Created by Jim Steranko
CHANDLER was the eponymous Manhattan private detective hero of Chandler (1976), comicmeister supreme Jim Steranko’s love letter to the hard-boiled private eye heroes created by Hammett, Whitfield, Gardner, Daly and of course, Chandler himself.
It’s got all the classic P.I. stuff you need: a 1930s hard-boiled dick is cooling his heels in his office when a guy stumbles in claiming he’s been poisoned and he’s got only seventy-two hours to live hours to live (shades of DOA!) and wants Chandler to find his murderer. Along the way Chandler has to deal with the usual mobsters, crooked and/or incompetent cops, a femme fatale and a snaky plot that ends with a nasty twist.
So come for the story, but stay for the absolutely amazing art.
One of the very first American “graphic novels ” (although it’s called a “visual novel” on the original cover), this black-and-white 130-page digest pulp edition originally appeared in the seventies, for like a buck or something. It’s–shockingly–never been reprinted, although there were a few different versions. One was a limited edition put out by Steranko himself, and there was a double-sized newsstand edition that bore the title of Fiction Illustrated Volume 3, and came in colour (I think). Those early editions are all now collectors items, wayyyyy out of my price range) but well worth the hunt. Years ago, my friend Rick lent me his copy–it’s simply a great and beautiful read.
The cover is nothing particularly special (beyond the fact that the private eye looks suspiciously like Steranko himself), but inside? OMG, as the kids say. Fantastic artwork, all stark shadows and stabs of light, reminiscent of old RKO and Warner Bros. film noirs, and a stunningly innovative layout that added, not subtracted, to the dynamics of the story, making this one of the most visually stunning of all American graphic novels.
And, as I said, one of the rarest. Out of print apparently forever, although Red Tide, a deluxe, re-mastered, colourized hardcover version has been promised/threatened for years, and was even once slotted for release by Dark horse in 1999. And then 2011. The closest they got was a 13-page “preview” in Dark Horse Comics #3 in 2011. since then? Radio silence.
We’ll see….
UNDER OATH
- “More than twenty years after its publication, it still stands as the ne plus ultra of noir graphic novels”
— from Steranko: Graphic Prince of Darkness by Peter DePree & J. David Spurlock
GRAPHIC NOVEL
- CHANDLER |Â Buy this book
(aka “Chandler: Red Tide”)
(1976, Fiction Illustrated No. 3)
123 pages
Written and illustrated by Jim Steranko
Introduction by Joe Gores
THE DICK OF THE DAY
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Steranko.com
Steranko’s “corner of the new frontier,” but rarely updated. Don’t hold your breath. - Chandler: Red Tide
Edo Bosnar takes a close look at the Steranko classic (Bronze Age Babies, March 2015) - Steranko: The Self-Created Man (2018; by James Romberger)Â |Â Buy this book
An in-depth study of the comics and film work and life of Steranko, making the case for him as “America’s first comic book auteur.” Aa the publisher says, “an insightful and readable commentary about one of the most enigmatic and influential creators of our time.” - The Groundbreaking Work of Jim Steranko
Okay, this one works. An overview of the master’s work by Michael Gonsalez (May 2019, CrimeReads)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks forever to my pal Rick for lending me his copy.
