This is me.
I’m Chad de Lisle, and I’m a noir genre aficionado.
My love and fascination extends through film noir (both vintage and contemporary), noir-themed music, video games, femme fatales, smoldering cigarettes and slimy plot lines. The gateway drug to this obsession came in the form of noir comics, particularly the works of Ed Brubaker, Frank Miller, Darwyn Cooke and Brian Michael Bendis. After my initial taste, in a curious moment I Googled “best noir crime fiction” and came up with several lists encouraging the same novel: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. From there it was a quick trip through James Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Jean-Patrick Manchette; I was hopelessly entwined with noir. Next I dipped into The Naked City (1948), Night and the City (1950), and Pulp Fiction (1994) and couldn’t quench my rapidly expanding appetite. As I devoured more and more noir themed media, I noticed several consistencies in plot development, theme, setting, and characterization which naturally lent to the creation of my own noir definition.
This strikes at the core of why NoirWhale.com was founded, to share my noir findings as a relative newcomer. For the most part I review the works I encounter and use my noir definition as the peg to hang them on.
Current Favorites:
Film Noir/Neo-Noir:
1) Chinatown (1974)
2) Strangers on a Train (1951)
3) Drive (2011)
Noir Comics:
1) Criminal: Bad Night by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
2) Parker Vol 1: The Hunter by Richard Stark and Darwyn Cooke
3) Scalped by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra
Video Game Noir:
1) Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
2) L.A. Noire
3) Batman: Arkham City
Crime Fiction:
1) Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette
2) The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain
3) The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Noir Music:
1) “The Go-Getter” by The Black Keys
2) “I Can’t Quit You Babe” by Led Zeppelin
3) “Bang, Bang” by Nancy Sinatra
Noir Artists:
1) Niagara Detroit
2) Victor Kalin
3) Jim Steranko
Stuff you didn’t know:
NoirWhale.com has a sister site that I’ve created for noir inspired images: NoirWhale.Tumblr.com
I’m 30 years old with a birthday in August.
I’m a Senior Year English Major at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah — I’ll be graduating in April 2016.
I was married in 2007 to Hilary.
this is her
We adopted a female miniature schnauzer named Bobby Dylan in 2008.
ma pup
We have two children, a little girl named Scout and a little boy named Geddy.
Scout and Geddy
I’m obsessed with Metal Gear Solid, and celebrate that obsession with a whole month of re-conquering the games annually.
I Dungeon Master on a frequent basis for my best friends. We’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons since I was 12.
I’m a guitar teacher and a casual artist.
I leave Christmas lights up the whole year (indoors).
I collect Pez Dispensers.
I love attending the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, Washington on a yearly basis. I didn’t start collecting comics until 2009.
Find me on Facebook.
Find me on Twitter.
Find me on Google +.
Find me on About.Me
And, if you really want to know what I’m like:
Find me on Pinterest.
NoirWHALE 
Hello mate , just bumped into your blog ,great site and mirrors my love of all things of the crime noir genre. This reply is winging its way from good old Great Britain hows things in one of our former colonies? lol.
Anyway freat site keep it going and looking forward to more of your reviews loved the big sleep review and LA Noir review just got the game myself
All the best mate
PEACE
Tony
Tony! I was so excited to get your message, sorry for the late reply (school has been brutal this week). Thank you for the compliments, I’ll try not to let them inflate my head. I’m sure you’ll love L.A. Noire, its insanely awesome, and there is a certain rhythm to the game that is so unique. What are your favorite crime noir works? film noir favorites? anything I should check out? Hope to hear from the good old UK again soon, Chad.
Very cool site, Chad. It’s never too late to send your life down the noir path–I didn’t start seriously reading this stuff till I had already been a professor for a few years. As an undergrad, I did my senior thesis on Hawthorne. Is The Scarlet Letter noir?
Well now, I can certainly appreciate the name of the site. I think it’s well on it’s way to becoming something great, and I’m wishing you the best in getting publicity for it. Since you mentioned comic noir, you should check out a line DC Comics has produced (it’s quite good). One in particular is called Fogtown. Aside from that, look into the novel ‘Supernatural Noir’.
Keep up the great work here, and I hope college goes well for you.
Brad
Manager, Humungo Comics
PA
I’m so glad young people are discovering Noir – it’ll stay alive that way. Good job buddy and congrats on your baby!
Thanks for visiting! Come back soon!
We should have another Noir Movie night and live blog what we think.
I’m all in.
I just found your blog randomly and I immediately fell in love with it. It’s so real and captivating!
xo, The Classy It Girl ~ http://theclassyitgirl.wordpress.com/
Thanks classy, it means a lot!
Nice site, got a kick out of discovering some great new (to me) Noir artists, I also have been immersing myself in noir for the last couple of years, now to the point of making homage videos, check out the latest one here:https://vimeo.com/45300209 and the first one here:https://vimeo.com/31503674 enjoy!
