“We weren’t heroes. We were killers. That’s the reason we survived so long… Because this world belongs to monsters. It shouldn’t.”

What an absolutely amazing graphic novel. What an amazing story

Pulp is a deep crime noir/western with complex characters. And Pulp is a great depiction of a man whose best days are long behind him. The setting: 1939 New York City, the world is dealing with the rise of Nazism. The story follows an ex-bandit/outlaw (Max) who is now an old man who writes pulp tales converting his frontier and Wild West past into quick stories for a bit of cash. When a man from Max's past arrives in New York and offers him a heist job - stealing from the local New York Nazis - Max finds himself thinking like an outlaw again. Once he starts down that path, however, there may be no way back.

While reading you really get a feel for Max and the pain he feels. This is a story about the lies we tell ourselves, the process of aging, and it is also about the nature of retribution, and the nature of hate. The art is outstanding. The story superb.

Check this one out. ( )

An aging man in the 1930s is struggling to get by, his only income writing pulp outlaw cowboy comics that pay less and less. His health, too, is failing, and his only wish is to be able to leave some security to the woman he lives with when he goes. But when a man from his past approaches him and reveals he knows the comics are actually based on the man's own criminal activities in the 1890s, and he has use for these long-rusted skills, suddenly he sees a chance to fulfill that wish after all.

Beyond the surprising and interesting premise, nothing very original happens in this comic, but it kind of doesn't need to. It's a tight little noir story with a western twist, captivatingly told. I very quickly care about the protagonist, I want him to do well, I want him to leave his mark. As usual, the Brubaker/Phillips duo has put out a solid piece of character drama in noir trappings, and as usual, it only reminds me that there is still so much in their bibliography I have yet to get around to. ( )

Why don't I read more Brubaker/Phillips stuff?

Great stories, great characters, great insight into the human condition, great art... just damn great. ( )

1939. New York. Max Winter is an aging writer, penning pulp stories of the Old West. There's a reason why he pens great stories about cowboys and the Old West....in the 1850's he was an outlaw. Stealing. Rustling. Killing. Always one step ahead of the Pinkertons. But he's getting older...and it's getting harder to make a living. He decides he wants to do one last robbery to leave his widow enough money to live after he's gone.....but he gets a more interesting offer.

This graphic novel is definitely a new twist on the Old West theme. I liked it! The art is great...the story is engaging, creative and interesting. I liked the shifts in time, and the thoughts Max Winter has about how his life has changed, how his past still effects him and the challenges he faces as he ages. He wants to go out on his own terms...to feel like his former self, not like a dying old man. The ending is perfect!

Great story. Great art. This is the first time I've read anything by Ed Brubaker or Sean Phillips. I'm definitely going to read more of their work!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this graphic novel. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

Cowboys and Nazis! In 1939 in New York City, an aging writer of pulp fiction Westerns with a shady past gets pulled into a heist against a gang of American Nazi sympathizers by a rogue Pinkerton agent. Nazis get punched, so, y'know, bonus star.

Well written and illustrated, this tale reminded me a bit of The Old Man and the Gun with its melancholy tone and weathered protagonist.

(Trivia note: Hopalong Cassidy completists, be aware that the cover of Six Gun Western displayed in an early scene between the writer and his editor, is actually the cover of Hopalong Cassidy’s Western Magazine Fall, 1950 -- published over a decade after this story takes place.) ( )