West	#70: La Légende de l'Ouest	Patrick Nordmann	LP, 2002
6.	The Daily Star	#53: Le Daily Star	Léturgie, Fauche	DG, 1983
7.	Lucky Luke’s Fiancée	#54: La Fiancée de Luky Luke	Guy Vidal	DG, 1985
8.	Nitroyglycerine	#57: Nitroglycérine	Lo Van Banda	DG, 1987
9.	The Cursed Ranch	#56: Le Ranch maudit	Léturgie, Fauche & Guylouis	DG, 1986
10.	The Beautiful Province	#71: La Belle Province	Achdé, Gerra*	LC, 2004
11.	From the Gallows to the Altar	#72: La Corde au cou	Achdé, Gerra*	LC, 2006
12.	The Daltons’ Loot	#47: Le Magot des Dalton	Vicq	DG, 1980
13.	The Alibi	#58: L'Alibi	Claude Guylouis	DG, 1987
14.	Ghost Hunt	#61: Chasse aux fantômes	Lo Van Banda	LP, 1992
15.	Kid Lucky	Kid Lucky (Kid Lucky Series-1)	Leturgie, Pearce	LP, 1996
16.	Oklahoma Jim	Oklahoma Jim (Kid Lucky Series-2)	Leturgie, Pearce	LC, 2003
17.	The Prophet	#68: Le Prophète	Patrick Nordmann	LC, 2000
18.	Belle Star	#64: Belle Star	Xavier Fauche	LP, 1995
19.	The Klondike	#65: Le Klondike	Yann, Léturgie	LP, 1996
20.	The Pony Express	#59: Le Pony Express	Léturgie, Fauche	DG, 1988
21.	Sarah Bernhardt	#49: Sarah Bernhardt	Léturgie, Fauche	DG, 1982
22.	The Bridge on the Missippi	#63: Le Pont sur le Mississippi	Léturgie, Fauche	LP, 1994
23.	The Hanged Man’s Rope and Other Stories	#50: La Corde du pendu	Goscinny	DG, 1981
24.	The Ballard of the Daltons and Other Stories	#55: La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires	Goscinny	DG, 1986

Publishers Code: DG: Dargaud, LP: Lucky Production, LC: Lucky Comics
* Were written & drawn by Achdé, Gerra under the guidance left by Morris

Here is the back-cover one of the issue, which provides a checklist for the 24 titles available in this series of Euro Book. Also a familiar back-cover of all Lucky Luke Titles, which showcases the myth that the man his faster than his own shadow.

Talking about which, the Kid Lucky series had its own spin-off from this most famous back-cover feature, which wasn’t featured in the Kid Lucky series released by Euro Books. Nevertheless, here is a glimpse of that for your view.

If you say that was innovative, then wait till you see the Rantanplan’s own version of this famous Lucky Luke Shadow spin-off, showcasing that unlike Lukes, Rantanplan is dumber than its own shadow :).

I hope that someday these Rantanplan series will also be available in India, as I have heard good reviews about them.

 

Closing Notes:  To wrap up our Lucky Luke post, let’s discuss about the closing scene, which is a familiar scenario of every Lucky Luke title, where Lucky rides solo on his horse under the sunset singing is famous Lonesome Cowboy song.

I recently came across a wonderful blog, which discusses the various ending scenes on the Lucky Luke titles with a comparison chart and extensive study. Have a look at The Looniverse page. The man behind that website, really deserves all the accolades.

That brings us to the close of Euro Books Lucky Luke Preview post. So use this as a checklist for your comics shopping next time around, or enjoy the cover-scans of these wonderful titles. If you are a Lucky Luke fan, it surely deserves a place in your collection. If you are not, then it’s time you experience the series in the top most quality in which it could ever be available.

Apart from the INR 199 single edition, these Lucky Luke set is also available in the 3-in-1 bound edition for INR 450 from Euro Books. It’s a nice deal, but you might have to lose the chance of owning these titles with their cover arts in a full-blown page. That’s a choice you got to make, I couldn’t.

