Hardboiled Defective Stories

by Charles Burns

Book Overview

Burns, the most accessible and widely reviewed Raw artists, turns out a tough and gorgeous comic book in the True Crime tradition. Four of the five stories included in this collection have been serialized in Heavy Metal magazine. Drawings throughout.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394754417
• ISBN13: 9780394754413
• Release Date: March 1988
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 95 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely Fantastic Production!

It's great to see Charles Burns' work get the treatment it deserves, this is one beautifully-made book with hilarious, pulpy stories starring the mad wrestler-detective El Borbah. Well worth the price!

Viva El Borbah!

Burns has always been a consistently excellent artist. No one knows how to put black on paper better than him. This collection contains some great artwork and entertaining writing. I can't wait until the next collection....

Viva El Borbah!

Years before bands such as Southern Culture on the Skids and Los Straightjackets began to pay homage to masked Mexican wrestlers, Burns gave us El Borbah. The mask wearing Private Dick chain smokes, swills beer and gets into fist fights with just about everyone. Bizarre and beautiful. For those who love B-Grade Sci-Fi, Mexican wrestlers and Film Noir, this is a must have.

Sick Thrills from the Master of the Razor Line!

Fans of Burns know him to be one of the two or three (let's include Gary Panter and Chris Ware) geniuses of the form at work today. The El Borbahs are top of the line and deserve this collection between covers. Nobody-- NOBODY!-- draws like Burns, and his writing is obsessively dark and charmingly twisted. Bedtime reading for people who've forgotten why they once liked comics.....

bizzare SFnal detective comic book

Designed to appeal to the peculiar, a nicely-realised world of weirdos torment our hero 'el borbah - man of steel' who appears to be a WWF wrestler with a job as a PI. pre-reminiscent of 'gun with occasional music'