A History of Violence (graphic novel)
**A History of Violence** is a graphic novel that explores themes of identity, violence, and the haunting nature of the past. Written by John Wagner and illustrated by Vince Locke, it centers around Tom McKenna, a diner owner in Michigan whose life is upended when he defends his restaurant from a robbery. This act of heroism draws the attention of organized crime figures, who believe Tom is actually Joey Muni, a man with a violent past. The story unfolds through a mix of present-day conflict and flashbacks to Joey's youth in Brooklyn, where he was embroiled in organized crime and violence.
The narrative is characterized by its stark black-and-white artistic style, which evolves from a depiction of everyday life to increasingly graphic violence, reflecting the protagonist's descent into brutality. Themes of fatalism and the moral implications of preemptive violence are prevalent, prompting readers to ponder the influence of past actions on present circumstances. Although it initially garnered little attention, the graphic novel gained notoriety following its adaptation into a film by David Cronenberg in 2005, contributing to a resurgence of interest in the crime comic genre. Overall, A History of Violence offers a gritty exploration of how one’s history can cast long shadows over their current existence.
A History of Violence (graphic novel)
AUTHOR: Wagner, John
ARTIST: Vince Locke (illustrator); Robert Lappan (colorist)
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1997
Publication History
Originally serialized as three ninety-six-page volumes, A History of Violence was published by Paradox Press, a relatively short-lived imprint of DC Comics. Paradox was created to release graphic novels that did not feature superheroes or fantasy and science-fiction elements, as those were the genres most clearly associated with DC Comics and their successful Vertigo imprint, respectively. John Wagner, an American writer raised in Scotland, was best known for having created the Judge Dredd character for the British magazine 2000 AD in the 1970’s. Vince Locke was not widely known as an artist when the graphic novel was serialized, his best-known work being the Deadworld (1987) series for Arrow Comics and American Freak (1994) for Vertigo. Unusually for DC Comics, the Paradox titles were released in black and white.
Plot
A History of Violence tells the story of Michigan diner owner Tom McKenna, a retiring man who is thrust into the national spotlight after he defends his eatery from an attempted robbery. Shortly thereafter, three members of a New York organized crime family arrive in town. The leader of the gangsters, John Torrino, believes that Tom is really a man named Joey Muni, who, some twenty years prior, had injured Torrino’s eye in a fight. Like Joey, Tom is missing a finger on his left hand. While Torrino is initially unsure of whether Tom is really Joey, his henchmen make vague threats to the McKenna family. Torrino is convinced of Tom’s real identity only when he sees Tom’s son, Buzz, who bears a strong resemblance to his father at a younger age. The gangsters abduct Buzz and confront Tom on his farm. In the ensuing shoot-out, Tom kills Torrino’s men and is himself wounded. His wife, Edie, saves his life when she shoots Torrino.
The second chapter is almost entirely composed of a flashback set in Brooklyn two decades earlier. Joey and his best friend, Richie Benedetto, are teenagers living in a part of New York controlled by organized crime. When Richie’s brother Steve is assassinated by mob hit man John Torrino, Richie wants to avenge his death, but Joey is reluctant. Later, when Joey realizes that his grandmother, with whom he lives, needs an operation that the family cannot afford, he agrees to help Richie steal from the mob. The duo pulls off a daring midday robbery of Lou Manzi’s family, killing several men in the process. Richie is ultimately captured by Torrino, after he carelessly begins to spend the money stolen in the robbery. Joey seeks to escape from New York and the Manzi family, and he does so only after a fight in an alley where he blinds Torrino and loses a finger.
The final chapter returns to the present day. Tom confesses to the police his role in the robbery of Lou Manzi and the death of his men, but he is released because he had not been read his Miranda rights. Later, Tom receives a phone call from someone he recognizes to be Richie, begging for help. When Torrino is killed in his hospital bed by a hired killer, Tom receives a second call, threatening his family. He and Edie fly to New York to cooperate with the police regarding the murders from twenty years earlier. While in New York, Tom realizes that he cannot protect his family from the gangsters except by taking matters into his own hands. Learning that Manzi’s operations are now run by his son, Little Lou Manzi, he surrenders to two of his men. After being taken to a warehouse, he kills the mobsters and engages in an elaborate shoot-out with various henchmen. Ultimately, Tom discovers his friend Richie, armless and legless, dangling from a meat hook, where he has been tortured for two decades by Little Lou. Little Lou surprises Tom and chains him to the ceiling before torturing him with an electric drill. Tom escapes and kills Little Lou with a chainsaw, ending the threat to his family. He then ends the life of his friend, Richie, when the badly injured man begs for his own death.
Characters
•Joey Muni, the protagonist, is a married, middle-aged father of two, who runs a diner in a small Michigan town. He is living under the alias of Tom McKenna because he fears that members of a New York organized crime family wish him dead.
•Richie Benedetto is Joey’s best friend from childhood. A teenage boy living in Brooklyn, he attempts to avenge the death of his brother by robbing the Manzi organized crime family. After successfully pulling off the crime, Richie is captured by the Manzi family when he is indiscrete with the stolen cash.
•John Torrino is an elderly hit man in the Manzi organized crime family. In the aftermath of the crime committed by Joey and Richie, he is wounded by Joey and loses an eye. The main action in the book is motivated by Torrino’s desire to hunt down and kill Joey. He is the primary antagonist in the first part of the book.