Book Facts: Publisher: Euro Books | A4 Size | Single Title: INR 199 | 3 in 1 Title: INR 450 | 24 Individual Titles

Places to Buy:
Available at all leading book stores, like Landmark, Odyssey, Crosswords, etc. including individual stores like Blossoms. flipkart.com offers around 10% discount. All the Lucky Luke titles are available at present.
indiaplaza.in offers aroound 25% discount generally, but you need to wait as the Lucky set is yet to arrive on their listings.

 

Trivia for Tamil Comics fans: The titles published by Euro Books may be new for CineBook fans, but not certainly for their counterparts from Tamil Comics. Many of the titles published by Euro Books, have already been released by Tamil comics giant Lion Comics (and in their erstwhile brand Mini Lion).  Looking just at the Euro Books cover, itself would bring that nostalgia feeling, as many of them were used as it is in our Tamil Comics.

Could anyone point out the respective Tamil Comics titles for the ones printed out of this 24 set batch? Not only full titles, even the small stories found in the two Other stories titles were also used throughout the run of Lion Comics as an additional feature. I will post the respective Tamil comics title names, in a month’s time, to keep the suspense, and the contribution going.

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My Blabbering: By the way, I promised to talk about my recent procrastination at Comicology (Did you think I forgot or what?). It was more to do with a personal emergency, which didn’t allow me to sit on and complete a post for long hours. But, I did manage to sneak around in fellow comikers blogs during this time, and have made every effort to comment on those wonderful posts, whenever time permitted.

Also in the interim, I was able to obtain my long time ambition to change the background for post pages; from White text on Black Background to
Black text on White Background. It was a long standing request from fellow comikers, which I had to oblige, even though Black background was one of my personal favourite (which was a commonality ever since the blog was started in 2005, and the very reason why it still finds its place on the Sidebar).

But, after working out a lot of changes, I hope that the reading pleasure is now improved at Comicology. The only drawback was that I had to individually edit all the 60+ posts at Comicology, to adopt to the new style. In this spent effort, I could have actually created 2 to 3 newer posts itself. But, I hope the hard-work paid-off, if it has made it eye-pleasant for all comikers.

And for those who came in late, a list of all the posts at Comicology, until today could be found in the Bibliography page, which is now categorised into wider groups, for easy access; and for any help refer to the newly revamped Help page of Comicology. I would be eager to hear about your view on this Euro Book series, and the changes which have gone on to the template of Comicology through your comments, so keep them coming.

 

Euro Books’ Other Series: Before we wrap-up, here is the two-page flyer, which prominently finds place in the Lucky Luke series, and talks about the other Graphic Novels or Comics titles released by Euro Books in the last couple of years.

Two of which (Biggles & Spirou) have already been discussed at Comicology.

What’s left are Phantom, and Quick & Flupke series, if we eliminate the other failed attempts of Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Agastha Christie comic series.

Also there is another series which was missed out from this list. We will see more about them in the coming months at Comicology.

I hope your prying eyes would have noticed the advertisement about the Iznogoud series too on the flyer. Well, it is yet to be published, and as per Euro Books officials, it would only be available in the mid of July. After witnessing Euro Books quality release of Lucky Luke, I am all set to grab the Iznogoud series too, when it is available.

Some more dear money has to be shed. Comics collection is a costly hobby, I bet you on that . 

Adios Amigos !

References: 1. Wikipedia’s Lucky Luke page, 2. iFarm’s Lucky Luke page, 3. Dargaud’s Official Website.

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Paradox - A History of Violence | 1997

All the election fever which was going around in the country for the last few months, have finally come to a sweet end, with India Inc. decisively voting in Elections 2009 for a stable government at the centre. Let’s hope that the momentum shows enough strength in revitalizing the economic fortunes of the country, which took a beating, undoubtedly, by the global financial slowdown.

At Comicology, our recent post on Iznogoud with a complete account of his Indian presence, has garnered enough interest among comikers. Being an Iznogoud fan myself, there is no joy abound then sharing all the info about one of the famous antagonists in Comics, with like minded people.

Rest assured that, with the list of Iznogoud titles published by Lion Comics, and the ones planned by
Euro Books and CineBook, may mean that this is only a start to the avalanche of posts reviewing the titles featuring this legendary Franco-Belgian comic character over here at Comicology. Stay Tuned, Comikers.

