Graphic Novel Review: RECKLESS by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

RECKLESS by Ed Brubaker, writer and Sean Phillips, artist  (Image Comics, December 2020)  Hardcover, 144 pages  ISBN # 1534318518 / 9781534318519  

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Sex, drugs, and murder in 1980s Los Angeles, and the best new twist on paperback pulp heroes since The Punisher or Jack Reacher. ED BRUBAKER and SEAN PHILLIPS, the modern masters of crime noir, bring us the last thing anyone expected from them—a good guy. 

A bold new series of original graphic novels, with three books releasing over the next year, each a full-length story that stands on its own. Meet Ethan Reckless: Your trouble is his business, for the right price. But when a fugitive from his radical student days reaches out for help, Ethan must face the only thing he fears…his own past.

“Oh man this book pushed EVERY crime fiction button for me. Working class setting covering up for a deeper societal rot, a battered, damaged (literally) protagonist against the beast, and all of it squirming and lunging through an over-lit early 80s L.A. Noir bleached to bleakness. Bliss." —Patton Oswalt 

“Imagine Redford at his peak, ambling through sun-drenched, eighties L.A. in a serpentine plot that is equal parts Long Goodbye and Point Break. No one does crime fic like BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS and their collaboration has never felt more new. Explosive. Vital. And yes...reckless. I love this book.” —Damon Lindelof (Lost, HBO’s Watchmen) 

"RECKLESS is an absolute rush: on the same level as golden age Travis McGee novels and the hardest-hitting Richard Stark stories. This one comes at you as fast as Steve McQueen in a souped-up Mustang and as hard as Charles Bronson with a baseball bat. You gotta have it." —Joe Hill (Locke & Key, N0S4A2) 

Look for Book Two in the RECKLESS series in April 2021!  

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     RECKLESS recalls the former great pulp detective/heroes of the paperback 1960's and 1970's and moves the action a little forward into the 1980's. This would have made a great print novel that could place itself on the same plateau as Parker and Travis McGee, etc. - - but it works so much better as a graphic novel. Brubaker and Phillips are the team supreme when it comes to crime fiction in comics, each enhancing the other's words and images for the greatest impact. 

     Normally releasing their excellent crime comics in monthly issues (Criminal) and then collecting in trade paperback, the pandemic shut-down forced the creative team to come up with a different method for their art - - - hardcover collections.

      Two tales of Ethan Reckless (appropriate name) have been released so far (Installment #3 later this year). The presentation here is far superior, printed on quality paper that makes the color work come alive. I hope they continue with this format in the future.