Richard Stark’s Parker: Slayground
Over the course of three previous books, we’ve seen a great deal about how the title character operates. He’s a meticulous planner who leaves nothing to chance. He doesn’t suffer fools — at all. He keeps his emotions locked down tighter than the planning for one of his jobs. All of these facets are on display in the title story for this latest graphic novel adaptation from Darwyn Cooke as we see him in a new situation. A situation best described as a “no-win.”
Things start off with the aftermath of a bang with Parker and two other crooks breaking into an armored car which ran over a mine they set. While the crew is able to get the money out without a hitch, their getaway driver doesn’t know how to calm down and winds up rolling the car after taking a corner too fast on the wintry streets. Parker is able to escape with the take and goes to ground in a nearby amusement park which is closed for the season. Problem is that as he’s doing this, the thief is spied by some mobsters and the cops they’re paying off. Realizing that the bag Parker is carrying with him probably contains something much more valuable than laundry, they start making their plans to make sure the loot is all theirs. Of course, this just gives Parker all the time he needs to plan…
Though the title character is never a sympathetic one, he’s still very easy to root for because he’s always portrayed as the smartest man in the room and pitted against people far less sympathetic than he is. Seeing Parker put his intellect and cunning to work in rigging traps throughout the amusement park, and then witnessing the subsequent payoff when they’re sprung is an unmitigated pleasure. At least, it is for the reader.
You see, there is such a thing as being “too clever” and in a nice twist Parker winds up crossing that line. What began as a simple cat-and-mouse game between the thief and his hunters subsequently escalates into a blood feud and changes the shape of the narrative’s second half. It also leads to a climax of the “anti” variety as this change dictates an ending where our protagonist doesn’t necessarily win. I can see that frustrating people who have gotten used to Parker coming out on top in the previous volumes, yet the more I think about it the more it makes sense in the context of the story. Ultimately, I have to respect Stark’s guts for going with this kind of ending and Cooke for seeing it through here.
Speaking of the writer/artist, he continues to give us some impressively dynamic and stylish work here. There are several standout scenes for me, with the two-page sequence that shows Parker’s getaway car tumbling over itself being particularly effective in the way it showcases time-lapsed motion and lets you know that his plan has now gone out the window. You also have a dream sequence where the reader comes to the same slow realization as the title character that it isn’t one, and a full-page sequence where the mob boss discusses business with his underlings in the background and Parker moves through the foreground at the same time. There’s really not a wasted panel in this collection as Cooke advances the story with each and every one. He also manages to convey certain plot points through the art alone as some cops “accidentally” spot Parker at one point and give chase, not realizing that they’re being set up by the man himself.
All of what’s here on the page is great, even if there’s not as much of it to go around compared to previous volumes. Lined up against the first three, you can easily see that “Slayground” is the slimmest Parker story to date. As expertly executed as it is, the story also doesn’t have the punch or become as involving as, say, “The Score.” This is a short, sharp, shock of a tale that certainly succeeds on its own terms, modest as they may be to what has come before.
It’s likely because of this that IDW has also included Cooke’s short “Parker” story from the “Martini Edition” of the previous volumes here as well. Titled “The 7eventh,” it finds the character in the aftermath of a seven-man job that was spoiled by a jealous lover. Though there might not seem to be much drama to be had from a showdown between Parker and this wretch of a man, that would be an incorrect assumption. The way Cooke stages things, you’ll be wanting this man dead as much as Parker does. We also get a most unexpected surprise at the end of the story: Parker laughs. Not from something so petty as vengeance, but from a clever bit of synchronicity.
As always, these volumes end with the notice that Parker will be back in the future. “Slayground” lets us know that won’t be until 2015. At least all of these stories are self-contained, or else I imagine the wait would be actively painful rather than just unpleasant.