Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics

by Eduardo Barreto, Stefano Gaudiano, Alex de Campi, et al.

Book Overview

Murder, passion, and criminal enterprise are presented here at their darkest, directly from the most talented writers and artists in crime comics In these thirteen pitch-black noir stories, you'll... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595823581
• ISBN13: 9781595823588
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
• Length: 115 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

More dark than noir.

Especially Brubaker's, Lapham's and Azzarello's stories are good. Its not always noir, but definitely dark and criminal. So pretty good.

A more than solid collection of crime comics

Crime comics have made a come back over the past few years, what with great talents like Ed Brubaker, Brian Azzarello, and David Lapham among others making their marks. All three writers, along with a bevy of other talent as well, contribute to Noir: a graphic novel from Dark Horse that features 13 black and white shorts. The best of the bunch are by and far Lapham's Stray Bullets tale, "The New Me" by Gary Phillips and Eduardo Barreto, and the Fillbach Brother's "Lady's Choice"; but what is really worth the price of admission alone here is Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Criminal tale "21st Century Noir" and "The Bad Night" by Azzarello and Umbrella Academy artists Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, which you absolutely have to read. Some segments, such as Ken Lizzi's prose-powered "Trustworthy" and Dean Motter's Mister X tale "Yacht on the Styx" aren't all that special, but the good definitely outweighs the bad here. All in all, if crime comics appeal to you in the least, you need to check out Noir.

The positives of Noir far outweigh the negatives

Noir: With writers like Brian Azzarello doing their best to reinvigorate the crime genre, and publisher Vertigo dedicating an entire imprint to such books, it is no wonder that "noir"--the oft-misunderstood French term used to describe a particular breed of crime drama laced with cynicism and sexuality--is making a major comeback. Noir: A Collection of Crime Stories is the latest anthology in an ongoing Dark Horse series, and it comes just in time to capitalize on that noir momentum with an unlucky 13 short stories collected in a sexy, thin paperback at the reasonable price of $12.95, less than $1 per story. The cover is pitch black, except for the off-center lettering of the title, which is in white. A gray cityscape is seen in the letters, which cast shadows leading to the subtitle. The book features established writers the likes of Brian Azzarello, Dean Motter, and Ed Brubaker along with up-and-comers M.K. Perker and Jeff Lemire, highlighted by the India ink artwork of Eduardo Barreto, Gabriel Bá, and Fábio Moon. As to be expected with any wide-reaching collection of comics creators, Noir is a mixed bag. Some stories are exceptional, while others read as though they were written by a creative but still inexperienced high-school student. The art, however, never falters in the collection. There is a wealth of styles on display, but all of them serve their stories and bring something fresh to the table. Starting backward, Azzarello's short closes the collection and is easily the best written of the bunch. Without spilling the beans, the ending of "The Bad Night" offers a great twist. The story starts with a conversation in a bar between a lowly con and his boss. It seems they are planning a simple heist. The ending may seem dull to readers wholly unfamiliar with comics, but for those with even the slightest inkling of comics history, especially of one of its biggest heroes, it is an incredibly sinister twist that makes for a great way to end the book. The unique art of Bá and Moon elevate it as the best short in Noir. Brubaker's "21st Century Noir" is incredibly well-drawn with dynamic shadows by Sean Phillips. But that's only the first thing the comic has going for it. Brubaker and Phillips construct a tale that incorporates all of the key points of noir--sexual deviancy, manipulation by a bombshell, and an ultimately violent twist to send it off. And the results are fantastic. "Tru$tworthy," written by Ken Lizzi and drawn by Joëlle Jones, offers a nice break from the traditional comics comprising the rest of the book. Lizzi's story is mostly pages of prose, with only limited illustrations by Jones. It is a nice change for the collection, and also takes the traditional arc of "guy meets gorgeous woman, woman uses him" and twists it in a different way. It is fun, though the explanation of things at the end is a bit too procedural to flow really well. On the other end of the spectrum of Noir is Alex de Campi's "Fracture." In little b

Amazing anthology of noir comics.

This anthology is a collection of original crime comics. Some of the best business are here: Azzarello, Brubaker, Lapham (although I am disappointed because I thought that Bendis was part of this project). A few of the stories are a bit uneven and feature characters with whom you may not be familiar, but do not let that stop you from reading. After a page or two the characters become familar. My personal favorite story was the Azzarello story, which in my opinion is almost worth the price of the book itself. Very enjoyable.

A solid collection of crime stories

I love comic anthologies. Remember the anthology boom from Vertigo comics...Weird War Tales, Weird Western Tales, Gangland? I remember them. Now not all the stories in anthologies are winner but I enjoyed the collaboration of so many different writers and artists. "Noir" from Dark Horse continues in the same vein. "Noir" features stories by the best comics writers in the business today, Azzarello, Lemire, Brubaker, Lapham, Grist and Motter to name a few. Also features art by Risso, Phillips, Lemire etc. You get 13 stories in total and each story on average is about 6-7 pages. Also, the art is black and white similar to the Vertigo Crime Lines books. Now that the semantics are out of the way, I wanna talk about the stories themselves. All of them in my opinion are winners. Lapham's story in particular was a little disturbing simply because the characters were so messed up to begin with. Brubaker turns in a solid presentation as do Lemire and Grist. I thought the weakest was Motter's Mister X story. Azzarello turns in a tongue-in-cheek story that has a surprising twist (I am not gonna spoil it). Overall, the collection is solid with very little to complain about. The price is more than reasonable for a collection of short stories featuring the best in the business. I felt that the work here was stronger than the Vertigo Lines entries and is cheaper. My recommendation--definitely pick this up.