Run Like Crazy Run Like Hell

Tardi s relentlessly paced adaptation of Manchette s novel The Mad and the Bad presents readers with a fascinating noir tale that is as bleak as it is brilliant. ... Tardi (It Was the War of the Trenches) is a revered comics master in his native France, and his illustrations here tell us so much about how complex these characters are. The occasional juxtapositions of the cartoonish and the grotesque imbue the narrative with a grim, sardonic humor. Readers can expect the type of story promised by the title in this heart-pounding narrative. [Starred review] I like my crime novels like I like my coffee: very dark and very bitter. I loved Run Like Crazy Run Like Hell... This astonishing graphic novel is a bleak noir story of murder, gunplay, betrayal, corruption, the true depraved reality behind seeming idyllic fronts, and so much more. Run Like Crazy is also a hell of a lot of fun. Drawn beautifully by the genius Tardi with his usual hand-hewn combination of looseness and fascinating specificity, what comes through more than anything are two things: the vividness of these horrible characters, and the arbitrariness of the events that unfold. By the end of this book I was gasping with excitement. --Jason Sacks Tardi s atmospheric visuals, with their inky line work and solid compositions, are perfectly suited to Manchette s noirish milieu. The cartooniness of his figures, juxtaposed against the soundly realistic settings, perfectly matches the matter-of-factly over-the-top nature of this blackest of mordantly comedic capers.--Gordon Flagg Run Like Crazy Run Like Hellis a fine introduction to the works of both Tardi (the cartoonist) and Manchette (the novelist), ...[and] has the immediacy and tense back-breaking sense of dread and revulsion that should be familiar to Manchette fans. For Tardi fans, here s yet another example that the old master has lost little if any of his trademark flair for crafting deep, thrilling, and often violent entertainment. --Nathan Evans ...[A] fantastic series of chase scenes, reversals, close calls on both ends, betrayals and surprising new allies. Through it all, Tardi's figure work, fluid panel-to-panel transitions and mastery of using backgrounds to enhance rather than detract from a narrative dominate the story.--Rob Clough The maniacs in this comic don't even give you a chance to breathe, it just ramps up and starts rolling.--A.J. McGuire Tardi's atmospheric visuals, with their inky line work and solid compositions, are perfectly suited to Manchette's noirish milieu. The cartooniness of his figures, juxtaposed against the soundly realistic settings, perfectly matches the matter-of-factly over-the-top nature of this blackest of mordantly comedic capers.--Gordon Flagg Each page looks besmirched with the muck and grime of the French countryside -- or, eventually, with brains, blood and gnarly bits of bone. The book's centrepiece, a chaotic chase scene through a crowded town square and supermarket, reads like a master class in comic-book storytelling. This is a fine, tough, bloody one.--Sean Rogers The whole work drips with style and that hardboiled 70s crime feeling - you could easily imagine this with a suitable soundtrack as a storyboard for a Tarantino movie. It cracks along at a great pace... A fabulous, hard, tough crime fiction ride, perfectly depicted by Tardi.--Joe Gordon Run Like Crazy Run Like Hell is a fine introduction to the works of both Tardi (the cartoonist) and Manchette (the novelist), ...[and] has the immediacy and tense back-breaking sense of dread and revulsion that should be familiar to Manchette fans. For Tardi fans, here's yet another example that the old master has lost little - if any - of his trademark flair for crafting deep, thrilling, and often violent entertainment. --Nathan Evans Run Like Crazy Run Like Hellis a fine introduction to the works of both Tardi (the cartoonist) and Manchette (the novelist), ...[and] has the immediacy and tense back-breaking sense of dread and revulsion that should be familiar to Manchette fans. For Tardi fans, here s yet another example that the old master has lost little if any of his trademark flair for crafting deep, thrilling, and often violent entertainment. --Nathan Evans