ESSENTIAL // 10.17.02

PISTOLWHIP
By Josh Buchin

PISTOLWHIP
Matt Kindt/Jason Hall
Top Shelf Productions
US $14.95
STAR13698

Everyone seems to compare Jason Hall and Matt Kindt's debut graphic novel PISTOLWHIP to Pulp Fiction, but PISTOLWHIP is more like an earlier Quentin Tarantino film, Reservoir Dogs. PISTOLWHIP has that trademark Tarantino non-linear story going, but not the Pulp Fiction kind. Pulp Fiction has multiple stories that intercross and interconnect, but Reservoir Dogs has one story that is told multiple times throughout the film, each tale seen from different characters' perspectives. PISTOLWHIP is that type of story. Only, it is set in the golden age of radio dramas and features a cast of colorful but purposefully clichéd characters.

Wait a minute, one story told from multiple people's perspectives? That sounds like Rashomon, I know you're saying, but trust me that its nothing like Rashomon.

PISTOLWHIP is a noir story that, at times, pokes fun at the very roots it stems from. Many parts of the book are laugh-out-loud funny. Other parts of the book are tonally serious and dramatic. And, most interestingly, certain sections of the book are introspective looks at how the book came about and how radio dramas were created way back when.

PISTOLWHIP has a very strong narrative that isn't always linear and doesn't always make sense. But after you read the whole book-and read all the exploits of each character-the story falls into place and the little references made in the other chapters make sense and then, once the beginning is explained, you too can be converted into a fan of this wonderful book. The brilliance of it is right there in the details, in the small gems contained inside the nice graphic novel, the things you know are there so you immediately want to reread the book right after you finish it, to catch all the things you missed the first time around.

It's a quick, expertly paced read that doesn't feel too short. Many books (especially a lot of graphic novels), feel light and small. I come away from some books feeling like I've been cheated out of story. But PISTOLWHIP feels dense. It packs a heavy, literary wallop that proves it can (and should) strut its stuff alongside many other literary crime masterpieces such as Ross Macdonald's THE CHILL or James Ellroy's AMERICAN TABLOID. The story has m-e-a-t to it and, what's more, little strings of fat get stuck in between your teeth as you chew the tale. Thoughts, ideas and scenes presented in the book linger with you long after you've digested the work in the form of a pleasant aftertaste.

At first, I had mixed feelings about the art. The line work is very representational and loose, very expressive and at times, almost hard to follow. But on the other end of this spectrum, the art is very simple and pleasing, in a style that's not cartoonish at all, a rarity for the comic medium (it seems that whenever comic book art is branded as "simple", it really means that it is "cartoonish". Not so, with our fair maiden PISTOLWHIP). But after reading PISTOLWHIP through and through, I can now say that I am a fan of the art, I have been converted. The art works. It evokes an old fashioned, noir style that's perfectly suited to this kind of yarn. After all, the story is fantastically unique, why shouldn't the art be? Characters are drawn in hard, dark lines and solid squares (like the famous Dick Tracy style) but at the same time, kept natural and expressive (like, um… good natural and expressive art should be. No examples immediately spring to mind…).

While the art of the book may be very unique and pleasing to look at, much credit for the package must go to the writing, which is smoothly crafted, minutely plotted and, most importantly, well executed. Dialogue is pitch perfect (in the context of the story) and the gripping romp that unfolds is exposed before the audience in a natural, fluid manner. The oversized comic book pages of the book are filled excellently-panels don't overrun the pages, and words don't crowd the panels. It's kept to a good balance, one that's so well in sync with the art, it caused me to wonder if the two creators of this book are, in fact, one person, one talented writer and artist fused into one who, for reasons of his own, reasons I cannot begin to fathom, has decided to fool the world into thinking that he is really two separate beings.

PISTOLWHIP is an interesting book about love and hate and murder and lies and all the other things good stories should be about. Plus, it features old time radio (the front and back cover of the book is even designed to look like an old fashioned radio), both as a historical retrospective element and as an integral prop of the noir crime era. And it's like Reservoir Dogs so really, how can you go wrong?

Pistolwhip is published by Top Shelf, and has a cover price of $14.95. This book is in print, so if your local comic store can't get a copy for you with the STAR order code of STAR13698, we suggest finding a better store.