Here’s a noir comics classic from the newspaper of my youth:
pfft. dames.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Noir Music | “In My Time of Dying” by Led Zeppelin
I’ve been really anxious to get some Led Zeppelin into my noir music posts, they are my favorite band after all, and this track off Physical Graffiti is the perfect kick off. “In My Time of Dying” was originally done by Blind Willie Johnson (originally titled “Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed”) in 1928. It was also recorded by Josh White in the 30s, and by Bob Dylan on his first album in 1962. Here are the lyrics for noir definition comparison purposes.
In my time of dying, want nobody to mourn
All I want for you to do is take my body homeWell, well, well, so I can die easy (X2)
Jesus, gonna make up my dyin’ bed.
Meet me, Jesus, meet me. Meet me in the middle of the air
If my wings should fail me, Lord. Please meet me with another pairWell, well, well, so I can die easy (X2)
Jesus, gonna make up.. somebody, somebody…
Jesus gonna make up… Jesus gonna make you my dyin’ bedOh, Saint Peter, at the gates of heaven… Won’t you let me in
I never did no harm. I never did no wrongOh, Gabriel, let me blow your horn. Let me blow your horn
Oh, I never did, did no harm.I’ve only been this young once. I never thought I’d do anybody no wrong
No, not once.Oh, I did somebody some good. Somebody some good…
Oh, did somebody some good. I must have did somebody some good…
Oh, I believe I didI see the smiling faces
I know I must have left some tracesAnd I see them in the streets
And I see them in the field
And I hear them shouting under my feet
And I know it’s got to be real
Oh, Lord, deliver me
All the wrong I’ve done
You can deliver me, Lord
I only wanted to have some fun.Hear the angels marchin’, hear the’ marchin’, hear them marchin’,
hear them marchin’, the’ marchin’Oh my Jesus… (repeat)
Oh, don’t you make it my dyin’, dyin’, dyin’…cough
And just for shiz and giggles, here is the live video of the solo (for Zeppelin live is Zeppelin at its best) :
Filed under Noir Music
Noir Comics | Richard Stark’s The Hunter
The paneling in this noir comic is inspired.
As far as noir comics are concerned, it’s hard to find much better than The Hunter. Donald E. Westlake aka “Richard Stark” pens like a boss and the adaptation from Darwyn Cooke is flawless. (Not to mention the fact that his art is erection inducing. Why can’t Darwyn and Brubaker get together for some noir comics creation you say? What if I told you they did? More to follow later). iFanboy named this graphic novel 2009’s “Book of the Year,” and I’m here to testify, they weren’t wrong. Once again, lets run The Hunter down the noir definition that we have created thus far:
1) The Seedy Underworld
New York City, 1962 for the majority, with a couple of dips down to Miami Beach for some R&R. A criminal’s gotta spend that grr somewhere right?
perfect setting for a perfect noir comic
2) The Anti- Hero
Parker is one of the most fabulous noir creations in the entire genre. So bad you hate to love him, yet so damn cool you’re seduced regardless. In the noir comic The Hunter, Parker is on the warpath for revenge. A dame and a fiend who screwed him out of his take in his cross hairs. He never wavers and never relents, and come hell or high-water he’ll get his money back.
Parker himself, a mean noir comic S.O.B. and anti-hero
3) The Femme Fatale
Lynn. The dame that should have known better. The following interaction between the two is priceless:
Lynn: “I’m glad you’re not dead. Isn’t that stupid?”
Parker: “Yes.”
Lynn: “You ought to kill me.”
Parker: “Maybe I will.”
Lynn: “I keep taking pills. Every night. If I don’t take the pills I don’t sleep. I think about you and how you’re dead and how I wish– I wish it was me.”
Parker: “Take too many pills.”
The greatest way to say, “go kill yourself” that I have ever heard.
desperation dive from Mal
4) Misogyny
Noir misogyny was found in healthy doses throughout the novel, particularly in Parker’s “equal opportunity” killing style. Doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, if you are in Parker’s way you get killed. In one scene where the theme really shines through he lifts a hooker off the ground by her hair to get some information that he wants.
5) Redemption
Revenge. Parker won’t feel the cleansing breath of redemption until his money is back where it belongs.
the dust cover and title art
6) Loss of Innocence
Lynn was Parker’s wife and she betrayed him. What once was holy became defiled and fed the monster of vengeance inside Parker.
7) Eroticism
There really wasn’t much eroticism in this noir comic, but there were several prostitutes/sex workers who visited Mal (the dirty double-crosser). Mal bought women because they wouldn’t want him for free.
