Road to Perdition (comics)
Encyclopedia
Road to Perdition is a series of fictional works written by Max Allan Collins
.
The comic book
of the original series, with art by Richard Piers Rayner
, was published by DC Comics
' imprint
, Paradox Press
. It was adapted into the 2002 film of the same name
, starring Tom Hanks
, for which Collins also wrote the novelization.
The basis for the film, this story is loosely based on the Japan
ese manga
series Lone Wolf and Cub
: Michael O'Sullivan, the ruthless but honorable enforcer for a crime syndicate, is personally betrayed by his masters and is forced to flee with his young son Michael Jr. on a quest for revenge. The story is set in the American Midwest during the Great Depression
and draws upon several historical figures, especially the gangster John Patrick Looney
, of Rock Island, Illinois
; in real life, Looney came into conflict with Dan Drost, a formerly loyal lieutenant in their crime organization, and their feud eventually led to the death of Looney's son Connor.
This three-part miniseries of graphic novels was written after the original story, but deals with events within the same timeframe. All three parts were published as individual installments, but have also been reprinted as a single combined volume.
These two prose sequels deal with the adult life of Michael O'Sullivan Jr., under his adoptive identity of Michael Satariano: after military service in Bataan
during World War II
, he returns to the world of organized crime to seek revenge on other gangsters who had been complicit in his father's death.
This graphic novel will follow the story of Michael Satariano Jr., a Vietnam vet who returns home from the war and gets caught up in the criminal underworld of his father and grandfather.
Max Allan Collins
Max Allan Collins is an American mystery writer. He has written novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie novelizations and historical fiction. He wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition , created the comic book private eye Ms...
.
The comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
of the original series, with art by Richard Piers Rayner
Richard Piers Rayner
Richard Piers Rayner is an English comic book artist. He is best known for his work on Road to Perdition.-Biography:Richard Piers Rayner began his professional comic career in 1988, illustrating for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. His works include Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, L.E.G.I.O.N., Doctor Fate,...
, was published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
, Paradox Press
Paradox Press
Paradox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton the imprint was renamed. It is best known for graphic novels like A History of Violence and Road to Perdition...
. It was adapted into the 2002 film of the same name
Road to Perdition
Road to Perdition is a 2002 American crime film directed by Sam Mendes. The screenplay was adapted by David Self, from the graphic novel of the same name by Max Allan Collins. The film stars Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig...
, starring Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, for which Collins also wrote the novelization.
Stories
- Road to Perdition
The basis for the film, this story is loosely based on the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series Lone Wolf and Cub
Lone Wolf and Cub
is a manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Yorozuya Kinnosuke, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.Lone Wolf and Cub...
: Michael O'Sullivan, the ruthless but honorable enforcer for a crime syndicate, is personally betrayed by his masters and is forced to flee with his young son Michael Jr. on a quest for revenge. The story is set in the American Midwest during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and draws upon several historical figures, especially the gangster John Patrick Looney
John Patrick Looney
John Patrick Looney was a gangster in the Rock Island, Illinois area during the early 1900s. Looney was also a successful lawyer and newspaper man in Rock Island.-Background:...
, of Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island is the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,884 at the 2010 census. Located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities...
; in real life, Looney came into conflict with Dan Drost, a formerly loyal lieutenant in their crime organization, and their feud eventually led to the death of Looney's son Connor.
- On the Road to Perdition
This three-part miniseries of graphic novels was written after the original story, but deals with events within the same timeframe. All three parts were published as individual installments, but have also been reprinted as a single combined volume.
- Road to Purgatory and Road to Paradise
These two prose sequels deal with the adult life of Michael O'Sullivan Jr., under his adoptive identity of Michael Satariano: after military service in Bataan
Bataan
Bataan is a province of the Philippines occupying the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon. The province is part of the Central Luzon region. The capital of Bataan is Balanga City and it is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he returns to the world of organized crime to seek revenge on other gangsters who had been complicit in his father's death.
- Return to Perdition
This graphic novel will follow the story of Michael Satariano Jr., a Vietnam vet who returns home from the war and gets caught up in the criminal underworld of his father and grandfather.
Graphic novels
- Road to Perdition (by Max Allan CollinsMax Allan CollinsMax Allan Collins is an American mystery writer. He has written novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie novelizations and historical fiction. He wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition , created the comic book private eye Ms...
, with Richard Piers RaynerRichard Piers RaynerRichard Piers Rayner is an English comic book artist. He is best known for his work on Road to Perdition.-Biography:Richard Piers Rayner began his professional comic career in 1988, illustrating for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. His works include Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, L.E.G.I.O.N., Doctor Fate,...
