Pulp

May 18, 2020
Brubaker and Phillips (Criminal) reunite in this comic with a killer hook, combining the best elements of westerns and crime noir for a double shot of classic pulp. New York City, 1939: Max Winter is an aging pulp writer, spinning gunslinger yarns inspired by his own youth on the frontier, where he and his brothers were once outlaws. With his literary aspirations frustrated and his income drying up, he teams up with a former Pinkerton agent to pull off the crime of the decade: robbing Hitler’s agents on the eve of the infamous Times Square Nazi rally. Behind all the action and atmosphere is a thoughtful, carefully developed look at the legacy of the lawless frontier, the rise of fascism, and the cruelty of a world where, unlike in the pulps, the bad guys often win. In Phillips’s photorealistic art, he can bash out violent action scenes in harsh, quick lines, then pause to render a subtle change in a character’s expression. New York is drenched in warm colors and deep shadows, while the western flashbacks emulate the look of cheaply printed four-color pulp illustration, which transcends the gimmickry. The only disappointment in this tight, fast-paced homage to multiple pulp traditions is that it’s so short. Readers will dig it, but they’ll wish for more time with Max and his hardboiled world.

June 1, 2020

In 1930s New York, Max Winter is an aging author of pulp novels set in the Old West, which he bases on his own exploits as a bandit in his youth. Low pay, lack of creative control, the rise of fascism in Europe, and his own failing health have Max feeling trapped until he meets Jeremiah Goldman, a former Pinkerton agent who hunted Max and his gang across the southwest 40 years earlier. When Jeremiah suggests the two team up and use an upcoming Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden as cover to steal a vast sum of cash collected by American Nazis as a donation to the Fatherland, Max sees a chance to relive his glory days and ensure a comfortable future for his family. The ensuing twists and turns are thrilling, but what lingers beyond the last page is a melancholic longing for an America that only ever existed in adventure stories. VERDICT Eisner Award winners Brubaker and Phillips (Kill or Be Killed Deluxe Edition), joined by artist Jacob Phillips (Cruel Summer), continue their streak as the best team in comics, delivering more intrigue and wonderfully developed, memorable characters in 72 pages than most creators can manage in twice as many. [Previewed in Douglas Rednour's "Picture This," LJ 4/20.]

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