IDW Publishing; $99

When the original Martini Edition – deluxe, oversized hardcover with a slipcase – of Darwyn Cooke’s adaptations of Richard Stark’s Parker novels was released, it didn’t include his takes on The Score and Slayground. This new, second volume collects them and more.

Cooke’s untimely passing puts a bit too much emphasis on the “Last Call” portion of the title, but for those of us who knew him it’s probably always going to feel like that. And in some sense, it’s no less true for his devoted fans, of which there are many.

Editor Scott Dunbier has done a beautiful job with this material, as we’ve come to expect. Not only are The Score and Slayground faithfully reproduced in this larger format, the book also includes “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” a tribute to both Donald Westlake (Richard Stark was just one of his pen names) and Cooke by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip. It fits right in and is totally in the spirit of the Parker stories. There’s also additional bonus material, too.

While it remains sad that there will be no more Parker stories from Darwyn Cooke, it is wonderful to have them preserved in such a wonderful format.

– J.C. Vaughn