Published: January 25th, 2017 Written by: Greg Rucka Art by: Justin Greenwood, Ryan Hill
Oni Press, 143 Pages
Review:
This fourth and final volume of Stumptown was definitely a step up from the fairly mundane third chapter. Granted, I still wasn’t as engaged by this story as I was the first two.
The plot here is more interesting than the previous book but there doesn’t feel like there’s any real danger here for the characters, as the heavies in this are inexperienced hipsters from the coffee scene and not legitimate, dangerous criminals and brutes that have actually gotten blood on their hands.
In fact, this felt more like a comedy than a neo-noir crime drama.
Maybe Greg Rucka wanted to go out on a lighter note with this one but it lacks the gravity of the earlier stories and certainly pales in comparison to the darker, grittier and more realistic neo-noir comic book tales by Ed Brubaker.
I didn’t think this was a waste but it didn’t hit the mark and just didn’t pull me in and hold onto me like the first two volumes did.
There’s really not much else to say. This is just about a bunch of rich eccentrics and hipsters trying to acquire some magic coffee beans.
The end.
Rating: 6/10 Pairs well with: the other Stumptown volumes, as well as Gotham Central, Kill Or Be Killed, The Fade Out and Sin City.
Published: April 15th, 2015 Written by: Greg Rucka Art by: Justin Greenwood, Ryan Hill
Oni Press, 133 Pages
Review:
I kind of dug the first two volumes of Stumptown and I’ve also been enjoying the television series, which debuted last fall. However, this third volume in the comics series felt like a real step down.
First off, I don’t like the art. The artist changed and the previous volumes felt more refined and less cartoonish. They still had a good, indie feel to them but this feels more like a typical Oni Press book where the other ones looked more polished and like crime comics put out by a bigger indie publisher like Image.
Also, I thought the story was weak as hell, pretty predictable and felt more like an advertisement for the Portland Timbers soccer team, as well as Portland soccer culture, than it did a gritty, edgy crime story. It felt less neo-noir and more ABC Afterschool Special.
This volume was a bore to get through, didn’t live up to the expectations I had based off of the two stories before this one and it just felt like everything was dialed in.
The story lacked layers, proper plot twists and was completely bogged down by slice of life shenanigans and repetitive conversations between paper thin characters.
Rating: 5/10 Pairs well with: the other Stumptown volumes, as well as Gotham Central, Kill Or Be Killed, The Fade Out and Sin City.
From Comic Tropes’ YouTube description: Crime fiction is an underrepresented genre in comic books but what can be found is often excellent. This week, I’m breaking down the techniques Greg Rucka uses to write mysteries, with an eye to Stumptown, his series about a private eye named Dex. It was recently adapted into an ABC show so it seemed like a good time to break it all down.
Published: May 29th, 2013 Written by: Greg Rucka Art by: Matthew Southworth, Rico Renzi
Oni Press, 137 Pages
Review:
I enjoyed the first volume of Stumptown. It wasn’t anything that blew me away but it was an enjoyable private eye comic with neo-noir flavor.
This story was a step up, however, and I think that Greg Rucka kind of found his flow.
The case in this volume is about trying to locate a rock star’s missing guitar. As the plot unravels and the DEA are involved, we learn that someone has been smuggling drugs through the rock band’s equipment, as they travel from city to city.
You get some swerves and a few reveals but the plot is pretty straightforward and plays more like a TV crime drama, which is probably why ABC just adapted this into a television show. The show is pretty good so far, by the way.
The biggest takeaway from this series, thus far, is that I really like these characters.
Additionally, I really like the art style and it fits the narrative tone well.
If you like crime comics, especially the stuff by Ed Brubaker, this will probably be right up your alley. It isn’t as overly violent and edgy as Brubaker’s stuff though. But for some, that might be a bonus as Brubaker’s crime comics can be brutal at times.
Rating: 8/10 Pairs well with: the other Stumptown volumes, as well as Gotham Central, Kill Or Be Killed, The Fade Out and Sin City.
