Based On: Stumptown

You may know the TV show Stumptown... because I literally just did a post on the first episode... but did you know it was based on the graphic novel series by Greg Rucka?

TV SHOW

Dex Parios is a sharp-witted military veteran, who struggles to get by and take care of her younger brother, in Portland, Oregon. She also struggles with PTSD from her time as a Marine in Afghanistan, where she worked in military intelligence until she was injured by an explosion which killed her college sweetheart and former lover. Burdened by heavy gambling debts and unable to hold down a steady job, she becomes a private investigator to solve problems where the police cannot get involved. Detective Miles Hoffman refers problems to her, and Grey McConnell, a bar owner and Dex's closest friend, provides moral support and employs her brother Ansel at his bar.

Stumptown Volume 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo (But Left her Mini)

Dex Parios is the proprietor of Stumptown Investigations, and a fairly talented P.I. Unfortunately, she's less adept at throwing dice than solving cases. Her recent streak has left her beyond broke, she's into the Confederated Tribes of the Wind Coast for 18 large. But maybe Dex's luck is about to change. Sue-Lynne, head of the Wind Coast's casino operation, will clear Dex's debt if she can locate Sue-Lynne's missing granddaughter. But is this job Dex's way out of the hole or a shove down one much much deeper?

Seeing the trailer and noticing that it was based on a graphic novel just made it appeal to me even more so I instantly set up my series link and then ordered the book for myself, let me give you a little review of that book.

I think it's great that people can see the potential in books that will make an interesting adaptation, with Stumptown I find that particularly impressive because I didn't find it that gripping. This first volume is four issues with one storyline and beyond that there are three more books which I haven't read, potentially there are things I picked up on that are resolved in later volumes. If that is the case though it's a bit of a problem for me because I don't really want to read any more of them.

I found the characters to be mostly non-descript both in the story and visually. On my first read-through I kept having to pop back a few pages and rereading when I lost track of who was who in a scene. It sadly didn't get much clearer on my second read-through.

Our main character is Dex Parios, the PI with a bit of a gambling problem. From the very beginning she isn't painted as a very likeable person, it's more than just some of the personality traits, she's been created as a gungho, mildly sex-driven, incompetent woman. At one point I put the book down because she was getting beaten up again with seemingly no real point. There's an almost leering quality to her (as well as other characters) in the illustrations and the inference from the text, as the only character that we really get to know this doesn't make compelling reading.

The storyline runs around the disappearance of a girl, her grandmother who runs the casino Dex is in debt to asks her to investigate and bring her back. That was perfectly introduced, though it took up a lot of pages, but other parts of the story don't click. As I said, I've read the book twice and still can't remember the reason for the second major part of the story... it feels very cloak and dagger which is perhaps why it wasn't very engaging.

Illustrations in comics/graphic novels are either hit or miss for me. The lettering here is pretty standard and managed to be clear and well laid out which was a great boost as sometimes it can get very chunky making it difficult to read. With the illustrations themselves you've got a nice colour palette that changes with the scenes and definitely helps move things along. Beyond that though I'm ultimately not a fan of the finished style, there's not enough differentiation between the characters and, as I mentioned above, it made for a difficult first read.

As an overall story there's something in it but it's a real challenge to like the characters, there wasn't anyone who I was looking forward to seeing again. Dex is given what feels like token bisexuality, it's not expressly pointed out but it's hinted at in a variety of ways. Her sexuality in general is quite heavy handed and I wouldn't be surprised if later down the line we find out she's slept with most of the recurring characters.

After I finished my first reading of Stumptown I messaged a friend... "It was bad and now I'm not sure I want to watch the series they made of it"... I pondered on that for a while because I was tired and maybe I was grumpy while reading it, the second reading came the next day, but even being more alert and less distracted by unfamiliar content I didn't get anything better out of this volume.

COMPARISON

Dex

Dex still has the same basic traits, she's a gambler and is on-guard with those she's not familiar with but thankfully the show doesn't stick to everything laid out in the graphic novel. She's not initially a private investigator, instead she's a veteran with a skill set suited to PI work. She's much more capable and that's probably the best difference between the two.

Storyline

The two storylines are very similar, it all starts with Dex accepting a job to find the granddaughter of the casino owner. That's where it diverges, elements are kept but there are two different ways of telling it. Again, I feel like the TV show gets the better option, though I suspect the graphic novel's story would have been much easier to follow on screen in comparison.

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There's not much that differs in any significant way, but changing the two biggest things about the series was probably enough.

CONCLUSION

In my opinion Stumptown's TV adaptation is a much more successful effort, it's created in a fun way that makes it engaging, and that coupled with the critical changes to the main character mean you get something that makes you want to watch another episode.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO

It's always nice to read the source material but it wouldn't be my recommendation in this case. I was left with no desire to get the next volume which for me is a big negative when it comes to graphic novels. After episode one of Stumptown I was keen to see the next and have since seen the first few, it might not be the best series out there but I'm definitely intrigued enough to keep watching. Potentially the next volumes of the book bring something more to the table but I would say you should opt on the side of the TV series.