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AussieStu wrote:

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... I thought the same thing but dismissed it, DJ must've read Torpedo ages ago ...

Ah, I wish that there was a good Torpedo collection available in the states... I've only had the chance to read snippets, and I want to read more.
oops. just checked Amazon. Looks like IDW is releasing volumes in October and March. Will be buying those fershure.

deejayway wrote:

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Reading it made me honestly wonder why I would waste time with modern tales of grown men in long johns, beating each other senseless.

Did you try either of the recent Vertigo Crime books?
At $20 ea, they're a little pricey, but they both are perfect follow-ups to the Cooke Parker book.

deejayway wrote:

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Then again, not everyone can do crime of course.
No sleight intended; but it's hard to imagine Kirby squeezing his exuberant, kinetic imagination into the relatively constrained and dark format.

It's not hard to imagine at all. In fact, Kirby did a crapload of crime comics.
In fact, (in my opinion) Kirby was probably better suited to crime comics than superhero ones.
His male characters were rough, disheveled, ham fisted, cigar chewing, and sometimes downright ugly fellas. And his females were the 50s pin up style. Both of which were (are?) perfect for crime comics.


Above is one example page I quickly found doing a Google search (from here).
Also, if you jump to page 27 of this Google book preview Link - you'll find an article about Kirby crime comics.

Another example:



Other examples can be found at various sites, and I know one story is included in the Mammoth book of Crime Comics.

deejayway wrote:

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I'm aware that Kirby did crime comics and to me his style is too boisterous and exuberant to fit the genre.
Those qualities, which were essential in making the FF, Thor and 4th World so special, work against criime fiction, which to my mind needs a more subtle - perhaps insidious is the right word - touch.
I prefer the shadowed nuance of Colan, Steranko, Cooke and Risso to the bright, bombastic world Kirby's gangster populate.

While I personally feel the exact opposite. I never much cared for Kirby's superheroes, but I can dig his non-superhero work (crime and horror. As far as crime comics goes, I guess it would depend upon if its a noir, mystery type of story, or an action guns ablazin' type of story.

For example, if we were adapting movies, I'd say Touch of Evil or Double Indemnity, then nah, not Kirby style. They'd need something more subtle. But something like Bullitt or Bonnie & Clyde or even The French Connection, then yeah, I think the Kirby style could work quite well...