The topic for the current post, is a follow-up on the works of John Wagner, about whom we saw more during our Mehta Comics debut post, here.

Paradox – A History of Violence (1997) ISBN: 1-56389-367-3 | Pg:300 | TPB | Size: B6 $9.95 / INR 125 (in India on Back-Issue sale)

This time around it is about his first ever works in form of a Graphic Novel, as quoted in there. So without further adieu, let’s move on to this issue, Cover-art of which is sure to turn-on anyone towards exploring it. Life is moving at their slowest best, in one of the evening in a small town near down-town Michigan. Mild-mannered Tom McKenna appears serving his last regular customer, Bessy, at his soda-shop. The door bells cling, as the two disturbing figures enter the shop with a demonic freezed looks. The trouble makers were just shown leaving a blood trail on the way to the town, by killing two hitchhikers cold-bloodedly for money. So, their intentions were pre-told as they enter the unsuspecting town locality.

Without heeding to McKenna’s advice that he is closing, they demand their Coffee. The premonition of trouble, thrusts McKenna to wrap up his customers, and serve the duo before he brings down the shutters. McKenna was wise enough in deciding to send his daughter Ellie, to tag along with Bessy, for home bound.

Having cornered McKenna alone, the duo threaten to deprive him off his life and money. Just when they thought that they have managed to make some free-lunch, they are shocked by the swift attacks McKenna manages to throw, in the process killing one and brutally injuring other.

The next day, papers across country flash the news of the unlikely hero who courageously made his stand, helping to capture the mischief-makers. McKenna and his family suddenly receives huge fanfare and attraction. But McKenna is shown growing in concern, as he mysteriously starts fearing that the increased limelight may only bring more trouble.

His fear turns to reality as the incident draws three more strangers to the isolated town, one of them an elderly man named Johnny Torrino. Dressed in Gentleman suits, the trio starts stalking McKenna and his family.

Torrino, who sports scarred face with an missing eye, confronts McKenna in his shop, quizzing about a long-lost kid from New York, named Joey Muni, who had left something with him: A cut finger, which hangs in a capsule on the neck of Torrino. A sight of which brings shivers down McKenna’s whole body. McKenna’s wife Edie, comes to help, as she quickly pushes out the trio, warning them of police action if they every trouble them again.

Back at their hideout, the trio confronts between themselves, as the younger sect believe that they mistook McKenna for someone else. But, they are soon silenced by the raging Torrino, who seems to have more power than his deputy’s, even at his old age. Feared by his anger, the trio decide to follow McKenna, even setting aside the warning they get from the Sheriff of the locality.

After a lot of run-down of frequent visits, and anonymous telephone threats, Torrino, finally consoles himself that he may have a mistaken in identifying his man. But just as they were making it back out of the town, Torrino encounters McKenna’s younger son, Frank.

The resemblance of his face with his father’s, was enough for Torrino, to confirm his assumption, which sees him abducting Frank, and landing outside McKenna’s home. Torrino warns McKenna that he has finally found out his real identity, and it is time he comes out and gives himself up, or see his family massacred just before his eyes.

The resultant gun-shots and edge-of-the seat action, is sure to bring a chill running down your spine, as the Chapter 1: “A Small Town Killing” comes to a close on this Graphic Novel, which details how someone’s past life can come back to haunt him even if he desires to drive away from it. As they say, when you play and live life hard, then you have got to pay the price.

What did Joey do in his young age which has brought such hell to his new home, is detailed in the Chapter 2: “The Brooklyn Murders”, as it chronicles the life and trouble of two teenage friends, Joey and Richie who play hard, and use the shortcuts in life to earn quick money and fame, which sees them go separate ways.

After seeing that their is huge cash being circulated in the locality, Richie decides to steal some out from them, which was also to avenge his brother’s murder by the goons. Along with the reluctant Joey, the duo manage to make a run-down with local mobs, in a swift cloaked attack, and leave them bruised and killed, and having drained them of their booty, expectedly leaving them seeking for revenge.

But, Richie’s attitude of flashing his money all over, draws the attention of the mob leaders in the locality, who hand-pick him for slaughter. The trails leads up to Joey, as he makes a run for his life, followed closely by the underground mobs.