Mal was disgusted. He wasn’t sure why he splurged on the penthouse suite anymore than he was sure why he was throwing away a c-note on a broad who couldn’t possibly do more for him than Pearl would- probably for less.
“Sweet baby Jesus.”
He knew he would never have better.
“Hello, Mal. I’m Linda.”
If he lived a hundred years he’d never have anything again as good as this. Better in the rack maybe, but not better looking, not more desirable or perfect than this.
If you have not read this noir comic, “Take too many pills.”
Filed under Noir Comics
Video Game Noir | L.A. Noire: Homicide Desk
Sorry Cats and Kittens, it’s been far too long since I put something up. Chalk it up to a holiday weekend and Minecraft. Back to the business at hand, I promised that I would be reviewing each of the “desks” that Cole Phelps is assigned to in the video game noir: L.A. Noire. Here is my second installment/fulfillment of that promise.
everyone squints in this game, I should add that to my noir definition
The second desk in L.A. Noire started with a bang. Suddenly we were thrust into a whirlwind of dead naked bodies (all of them women, mind you (MISOGYNY)) and a hint of a serial killer called “the werewolf.” The women were found with obscenities painted on their bruised and strangled forms with lipstick, and each had a man in her life with motive enough for the harsh treatment. I will say that the nudity as done in a very classy way, and I never felt uncomfortable as I investigated the bodies. As each case unfolded with similar scenarios and culprits for the crime, I began to be really discouraged. I believe this stemmed from the fact that I didn’t believe we were catching the actual killers in each case, we were simply locking up the most reasonable suspect. Understandably, this was all a noir plot build-up to the final case where the player faces off against the Black Dahlia Killer, but these slowly unfolding semi-fulfilling cases were still fuel for frustration.
one of the victims
I felt the sting of video game limitation, my back fully against the wall of what I would do vs. what the character was able to do. It felt ridiculous to continually put away individuals who were obviously being set up by the real killer, but Phelps’ script would not allow for anything else. So basically, the first few murders are genuinely fun to solve, but once you hit the fourth repeat you’ll be ready to ditch the whole thing. I will say that once you get to the end of the line, and Cole is actually trying to find the true murderer, the game begins to shine once more. The developers allow you to solve the riddles given to Officer Phelps based upon how closely you have been paying attention to the historical landmarks in the city. Really fun stuff.
At the end of the day, the Homicide Desk in the video game noir L.A. Noire was excellent in part, but was bogged down by the limitations of the script. We’ll see what the Vice Desk has in store for Detective Phelps.
Filed under Video Game Noir
Noir Quote of the Week #4
“Friend,” I told him, “I’ll hurl this message into the teeth of the devil himself for one thousand dollars.”
“Yes, yes–I believe you would.” —The Third Murderer, Carroll John Daly
Carroll John Daly has been credited with creating the very first ‘hard-boiled’ detective story: “Knights of the Open Palm.” The noir crime fiction featured a private eye named Race Williams, and pre-dated Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op character. Truly the great grandaddy of modern noir.
Filed under Noir Quotes
Film Noir | Anime: Darker Than Black
On the recommendation of one of my very good friends (Brandon D.), I looked up the anime Darker Than Black on Netflix. He told me that as he had watched he felt that there were many noir elements that deserved a closer look. Yesterday I completed four full episodes of the film noir anime, and to be honest it left me with mixed feelings. It was very sci-fi film noir/anime action in genre, with a bit of ne0-noir peppered on top. Here is the groundwork:
homme fatale?
Contractors are post-humans with super powers (gravity control, matter disruption, etc.). The only caveat to their power is that they must complete some compulsory action each time they wish to exercise their abilities. These can range from breaking their own fingers, folding every page of every book they touch, singing a certain tune, or eating large amounts of food.
Dolls are psychic mediums or hollow personality-less vessels. They are always depicted as females who lack pupils in their eyes. By submerging one of their body parts in water, they are able to sense with great clarity anywhere else that has an abundance of water. Hence, in the rain they can see every happening in the city simultaneously.
Moratoriums are neither Dolls nor Contractors. Uncontrolled power courses through them recklessly and endangers the lives of all those around them. After a short period of power expenditure and destruction, Moratoriums lose their abilities and become comatose Dolls. The reason they are so feared is twofold: 1) they have no control over their power, and 2) they don’t have to pay any price to use it like Contractors must.
femme fatale?
I absolutely loved the first two episodes of Darker Than Black. They certainly had a large dose of science fiction, but the noir elements were undeniable. Femme fatale is in trouble, an anti-hero loner is her only hope, and feelings of love develop quickly between the two that plunge them into deeper trouble. The most fascinating noir element I felt was the homme fatale factor. The main character uses his charm and confidence to coerce and influence even his enemies. He puts up the front of a trustworthy ally, when inwardly he is a ruthless Contractor who cannot be trusted. Very homme fatale.
