Noir or never

Crime, by the very definition of the word, is something you shouldn’t do, and hopefully, most of us never will.

That reason is perhaps why the genre of noir, or crime fiction, exists. It’s like modern-day fantasy. We might never get to be the one to commit a big crime, but it’s fun to read for just that reason. Noir is a rich genre covering every medium of entertainment, including comics.

Originating in movies of the 1940s and ’50s, film noir can be a difficult genre to describe. To keep it simple, the ideal noir story is crime fiction with a more artistic attitude. They aren’t just simple murder-by-numbers stories; they have a cynical but poetic reverence for crime.

Comics are one of the best mediums for telling stories like this, if any of the following three comics are any indication.

One of the classic characters of the genre is Parker from a series of books by author Donald Westlake. The character’s first book, “The Hunter,” has had a number of adaptations, including the film “Payback” starring Mel Gibson, but none were authorized to use the character’s actual name until comic artist Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation.

Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of the books “The Hunter” and “The Outfit” portray Parker as the biggest criminal badass you will ever see. They tell the stories of Parker as he tries to get payback on fellow criminals who tried to murder him. They are classic criminal revenge tales aided by Cooke’s use of just two colors: blue and white. The use of color creates a dynamic between light and dark, which emphasizes the noir themes of the stories.

While revenge stories are great, stories about a likable person who decides to do some very criminal acts can be just as fun.

The series “Criminal” from writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips tells six separate crime stories. Of the six storylines, “The Last of the Innocents” is easily the best, telling the story of an Archie-like character returning home for his father’s funeral only to begin making some dark decisions about where to take his life.

Brubaker creates a lead that is truly a bad guy but is still somehow likable, and Phillips’ artwork deftly jumps from realistic “modern day” renderings to cartoonish character flashbacks with ease. This isn’t the only noir comic with a cartoon-y element to
its style.

The Spanish comic “Blacksad” mixes an element into noir that shouldn’t work: all the characters are anthropomorphic animals. The comic tells three separate stories about the feline detective Blacksad that touch on subjects of love, racism and the Cold War.

The animal characters make the comic a blast to read, as each animal’s traits reflect their personality. Blacksad is a cat, a crime boss’ bodyguards are a rhino and a bear and Blacksad’s weasely sidekick is well ... a weasel.

The animals wouldn’t look so damn convincing if it weren’t for artist Juanjo Guarnido’s artwork. It’s hard to look at without eliciting a gasp and some sort of swear; it’s simply that gorgeous. Looking better than most Disney movies, Guarnido’s colorful artwork renders a world of a 1950s city believably, and every facial expression looks human despite being on an animal. Comics, especially those about crime, are rarely this fun to look at.

Crime fiction is a genre that is steeped in the fantasy of getting to see things we will never do ourselves. It shouldn’t be so much fun to read stories about the bad guy. These comics are perfect examples of the genre at its best in any medium.