You might be interested in checking out “The Locksmith” — It’s a graphic novel where noir meets sci-fi. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621377037/the-locksmith-graphic-novel
Found your blog quite by accident. Really like what I found and enjoyed it very much. I am hoping you are a fan of John Garfield? I wrote a petition to get his films into a box set. I would be honored if you added your name. Thank you. Please let me know if you have any questions of concerns. Here is the link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/778/073/466/give-star-recognition-back-to-a-legendary-star/
What a worthy cause! I’ve added my name without reservation!
Thank you very much for adding your name to my petition, love your comment too. Lori Moore
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This site is great. My youngest son is named “Dashiell” after Hammett so I was particularly impressed by your post on The Maltese Falcon. Mostly I dig the art. In my thrift store travels I’ve found a number of books I buy just for the covers. A few pics of my favs are posted here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjsn6Nxo Good luck with your studies.
Dashiell is a wonderful name! Your youngest son is very fortunate. Thank you for the kind remarks, I’m truly grateful for the support.
greetings form Adelaide Australia
i`m michael, loved you site, very cool
take it easy, have a cool 2013
Thanks Michael!
greetings from Australia – lovely work here. I don’t see a mention here of Double Indemnity, so forgive me if you have seen it, but if not, it really is supreme noir. Barbara Stanwyk is desperately vicious, and the cinematography is too stylish.
keep up the good work
It’s on my list– I’m sure I’ll get to it shortly! Thanks for dropping by!
Hello, greetings from Macedonia, Southern Europe! I really enjoyed your site, I don’t have time to read all I want to read unfortunately. I am really happy every time I find a person who enjoys noir 🙂 I didn’t manage to have a look at all the movies you have analised here, but I want to suggest ‘In a lonely place’, with Bogart and Gloria Grahame, if you haven’t seen it. I can see someone already recommended ‘Double Indemnity’, that’s one of the best film-noir for me.
I am also a fan of noir comics and graphic novels, I must say Sin City is my all-time favourite, I checked your comic section and I have read some of the mentions, but I wanted to ask you to recommend something very similar to Sin City, I read Brubaker’s ‘Criminal’ and it’s great, but Sin City is on another level for me.
Thanks, and all the best!
I thought I’d post here…but ahve been taking time just to look at your dogs face for a while first. Very charming. My previous move was to try the house mix on your music section and listen to the two separate at the same time…the Rainymood website mixed with Borhren CLub of Gore’s Sunset Mission. Really great mix. I hit the music page to recommend the score to Mickey One, by Stan Getz and Eddie Sauter…it is extraordinary.
I completed a noir short film in September and it’s called Bum Rap – A Noir Fantasy. It’s up on youtube on 1080p. I hope you get to see it. Andre in S.F.
Hi Chad, I found your blog and I… I love it ! I really love it !
Keep noir !
Riccardo
I forget to drop in….do you have any automatic updates that get emailed out? But the most important question is…do you have a Speedy Gonzalez Pez dispensor?
you know I do (to both questions).
I love Frank Miller and am in search of more artists like him. I put “black and white noir comic book art” in my search bar and found you! Love this site. I am currently designing my first graphic novel and getting visual ideas and inspiration. Found both here. I look forward to exploring this dark and lovely universe you’ve created.
Thank you kindly Laura– I’m tickled that you found what you were looking for!
Hi Chad, I love your blog! Two of my favourite noir soundtracks: Odds Against Tomorrow, the John Lewis original sound track but the MJQ version is great too! and The Hot Spot soundtrack with John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal and others. Check them out if you haven’t!
Great Blog; Pez and Noir?… well, I only have Chewbacca, but I’ve loved Pez since I was a kid on holiday in the early Seventies and wish I’d kept my old ones… Chinatown is your favourite film?; (Mine is Casablanca) I shall immediately upgrade my opinion of the next generation!. It is flawless; possibly the only perfect film made besides The Blues Brothers (Hey, taste, right?) and Chandler is, to me, the King of the Noir writers. The juice with him was always the journey and never the arrival. Graphic novels, alas came too late for me – I enjoyed American comics as a kid through my nefarious and wide range of contacts and always loved their colour as opposed to the stark B&W of ours. Now, B&W is my refuge from daily life. For what it’s worth, I write books now and my guiltless pleasure and de-compression technique is a nightly delve into such treats as ‘The Sweet Smell of Success’ (A must, although not a guns and dames production), ‘The Third Man’, ‘Key Largo’, ‘A Shot in the Dark’ (Okay, that’s a Peter Sellers film, but hey…)
Mark Sohn may be interested to know that graphic novels have been around a lot longer than he thinks. Just look up Lynn Ward. One of his graphic novels that achieved acclaim is God’s Man. And all of his work is lithograph. I happen to really like his work in other writer’s books also. Find a book called Hot Countries. This is all back in the 1930’s or so.