The Road to Perdition - Graphic Novel
November 6th 2007 03:04
Category: Movies
Publisher: DC Comics.
Writer: Max Allan Collins.
Artist: Richard Piers Rayner.
Letterer: Bob Lappan.
Cost: $US 14.00/$CAN 21.50.
One day I was wondering amongst the book shelves of my local library looking for something to read and somehow in my meandering amidst many a dusty tome I wandered into the section where the library kept a plethora of comics and graphic novels. It was there naturally that I spotted the Road to Perdition, the graphic novel and I instantly thought to myself cool they did a version of the film in comic format. Only when I looked more closely at the cover did I realise my assumption was wrong, they made a movie out of the graphic novel which I now held in my hands. As there was nothing else catching my eye in the library that day this opus was swiftly borrowed and soon my own journey down the Road to Perdition began.
Normally most graphic novels are, as far as I’m aware, usually of the superhero, science fiction, fantasy or horror variety so finding one about gangsters and historical gangsters is rare (to my knowledge). Naturally the graphic novel of Road opens with an introduction by the writer Max Allan Collins aptly called Postcards from the Road and described as a shamelessly autobiographical introduction. Postcards is well worth taking out the time to read as it not only gives the reader an intro into the writer and his influences but also explains precisely how the Road to Perdition came into being and why it is the way it is.
From there we move into the action and drama that is the journey of the Road to Perdition after a brief quote from Kazuo Koike who was involved in writing the Lone Wolf and Cub series of movies. It’s the America of the early nineteen thirties, prohibition is still active and Al Capone and Frank Nitti are all but the effective government in the windy city of Chicago. The main characters of the drama that unfolds are Michael O’Sullivan; the infamous Archangel of Death and his son Michael junior. The actual viewpoint of the tale comes to us through the viewpoint of the son; Michael junior who is recounting the events of the journey many years in the future when is a fully grown man.
Just as in the movie Michael O’Sullivan snr is a soldier for the gangsters that control the tri cities of Davenport, Moline and Rock Island; the Looney clan. For some reason in the movie version of the Road the Looney’s became the Rooney’s though this did not significantly alter the general themes behind both version of the story – namely the father/son journey and the vengeance angle. Richard Piers Rayner is a very talented artist; as soon as the story unfolds you feel as if you’re looking through a window that has opened onto that particular era and in that particular geographical locale. The action scenes where the Archangel is visiting righteous retribution on members of the Mob or the Looney gang are something else; there is a palpable aura of menace, tension and danger. There are no punches pulled and you certainly see why Michael Snr has earned the moniker of the Archangel of Death.
The eventual denouement of the graphic novel is slightly different than that depicted in the movie and there are a few characters who in the novel that don’t appear in the movie and vice versa. The graphic novel shows Elliot Ness and his cadre of Untouchables getting involved in the affair, something that is not in the movie whilst Jude Law’s slightly bizarre photographer/hit man is in the movie but doesn’t show up in the graphic novel. With an eye for historical detail, a sharp hard hitting story filled with pathos and action whose pace doesn’t let up it has to be said that it is well worth taking a journey down the Road to Perdition…
Writer: Max Allan Collins.
Artist: Richard Piers Rayner.
Letterer: Bob Lappan.
Cost: $US 14.00/$CAN 21.50.
One day I was wondering amongst the book shelves of my local library looking for something to read and somehow in my meandering amidst many a dusty tome I wandered into the section where the library kept a plethora of comics and graphic novels. It was there naturally that I spotted the Road to Perdition, the graphic novel and I instantly thought to myself cool they did a version of the film in comic format. Only when I looked more closely at the cover did I realise my assumption was wrong, they made a movie out of the graphic novel which I now held in my hands. As there was nothing else catching my eye in the library that day this opus was swiftly borrowed and soon my own journey down the Road to Perdition began.
From there we move into the action and drama that is the journey of the Road to Perdition after a brief quote from Kazuo Koike who was involved in writing the Lone Wolf and Cub series of movies. It’s the America of the early nineteen thirties, prohibition is still active and Al Capone and Frank Nitti are all but the effective government in the windy city of Chicago. The main characters of the drama that unfolds are Michael O’Sullivan; the infamous Archangel of Death and his son Michael junior. The actual viewpoint of the tale comes to us through the viewpoint of the son; Michael junior who is recounting the events of the journey many years in the future when is a fully grown man.
The eventual denouement of the graphic novel is slightly different than that depicted in the movie and there are a few characters who in the novel that don’t appear in the movie and vice versa. The graphic novel shows Elliot Ness and his cadre of Untouchables getting involved in the affair, something that is not in the movie whilst Jude Law’s slightly bizarre photographer/hit man is in the movie but doesn’t show up in the graphic novel. With an eye for historical detail, a sharp hard hitting story filled with pathos and action whose pace doesn’t let up it has to be said that it is well worth taking a journey down the Road to Perdition…
| 51 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