204 pages):- Pocket BooksPocket BooksPocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
, June 1998, ISBN 0671009214 - Titan BooksTitan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
, August 2002, ISBN 1840235349 - Simon & SchusterSimon & SchusterSimon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
, July 2002, ISBN 0743442245 - Paradox PressParadox PressParadox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton the imprint was renamed. It is best known for graphic novels like A History of Violence and Road to Perdition...
, April 2005, ISBN 1563894491)
- Pocket Books
- On the Road to Perdition Book 1: Oasis (with José Luis García-LópezJosé Luis García-LópezJosé Luis García-López is a Spanish comic book artist who works in the United States of America, mostly for DC Comics. He has most recently penciled an arc in Batman Confidential, the Metal Men storyline in the 2009 Wednesday Comics weekly anthology, and, in 2011, one of the stories in The Spirit...
and Josef RubinsteinJosef RubinsteinJosef "Joe" Rubinstein is a comic book artist and inker, most associated with inking Marvel Comics' The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.-Career:...
), 96 pages.- Paradox PressParadox PressParadox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton the imprint was renamed. It is best known for graphic novels like A History of Violence and Road to Perdition...
, May 2003, ISBN 1401200680 - Titan BooksTitan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
, June 2003, ISBN 1840236892)
- Paradox Press
- On the Road to Perdition Book 2: Sanctuary (with José Luis García-LópezJosé Luis García-LópezJosé Luis García-López is a Spanish comic book artist who works in the United States of America, mostly for DC Comics. He has most recently penciled an arc in Batman Confidential, the Metal Men storyline in the 2009 Wednesday Comics weekly anthology, and, in 2011, one of the stories in The Spirit...
and Steve LieberSteve LieberSteve Lieber is a comic-book illustrator. His best known work includes runs on Detective Comics and Hawkman, the graphic novel Whiteout and its Eisner Award-winning sequel, Whiteout: Melt. He is also the co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel.-Early life:Lieber was...
), 96 pages.- Paradox PressParadox PressParadox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton the imprint was renamed. It is best known for graphic novels like A History of Violence and Road to Perdition...
, December 2003, ISBN 1401201733 - Titan BooksTitan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
, March 2004, ISBN 1840237961)
- Paradox Press
- On the Road to Perdition Book 3: Detour (with José Luis García-LópezJosé Luis García-LópezJosé Luis García-López is a Spanish comic book artist who works in the United States of America, mostly for DC Comics. He has most recently penciled an arc in Batman Confidential, the Metal Men storyline in the 2009 Wednesday Comics weekly anthology, and, in 2011, one of the stories in The Spirit...
and Steve LieberSteve LieberSteve Lieber is a comic-book illustrator. His best known work includes runs on Detective Comics and Hawkman, the graphic novel Whiteout and its Eisner Award-winning sequel, Whiteout: Melt. He is also the co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel.-Early life:Lieber was...
), 96 pages.- Paradox PressParadox PressParadox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton the imprint was renamed. It is best known for graphic novels like A History of Violence and Road to Perdition...
, July 2004, ISBN 1401201741 - Titan BooksTitan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
, October 2004, ISBN 1840239425)
- Paradox Press
- Road to Perdition: On the Road, 296 pages (single-volume collection of Books 1-3 above).
- Paradox PressParadox PressParadox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton the imprint was renamed. It is best known for graphic novels like A History of Violence and Road to Perdition...
, December 2004, ISBN 1401203574 - Titan BooksTitan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
, May 2005, ISBN 1845760239
- Paradox Press
- Return to Perdition (upcoming) (by Max Allan CollinsMax Allan CollinsMax Allan Collins is an American mystery writer. He has written novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie novelizations and historical fiction. He wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition , created the comic book private eye Ms...
, with Terry BeattyTerry BeattyTerry Beatty is an artist who has worked as a penciler and inker in the comic book industry.-Career:Beatty is the artist and co-creator of the long-running private eye series, Ms. Tree...
, 192 pages).- Vertigo (DC Comics), August 2011
Prose
- Road to Perdition (film novelization), 256 pages, Onyx, June 2002, ISBN 0451410297, ISBN 978-0451410290)
- Road to Purgatory (288 pages, by William Murrow, 2004, ISBN 0060540273)
- Road to Paradise (289 pages, by Willian Murrow, 2005, ISBN 9780060540289, ISBN 0060540281)
Interviews
- Max Allan Collins on Perdition’s Sanctuary: SBC Q&A, Comics BulletinComics BulletinComics Bulletin is a website with an emphasis on the American comic book industry, updated daily with news, reviews, interviews, and editorial content. Coverage ranges from mainstream to independent/small press comic book and graphic novel publishers.-History:...
, November 26
Reviews
- Review of Road to Perdition, Comics BulletinComics BulletinComics Bulletin is a website with an emphasis on the American comic book industry, updated daily with news, reviews, interviews, and editorial content. Coverage ranges from mainstream to independent/small press comic book and graphic novel publishers.-History:...