Sequential Pulp Fiction

I really like comics. I also really like old detective stories and film noire. Here's a short list of some Pulp style comics that are currently being produced and are available at your better local comic book store.

100 Bullets
Here are 100 untraceable bullets an untraceable gun and a dossier on the person who ruined your life... you have carte blanche do with it what you please. This is the premise of the hugely popular series by Brian Azerello and Eduardo Risso. The first several story arcs of this series are amazing. The art is expertly drawn and coloured, and much of the writing is Ellroyesque to the bone raw. Many of the early trades can be read as stand alone stories while the latter volumes start to piece together a labyrinth of underworld political intrigue. Personally I preferred the series as an apparent collection of one offs but the weaving together of supposedly unimportant characters into a massive world of criminal intrigue is expertly done and does keep you guessing where everything is going to end. I personally think Volume V "TheCounterfifth Detective" is the best comic I ever read I would also recommend Volume VII "Samurai" Which is a particularly gritty prison horror show that is well worth picking up. (if you like Samurai and want to read something in the same veinHellblazer: Hard Times, by the same author and artist, is one of the most savage prison stories I've ever seen)

Stray Bullets
1970's (or is it 80's?) Small time hoods, thugs and psychos. David Lapham pulls no punches in his nihilistic crime series where the reader is forced to abandon any notion of justice or fair play. This series has an outstanding juxtaposition of the brutality the criminal world and the everyday banality of those who get wrapped up in it. The series also features really cool pen and ink art that completely suits the coked out rock 'n roll pace of the story. Volume I left me gasping for air at the unapologetic brutality of human misery, while Volume II takes crime out to small town America where even the simple life can get pretty bloody. Not what you would call a feel good book but worthy of attention for it's kick in the guts honesty.

Criminal
This is a fairly new series. The 6th issue just came out this week. The first story arc, "Coward" follows a professional heist man who lives by a strict code of rules. When he is forced to bend the rules against his better judgement everything goes to hell. Likable characters, good art and a great story. The first issue of the second arc just came out featuring the same writer artist team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. From what I can tell all the stories revolve around the same secondary characters in the same sketchy Tavern, "The Undertow". So far so good, the new arc looks promising too.

Fell
Another brand new one. The first collection of this series just came out in trade, and a very attractive although more expensive hardcover formats. Each issue is a straight up police story where Det. Richard Fell must navigate his new beat of Snowtown, bust the bad guy and save the day. I really like how each issue is resolved by the last page, essentially allowing the reader to pick up any issue out of sequence and still enjoy it without all the back story. The series also seem to cover all the bases of police work including the classic interrogation scenario as well as domestic disputes and more bizarre serial killer plots. Both the writing and the art, (by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith), scrape the edges of the surreal in an incredibly compelling way. Or maybe it's so real it just seems surreal... wow, I just blew my own mind. It might be too soon to say but this may be my new favorite comic.

Pick em up, read em, let me know what you think... if you want to borrow any just let me know. Cheers.