The scenes where he confronts Torrino, in an alley, and the resultant fight where he takes an eye-out of Torrino with a barb-wire, can’t be expressed in mere words. Incidentally, the talented artist did the same in those pages for us.

The life comes back to present day, as Joey now in his new life as Tom, tries to mend the evil seeds from his past, as he reappears in the city which changed his life for the worst, as Chapter 3: “With Evil Intent”, closes this 300 page epic Graphic Novel titled, aptly as A History of Violence, and carries the same weapons used significantly throughout the novel on its cover.

As witnessed throughout in the graphic novel, It has surprise twists at the end too, as Joey receives a chilling phone call from his supposedly murdered cohort Richie, and the last scenes where he encounters his worst nightmare, is one to take the readers to witness a whole new level of evil incarnation, which is an embodiment of a evil man’s inner self.

Overall, HOV is a Graphic Novel to remember for long, at least for me.

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John Wagner, who wrote “A History of Violence (HOV)” graphic novel, was eventually his first attempt to establish himself among the bigger league in American Comics Industry. He was ably assisted by Vince Locke, who with his unique line-artwork was able to recite the dark and noir nature of the graphic novel and its intrigued plot, a fact acknowledged by Wagner himself in his Preface on the Graphic Novel.

We have seen enough in detail about John Wagner, during our Monster review post over here, so let’s look briefly at the other creative genius behind this graphic novel, the American comic books artist, Vince Locke, whose expressive style of bringing the emotions of the characters in his artwork, formed a great combination along with Wagner’s writing style.

Locke came to in prominence in 1986 during his work as the artist for the underground hit series Deadworld, which was a zombie horror comic set in post-apocalyptic world. Though the series was short-lived due to frequent ownership changes, Locke was one of the main-stay, during which the series achieved a cult status.

Buoyed by the success, Locke, soon contributed as an artist for the some of the famous comic series, including The Sandman, American Freak, Batman, Witchcraft, and eventually tagging along with Wagner in this memorable graphic novel, HOV.

You could read more about Locke’s work on his official site, who is currently busy with his artwork contribution to many a Role Playing Games (RPGs), an area where he would flourish for his noir-touch mixed artwork style, and a taste towards using watercolours heavily in his art-frames. Some of the images in his site was as scarry as it can get, for which a sample is given over here. So, it is not for the light-hearted :).

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The idea of the Graphic Novel, HOV, came when Paradox Press Editor Andrew Helfer met Wagner in Scotland during a convention circa 1995. They have had prior stints of working together in various publications, before Helfer joined Paradox, which is a low-cost trade imprint of DC Comics, which was setup to concentrate on real-life stories, and drive away from the superhero theme adopted by DC.

So as per their established standard Helfer asked Wagner, to drive away from his Superhero works on 2000 AD series, and concentrate on providing something which involves Real stories with Real people. Wagner, accepted that challenge, and came up with an initial proposal which looked lot more similar to his other work on Button Man comic series. No need to say that Helfer rejected that concept, asking for more humanish characters.

After another two years of hard-work, Wagner finally came back with the story which eventually found its place in History of Violence graphic novel, making it one of the memorable novels to hit the stands under Paradox Press brand.

But, due to the low cost mantra, and content, Paradox never really achieved its due credit in the American market, which greatly affected the talented work of John Wagner to go places. Wagner is still restricted to his work on 2000 AD, with his works on his world famous creation, Judge Dredd.

But HOV, as stated before, was one of the best selling novels released by Paradox, so when Paradox was wounded up due to low sales, the series was reprinted in DC’s another trade imprint Vertigo. By this time, talks were on about making a movie based on the graphic novel, and when it was reprinted again, the covers widely published this news, as seen above. Also note the subtle change in the cover-art, to hide the suspense of the graphic novel, and leave it for the movie to open-up.

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A History of Violence (2005): It’s a premonition that not all great graphic novels get their due recognition, when adopted into mainstream movies, a fact agreed among many comics fans. But the 2005 movie, for which the central plot was adapted from the History of Violence graphic novel, sure deserves mention in our HOV review post here at Comicology.

