Category Archives: HARDBOILED CRIME

If you like Blood Simple…

Posted on January 6, 2022 by I.M. Baytor

Earlier in this blog’s life, I did a series of posts recommending comics for fans of specific Batman films and, later, another couple of lists with suggestions for fans of Quentin Tarantino’s work. Over the years, I’ve been getting such … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Coen brothers, Eric Skillman, horror, Jhomar Soriano, Joe R. Lansdale, movies, noir | Leave a comment

Top 12 foreign-language film noirs

Posted on October 21, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

When I ranked my top 50 noir thrillers last month, I only included movies spoken in English. It was an easy way to curb the size of the list. However, this type of gritty, atmospheric crime stories has found an … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Cold War, movies, noir, politics, World War II | Leave a comment

Gotham Calling’s top 50 film noir

Posted on September 15, 2021 by I.M. Baytor

Today is Gotham Calling’s seventh anniversary! I usually mark these occasions with a compilation of fifty images from Batman comics, showcasing the Dark Knight kicking people in the head or breaking through windows. Since the blog’s identity has been shifting … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Cold War, Frank Miller, Graham Greene, movies, noir, politics, The Spirit, World War II | 4 Comments

COMICS CAN BE AWESOME (19 October 2020)

Posted on October 19, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

One of the games going around since the beginning of the pandemic involves people recommending old movies that have acquired renewed resonance in these Covid-19 times – not necessarily because they presciently captured today’s reality, but because some of their … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged covers, Crime Must Pay the Penalty, Crimefighters, Dick Tracy, Frank Giacoia, Jim McLaughlin, Joe Orlando, Joe Simon, Justice Traps the Guilty, movies, noir, Ray Fehrenbach, The Spirit, Will Eisner | Leave a comment

10 noir short stories

Posted on September 10, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

Given the ongoing heated discussion over police reform and how to rethink public safety, I guess this is an appropriate occasion to highlight one of my favorite genres: crime fiction. As far as comic books go, although there were precedents, … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Abe Kanegson, Al Feldstein, Alan Moore, Bernie Krigstein, Bill Gaines, Carl Wessler, Cold War, Crime SuspenStories, David Baron, Frank Miller, George Evans, Greyshirt, Jack Kamen, Jack Oleck, Jamison, Jim Wroten, Johnny Craig, Johnny Dynamite, Jules Feiffer, Marie Severin, movies, noir, Pete Morisi, politics, Reed Crandall, Rick Veitch, Shock SuspenStories, Sin City, The Spirit, Todd Klein, Tomorrow Stories, Will Eisner | Leave a comment

A couple of old-school detective novels

Posted on June 11, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

Because I also like books without pictures, this week let’s switch gears for a bit and look at a couple of very cool non-comics detective novels: THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS (Eric Ambler, 1939) “A Frenchman named Chamfort, who should have … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged books without pictures, Eric Ambler, espionage, noir, politics, Ross MacDonald | 1 Comment

On The Spirit’s title pages – part 2

Posted on April 23, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

The Spirit (v2) #3 I tend to be quite distrustful of attempts to update Will Eisner’s The Spirit. Because most creators cannot begin to match Eisner’s experimentalism, the appeal ends up being little more than the curious, nostalgic exercise of … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Alan Moore, Aluir Amancio, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bob Q, Dan Schkade, Daniel Torres, Daniel Vozzo, Darwyn Cooke, David Hine, Francesco Francavilla, Fred van Lente, Gail Simone, Hilary Barta, horror, J. Bone, Jared Fletcher, Jeph Loeb, John Paul Leon, Mark Evanier, Mark Schultz, Mark Waid, Matt Wagner, Moritat, noir, Paul Smith, Phil Hester, Rob Leigh, Sergio Aragonés, The Spirit, Will Eisner | Leave a comment

On The Spirit’s title pages – part 1

Posted on April 16, 2020 by I.M. Baytor

At its best, Will Eisner’s post-World War II work on the noir comedy series The Spirt gave us some of the greatest comics ever – not just groundbreaking stuff at the time, but a string of truly ingenious approaches to … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Al Wenzel, Jim Dixon, noir, The Spirit, Will Eisner | Leave a comment

Spotlight on Denny O’Neil’s and Mike Kaluta’s The Shadow

Posted on October 4, 2019 by I.M. Baytor

Like I mentioned in the blog’s latest manifesto, Gotham Calling is no longer focusing primarily on Batman comics, but that doesn’t mean we’re moving too far way… For instance, this week we’ll have a look at another DC comic featuring … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged Allan Asherman, Anthony Tollin, Denny O'Neil, E.R. Cruz, Frank Robbins, Mike Kaluta, noir, Riley Rossmo, Scott Snyder, Steve Orlando, The Shadow | Leave a comment

Classic hardboiled crime novels

Posted on March 9, 2017 by I.M. Baytor

If, like me, you dig pretty much everything noirish (even if it’s a highly derivative mash-up of familiar tropes, a weirdly pretentious cheapie about an incompetent hitman, a sleazy erotic thriller with contradictory gender politics, or a mystical, sluggishly paced … Continue reading →

Posted in HARDBOILED CRIME | Tagged books without pictures, noir | Leave a comment