Original Run: September 25th, 2019 – current Created by: Jason Richman Directed by: various Written by: various Based on:Stumptown by Greg Rucka, Matthew Southworth, Justin Greenwood Music by: Tyler Bates Cast: Cobie Smulders, Jake Johnson, Tantoo Cardinal, Cole Sibus, Adrian Martinez, Camryn Manheim, Michael Ealy, Donal Logue
After reading the first Stumptown comic, I figured I’d give the television show a shot, as it just premiered a month and a half ago and because I generally like Cobie Smulders and Jake Johnson.
This is adapted from a neo-noir comic series by Greg Rucka and while the show adapts it fairly well, at least, its framework, this feels a little less neo-noir and a bit more like a network television crime show. While that’s not a bad thing, network TV is generally a pretty watered down and sterile version of the things it tries to adapt.
At least this has the same spirit as the comic.
It feels and looks different in that it loses its stylized visual allure and the edginess is scaled back quite a bit.
Additionally, the first episode starts with a familiar story for fans of the comic but it quickly veers off in its own direction. The show is episodic, usually solving a crime in one or two episodes where it then moves on to the next plot. So if you’re expecting the first graphic novel to basically be the first season, it isn’t.
Now all of this might sound like criticism but it’s not.
The fact of the matter is, I like the show, at least the half dozen episodes I binge watched to see if I wanted to keep moving forward with it. Based off of my experience, I’ll probably watch a full season of this and then decide whether or not I want to stick with it. But, so far, so good.
What really works for me is the cast. Everyone is really good in their roles and the main players all have great chemistry. I especially like the chemistry between Cobie Smulders, Jake Johnson and Cole Sibus.
I also like that the show features a special needs character that isn’t treated unrealistically. In fact, Sibus’ Ansel is one of the highlights for me. The kid is just damn good.
Additionally, within the first episode, the show accomplished what it needed to do in that it made me care about all of these characters.
Also, Stumptown is pretty refreshing in 2019, in that it features a tough, female lead but this show is written in a way that makes her a very anti-Mary Sue character. She struggles, she fails, she adapts, hell… she gets her ass kicked… a lot. Yet she grows as a character, becomes better at her newfound job and works through her flaws.
I can’t yet say that this is a hands down good show. It’s off to a solid start though and I care about these people and their situations. Maybe I’ll have to give an update after season one concludes sometime next year.
Rating: 7.75/10 Pairs well with: probably other network television crime and P.I. shows but this one does seem cooler and more fun than the majority of them.
Published: April 5th, 2011 Written by: Greg Rucka Art by: Matthew Southworth, Lee Loughridge
Oni Press, 156 Pages
Review:
With Stumptown being adapted for television, I figured I’d also give the first graphic novel a read for comparison’s sake. I haven’t watched the show yet but I’ll probably binge the first half dozen episodes or so, once they’re available.
The comic series is a pretty good neo-noir in a similar vein to Ed Brubaker’s crime comics. In fact, Greg Rucka and Brubaker both worked on DC’s Gotham Central, which was a very noir-esque crime series featuring the cops of Gotham as the focal point.
This story follows a private investigator, as she is in debt over her head and more or less forced to find the missing granddaughter of a casino owner.
Stumpland takes place in and around Portland, Oregon, which gives it a cool setting that isn’t really a normal town for noir stories. In fact, I don’t really think about crime or Mexican cartels when I think of Portland but this actually takes you into that realm.
The main character, Dex, kind of reminds me of Jessica Jones or at least the television version of the character. Which, honestly, makes me wonder if they re-worked Jessica in the Netflix show to be more like this character?
I liked this tale but I also thought it was pretty predictable and more straightforward than a typical noir plot. There are the twists and turns, as one would expect, but none of them are really outside of the box or all that surprising.
What really made this work for me was the art. It’s pretty raw but the use of colors was superb. I guess the artists have changed over the course of the different Stumptown stories but I hope that the style is similar when I get to the later volumes.
Stumptown didn’t wow my socks off like Brubaker’s crime comics but it was still a cool and pretty refreshing story. And I plan on reading the volumes that come after this one.
Rating: 7.75/10 Pairs well with: the later Stumptown series, as well as Gotham Central, Kill Or Be Killed, The Fade Out and Sin City.
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Talking Pulp 
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