The Movie was directed by David Cronenberg, and had a mega star cast like Viggo Mortensen (famous for his role as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings Trilogy, as Tom/Joey), Maria Bello (seen recently in Mummy 3, as Eddie),
Ed Harris (the multi-talented actor-director-writer as Torrino, or Carl Fogarty in the Movie), and William Hurt (as Richie), with all contributing equally to the success of the movie.

The Opening of the movie, with calmly looking duo, slowly moving past a Motel, leaving a blood trail, is sure to have caught the attention of all movie lovers. Especially considering that there was no background score for more than 5 minutes from the start during this scene enactment.

More importantly Ed Harris’s still and scary slow-paced acting (he was undoubtedly the perfect choice for graphic novel’s Torrino’s character), and Mortensen’s renditions of a frightened man trying to save his present being haunted by his past. Bello’s acting ably assists in bringing out the character of a worrying and supporting wife through his husband’s struggle to take control of his sagging life.

The scenes were Harris and his goons, stalk Mortensen’s family were shot with a unique blend of suspense and thrill, which is sure to bring many a comic fan’s dream of seeing a movie made out of a graphic novel with all its essence, maintained at the same level as the Original. Top of the pick is the shopping-mall and house invasion scenes.

Cronenberg was the right choice to direct this venture, as he has the speciality to make movies with themes ranging in the darker aspects of human emotions and behaviours (who can forget the Sci-Fi movie, The Fly), and the plot of HOV was virtually his playground. Josh Olsen who adapted the Screenplay based on the Novel, also contributed to twists and scenario changes to make the movie interesting and packed for the 80 Minutes run-time, meaning it was meant to cut the past reciting witnessed in Chapter 2 of the Graphic Novel.

It should not be forgotten, that the success of the movie also derives heavily from the reciting of Wagner and Locke in their graphic novel, which contributed heavily to the screenplay in many parts of the movie, which propelled it to a blockbuster of success, and landing William Hurt and Josh Olsen for Oscar award nominations as the Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively.

Eventhough, the movie at many its places moves through the mum-scene way of story-telling, there were instances of genius in dialogues, when an opportunity was available. Two of the areas, which I felt touched where:

When, confronting with his son, who just broke out of a fist-fight at school

Tom: In this family, we do not solve our problems by hitting people!
Jack: No, in this family, we shoot them!

When, an irate Eddie after knowing of Tom's past life, quizzes about the choice of his last name - Stall

Tony: It was available.
Eddie: I guess I was available, too.

The climax of the movie is altered from its Graphic Novel counterpart, as that scene was too a risky proposition to have passed through movie censorship (if at all, there is one such in United States :)). But, looking at it from the movie point of view, the climax looked like a better fit. The movie ends with a silent dinner scene involving Tom’s family, which leaves viewers to diffuse whether they stayed together or not, after all that has gone through. All credit goes to the director and screenplay writer, for delivering such a power-packed movie.

Apart from that, there were little-over dose of sexual romance scenes of Mortensen and Bello, which could have been avoided. But hey, aren’t we talking about a Hollywood movie? so it is well within expectations, as many would agree :). Not a movie to watch with your family for sure :).

Thus we come to the end of another review post, which featured one of the unique Graphic Novels I read in recent times. Thanks mainly to the Back-Issue title release, as a result of Paradox’s closure, through which this particular issue was available in India at a throw-away price. I wouldn’t have spent $10 to buy this comic for sure :).

Also to be noted here, that I should admit that, “Lover of Dreams” Shankar Visvalingam’s recent review post (in Tamil) on a graphic novel titled, From Hell, which was based on the notorious Jack the Ripper character; was instrumental in me getting down to read through this novel. The reason, I generally despise those comics, which have a noir style of artwork, but still doesn’t classify in the standards laid out in the present comics world.

But Shankar’s post made me realize that artwork has to more importantly resemble the plot for which it is drawn, yet maintaining a style of its own, and in that way A History of Violence was truly up-to-the mark.

With that note, I will conclude this post, and would be eager to read your comments on the graphic novel, and this review post in whole. And by the way, if you get a chance, to grab this copy, do not miss the opportunity to own an item which certainly deserves to be there in your collection. Have a Great and Enjoyable Weekend, Comikers.  Adios Amigos !

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