•Little Lou Manzi is the son of Lou Manzi, the organized crime leader who is robbed by Joey and Richie. After his father’s death, he takes control of the Manzi crime family. He is an unrelenting sadist who tortures Richie, and later Joey, with construction tools. He is the antagonist in the final part of the book.
•Edie McKenna is a middle-aged mother of two, married to Tom McKenna. Edie supports her husband throughout the course of the story, even after learning that he has been lying about his past during the entirety of their relationship.
Artistic Style
A History of Violence was serialized as three black-and-white, undersized volumes, a format that was not frequently used by DC Comics. The smaller page size forced artist Locke to place fewer panels on each page than is common in other comics of this period, providing a relatively open page design that complements and underscores the rural setting of the book’s first chapter. Over time the story becomes increasingly dark and violent, moving from subtle threats of harm to scenes of elaborate and gratuitous torture. This narrative development is supported by Locke’s art, which moves toward higher concentrations of black as the story unfolds.
Locke is known for a realistic style that is defined by his scratchy penmanship and frequent use of cross-hatching. The figure drawing throughout the book tends toward a minimalist representational style that often looks sketched rather than fully polished. At the same time, Locke makes extensive use of detailed backgrounds to establish a sense of place, and, on occasion, he will foreground a single visual element, such as a gun, by rendering it in greater detail than the other visual elements on the page. The rough lines of the drawings contribute to the chaotic and disorderly feeling created by the story.
In keeping with the book’s realist approach, thought balloons are not used and all communication takes place through dialogue. Captions are used in the second chapter, which is a flashback to Joey’s youth told from Tom’s point of view. A notable weakness of the book stems from the use of clichéd dialogue during the fight sequences that stretches the level of realism found in the work. Additionally, the characterization of the McKenna family is not a strong point of the work, with each of the members of the supporting cast being one-dimensional rather than fully fleshed out with problems or subjectivities of their own.
Themes
A History of Violence is notable for its use of elements of noir crime fiction in the graphic novel form. Wagner introduces quotidian realism in the first chapter, only to have it disrupted by elements of danger. Throughout the course of the book the quiet life of the McKenna family is disrupted by increasingly more dangerous outbreaks of violence, which suggest that the family may be fated to a bleak future. The initial confrontation in the diner seemingly occurs randomly, but the national attention paid to Tom’s actions creates the opportunity for Torrino to reenter his life. The showdown with Torrino and his men at the McKenna farm results in serious injury to Tom and reveals the full extent of the threat to his family. It is only by acting to preempt retaliation by Little Lou Manzi that Tom can protect his own life and the lives of his family.
Centrally, the book addresses the relationship of the past to the present through the figure of Tom/Joey. When the sins of the past are revisited on the quiet diner owner in the present, the question of what kind of man Tom is rises to the surface. Additionally, the book asks the reader to consider the merits of preemptive violence as a moral course of action. Ultimately, A History of Violence makes readers consider to what degree people are shaped in the present by their actions in the past. To this end, the book evinces a high degree of fatalism.
Impact
A History of Violence might not be remembered were it not for the success of David Cronenberg’s 2005 film adaptation. Like most books in DC’s short-lived Paradox Press series, the graphic novel was serialized to remarkably little fanfare in 1997 and was eventually allowed to fall out of print before being republished in conjunction with the film. The book found an appreciative audience with fans of crime comic books, a genre that had been generally neglected since the end of the 1940’s, and it, alongside Road to Perdition (1998) and Stray Bullets (1995), was one of the key works that helped spark a renewed interest in the crime comics genre. The book is remembered now for the striking grotesquerie of its conclusion, with the horribly mutilated Richie Benedetto hung from meat hooks. Writer Wagner has a background in satire and a tendency to push the boundaries of taste to extremes, which can be seen in the gradually escalating levels of horror and brutality found in this book. The legacy of A History of Violence and Road to Perdition can be found in DC’s 100 Bullets (1999-2009), a noir/fantasy hybrid developed in 1999, and more contemporary crime comic books such as Criminal.
Films
History of Violence, A. Directed by David Cronenberg. New Line Productions, 2005. This film adaptation stars Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello as Tom and Edie Stall, Ed Harris as Carl Fogarty, and William Hurt as Richie Cusack. The film differs from the graphic novel in many ways. Notably, the names of the characters have been altered, the entire second chapter has been eliminated, and Tom and Richie are brothers and Richie is a successful gangster. The film was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories for Best Adapted Screenplay (Josh Olson) and Best Supporting Actor (William Hurt).
Further Reading
Azzarello, Brian, and Eduardo Risso. 100 Bullets (1999-2009).
Brubaker, Ed, and Sean Phillips. Criminal (2006- ).
Collins, Max Allan, and Richard Piers Rayner. Road to Perdition (1998).
Grist, Paul. Kane (1993- ).
Lapham, David. Stray Bullets (1995-2005).
Bibliography
Beaty, Bart. David Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence.” Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008.
Locke, Vince. “Interview by Will Colling for The Nexus,” August 5, 2005. http://insidepulse.com/2005/08/05/39887.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Visions: Drawings and Paintings. Plymouth, Mich.: Caliber Press, 1992.
Wagner, John. “Interview by La Placa Rifa and W. R. Logan for The Class of ‘79.” http://www.2000ad.nu/classof79/jw‗interview.htm.