The Hunter, the first book in the Parker series, is the story of a man who hits New York head-on like a shotgun blast to the chest.

Betrayed by the woman he loved and double-crossed by his partner in crime, Parker makes his way cross-country with only one thought burning in his mind — to coldly exact his revenge and reclaim what was taken from him!

Richard (Donald Westlake) Stark's groundbreaking Parker books are adapted for the first time as a series of graphic novels by Darwyn Cooke. The initial graphic novel brings to life the first Parker book, The Hunter, which introduces readers to the dangerous anti-hero's cold and calculated world of criminals, thugs, and grifters.

"Cooke has transformed the first volume of the late Donald Westlake's long-running Parker series (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark), about an indomitable outlaw, into a smashing graphic novel, making its ferocious mood and retro aesthetics the stars of the show. Parker belongs to the bottom of the urban jungle's economic strata, but the top of its food chain — anyone who stands between him and his revenge is doomed, whether they're trying to resist him or just happen to be in the way. As the book begins, he's returning to New York City in the Kennedy era with murder in his eyes: double-crossed by his wife and partners, he's come back to kill whoever needs killing to get his money. Cooke has a real affinity for the tough-as-hammers tone of Westlake's story. His Parker doesn't seem to enjoy or dislike slaughter (or anything else); he's just doing what it takes to reach his goal, with a certain dispassionate savoir faire. And Cooke's delicious two-color artwork nails the look of the early '60s, from hairstyles and tiki bars to the illustrative technique that defined the era everywhere except for comics: angular caricatures that capture his characters' motion and expressions with a bare minimum of elegantly rugged lines. (July)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"[A] near-perfect match of artist and character....Cooke's a powerful enough cartoonist that his images do most of the heavy lifting here....Parker's a very bad man, but it's hard to take your eyes off him." Douglas Wolk, The Washington Post

"[S]tunningly rendered....Imagine Mad Men, with its cool stylishness, but with characters even more depraved and rapacious, and you'll have an idea for what's in store when you read The Hunter." Boing Boing

"[Cooke's] work truly shines. Fans of the noirest noir, such as Frank Miller's Sin City series, will find a lot to like in this well-executed adaptation." Kirkus Reviews

"[W]onderfully engrossing....Mr. Cooke depicts his characters with such emotion and conveys so much with gesture and composition that, except for the specifics of the hijacking, you could almost follow the story by the images alone." The New York Times

"Although his cartoony style may strike some as unsuited to Parker's milieu, Cooke's visual economy and mastery of atmosphere, not to mention his obvious affinity for Westlake's work, prove otherwise." Booklist

"Cooke retells [Stark's] story in his own unique voice, and as expected, Darwyn Cooke's The Hunter is a superb comic book....It is a graphic novel better than most and as good as the best. (Grade: A+)" Comic Book Bin

Darwyn Cooke is the Eisner Award-winning writer/artist of the best-selling DC: The New Frontier, which was adapted as an Emmy-nominated feature-length animated film in 2008. In addition to New Frontier, Cooke has garnered much critical and popular acclaim as the writer/artist of The Spirit, Selina's Big Score, and others.

Richard Stark's Parker novels have influenced several generations of writers and filmmakers, from Elmore Leonard to Quentin Tarantino. Since their debut in 1962 there have been more than 20 Parker novels that have sold millions of copies. The Parker series continues to be one of the most imitated works of crime fiction ever published.