By the fourth episode, I was bored. I may watch some more in the future because the idea was intriguing and the art was superb, but I felt that it was grasping at noir without fully gripping it. It couldn’t measure up to our noir definition. You can watch the whole series on Youtube as well as Netflix. (Click here for Darker Than Black videos).
Filed under Film Noir
Noir Comics | Criminal Volume 2: “Lawless”
My copy of the Criminal Deluxe Edition
The following is my review of the second installment of the noir comics series Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Mr. Brubaker has said that the reason he created Criminal was so he could write several noir crime fiction stories featuring unique characters under the same umbrella. So it is with this second trade paperback in the series. The characters of the first are either gone entirely or make fleeting appearances throughout. Because this story differs enough from the first, I’m going to run it through our noir definition so far:
1. The Seedy Underworld
We return to Central City in this trade, a blacker shadow of New York than we are typically comfortable with. The Christmas season is our time-frame, though it’s lacking in spirit and cheer. The most prominent returning hub is a bar called The Undertow (originally called The Undertown, but the neon ‘n’ has been out for years). Symbolism drips from the name alone, because we can infer that those who visit such a dive are being “towed” deeper into the underworld.
Tracy and Ricky Lawless
2. The Anti-Hero
Tracy Lawless has just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with a chip on his shoulder. That chip being the murder of his little brother Ricky. The pain Tracy feels is caused more by the guilt of past sins against his brother than by the murder itself. He has always felt that he abandoned him to an abusive father and a bed-ridden mother in a selfish act to crawl out of that hell. He’s in Central City for revenge and closure, closure that he may never find.
3. The Femme Fatale
Mallory. She may be linked to the murder of Tracy’s brother Ricky, she oozes sex appeal, and there is no end to her cigarette supply. Need I say more?
sexy tendrils of smoke caressing her skin...
4. Misogyny
Misogyny in this noir comic is hard to write about without dropping spoilers. But let me just say that the same theme of emasculation presents itself where our femme fatale is concerned. Tracy is warned that he should be wary of Mallory’s advances, because it may in fact lead to his downfall… (Also, it’s somewhat implied that she has an insatiable sexual appetite. Think Angelina Jolie’s character in Gone in 60 Seconds, turned on by crime, raunchy in the extreme. Very misogynistic writing).
5. Redemption
“Lawless” is drenched in the theme of Redemption. But I would argue that it is a selfish brand at best. As much as Tracy may believe that he is attempting to redeem his brother from unjust murder, he is truly craving redemption for himself. Throughout the entire story he is driven by guilt not by love. Criminal volume 2 is about redeeming a damned family.
infiltrating his brother's old crew.
6. Loss of Innocence
Tracy and Ricky share the trauma of an abusive childhood. Their father, Teeg Lawless, is one of the most brutal sonofabitches ever to pass through Central City (We learn his story in volume 3 of Criminal). His horrendous impact on his children casts a pall over the entire plot. You can’t “get” Tracy without “getting” Teeg.
7. Eroticism
Rounding out this near perfect example of noir crime fiction, the theme of eroticism does present itself in several ways in “Lawless.” I will mention two of them: 1) The leader of the Ricky’s old gang is really into S&M (you don’t see anything crazy, but it’s implied) and 2) the femme fatale Mallory at one point dons a nun costume for some sexy foreplay with Tracy.
the pain of an abusive father never subsides.
“Lawless” is a feather in the cap of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ noir comics catalog. The art was better than “Coward,” and the script was masterful. Well done. (Below is one of my favorite pages, split into three different images. The getaway is taking place on Christmas Night, and the red and blue color motif was breathtaking). My Criminal Deluxe Edition is from Amazon.com.
Filed under Noir Comics
Noir Music | “She’s Long Gone” and “Ten Cent Pistol” by The Black Keys
I couldn’t resist posting The Black Keys again in my noir music category. Get used to it, they’re bleeding our noir definition through their dirty blues rock. “She’s Long Gone” and “Ten Cent Pistol” are both classic femme fatale anthems. The raw energy and power of this live set is earth shattering, enjoy.
