Page 45 Review by Jonathan
"Salsa was a stick-up man from Cuba. He'd been a revolutionary, a gigolo and was now an armed robber. When he saw the call come through he keyed his Dodge. He'd been stalking out the gas station since Parker's letter. Two years ago he'd stopped for gas and made it as a layoff dump. As he roared towards the station he pulled on his mask. The two clowns didn't know what hit them. All they'd remember was that they were robbed by Frankenstein."
This, the second Darwyn Cooke adaptation of a Richard Stark 'Parker' novel is a direct sequel to the first, PARKER: THE HUNTER. As mentioned in my previous review, with crime it's all about the plot for me, but Cooke's art on the first book just took my breath away literally right from the moment I opened the book. THE OUTFIT, if anything, is even more beautiful for reasons I'll come to, and once again we begin with a panoramic double-page splash of the locale, this time Miami Beach c.1963.
Following the events of THE HUNTER Parker knows he's made some serious enemies in the shape of the Outfit having taken them for $45,000, which sure isn't chump change, but that's how they've been made to feel, and it's sure how they're choosing to take it. The Outfit are coming after Parker so repeatedly now he decides the only option is to change his face as well as his scenery. But easy living costs money, and after an armed robbery heist to generate some quick cash goes slightly awry, all thanks to a good old-fashioned double crossing at the hands of a greedy dame, the Outfit learns just why it is they've been unable to spot Parker recently. And, so the chase begins again.
Parker, a smarter wit than all the bosses put together, surmises the only way he's going to be able to get them to stop coming after him for good is if he keeps hitting them hard, where it hurts them the most... in their wallets, so that they'll have no choice but to make peace with him. Of course, Parker being Parker, he has a few more angles to his plan than that, but he's certainly not one to show his hand until it's time to claim the whole pot. And so, with the aid of some long standing friends scattered across the States, who might not exactly be adverse to some easy scores against the Outfit themselves, he starts a co-ordinated campaign of action, having forewarned the Outfit this is just a taste of what they can expect if they don't leave him alone.
One key addition to Cooke's glorious armoury of endeavour this time around is the use of devices relatively atypical to sequential art, such as floating narrative text-excerpts to build extra vital detail and background information into the plot. Often when this device is used in comics, it makes the work feel text-heavy, but here it's so punchily done in a breezily staccato manner, it really adds to the action. And in a particularly delightful conceit, when Parker's extended gang of colleagues launch their concerted series of heists all aimed at interests of the Outfit, he employs a completely different art style to chronicle each heist, switching from illustrated magazine article to Pink Panther-esque cartoon style, to panelled newspaper strip, to ligne claire, further adding to the gloriously period '60s feel of the whole joint. It also neatly provides a very clever mid-book interval in true old-school cinema style, before Parker takes central stage once again to bring the hidden elements of his master plan to a concussive conclusion.