lyrics for “She’s Long Gone” :
She was made to blow you away
She don’t care what any man say
You can watch her strut
But keep your mouth shut
Or it’s ruination dayShe’s long, long gone
She’s long gone like
Moses through the cornHer eyes are rubies and pearls
And she’s not made like those other girls
Her lashes flap and they smack men back
Like springs they bounce off of her curlsShe’s long, long gone
She’s long gone like
Moses through the corn
lyrics for “Ten Cent Pistol” :
Well, he ran around
Late at night
Holding hands
And making light
Of everything
That came before
But there she was
Behind the doorShe hit them with her ten cent pistol
Because they ruined her name
Well, she hit them with her ten cent pistol
And they’ve never been the sameThere’s nothing worse
In this world
Than payback from a
Jealous girl
The laws of man
Don’t apply
When blood gets in
A woman’s eyeWell, she hit them with her ten cent pistol
Because they ruined her name
Well, she hit them with her ten cent pistol
And they’ve never been the sameStars did fall
Thunder rolled
Bugs crawled back
In their holes
The couple screamed
But far too late
Cause a jealous heart
Did retaliateShe hit them with her ten cent pistol
Because they ruined her name
Well, she hit them with her ten cent pistol
And they’ve never been the same
Filed under Noir Music
Noir Pics | Noirwhale.Tumblr.Com
Over the last few weeks I have been steadily collecting noir images from various places on the web. These images range from femme fatales to anti-heroes, and each has been selected according to its adherence to the noir definition previously discussed. Get over there and check it out!:
Filed under Noir Definition
Noir Crime Fiction | Killer in the Rain & The Big Sleep
pulp cover
Raymond Chandler is heralded as one of the fathers of American noir crime fiction, and after reading some of his work I agree wholeheartedly. His prose is calculated and cool, confident in handling the taboo, and always on point with unique descriptions and phrasing. In January of 1935, Mr. Chandler published his first noir crime fiction story in the pulp magazine Black Mask. The story was called “Killer in the Rain.” Later he expanded and adapted the story for his first novel The Big Sleep. I recently read both works, and I was delighted by their caliber.
“You’re awfully tall,” she said. Then she giggled with secret merriment. Then she turned her body slowly and lithely, without lifting her feet. Her hands dropped limp at her sides. She tilted herself towards me on her toes. She fell straight back into my arms. I had to catch her or let her crack her head on the tessellated floor. I caught her under her arms and she went rubber-legged on me instantly. I had to hold her close to hold her up. When her head was against my chest she screwed it around and giggled at me. “You’re cute,” she giggled. “I’m cute too.” -pg-6
my copy from Amazon
Possibly the most rewarding aspect of reading both of these noir crime fiction tales one after another was seeing Raymond Chandler’s writing process in action. I’ve never had that opportunity with any author before, and it was so interesting to see which aspects of his story he kept and those that he cut. There were certain descriptions that he kept verbatim, and others that he reworked and reworded to greater impact. Also, where there were plot points that were confusing or lack-luster he trimmed and polished to streamline the story. For instance, in “Killer in the Rain,” his main character (the private detective) was never given a name. In The Big Sleep, the same main character became his most famous, the P.I. Philip Marlowe.
another vintage cover
The essential components of the story remain basically the same, yet he added an additional femme fatale to the noir crime fiction (2 is better than 1 I guess?). The main plot still revolves around a pornographer who is attempting to extort a wealthy gentlemen with a wild pair of daughters (Vivian Rutledge and Carmen Sternwood) by producing lude photos of the youngest. Phil Marlowe is brought into the case to protect the reputation of the family while simultaneously unraveling the web of lies that entangles them. Really great noir.
I agreed with Captain Gregory that Eddie Mars would have been very unlikely to involve himself in a double murder just because another man had gone to town with a blonde he was not even living with. It might have annoyed him, but business is business, and you have to hold your teeth clamped around Hollywood to keep from chewing on stray blondes.-pg. 128
Film Noir : "The Big Sleep" : Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe & Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge
I would highly recommend both of these noir crime fiction tales, the pacing is dynamite, the characters memorable, and the plot tangled. A couple of things that are worth mentioning: Phil Marlowe is barely an Anti-Hero (per our noir definition). He is a model of honesty, loyalty, and self-control. In two scenes back-to-back, both of the wild daughters attempt to seduce him, and he denies them both. This refusal/denial of sexual urges was very akin to what I have previously discussed in The Maltese Falcon. If he were to succumb to their advances, he would be surrendering that power and control that makes him the masculine ideal. Also, this hits on the misogynist theme of noir crime fiction, because it is showing that the female gender is wicked and lacks self-control. It espouses the idea that women are only powerful when they can use sex to subdue a man. Intriguing stuff.
Image from : http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcclaverty/.
Image from : http://www.moviepostershop.com/the-big-sleep-movie-poster-9999/.
Filed under Noir Crime Fiction
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