Traveling
salesman Hurdis Jones is an ordinary man on an uneventful trip
through the Midwest, until he gives a seriously ill hitchhiker
a ride to the hospital.
That's
when he starts getting pounding HEADACHES... & bizarre HALLUCINATIONS...&
feeling like he's being FOLLOWED...& having BLACKOUTS...&
stumbling upon all those MUTILATED BODIES....
A dedicated
family man, all Hurdis Jones wants to do is make it home to
his worried wife and kids. But his journey becomes impossibly
long and fraught with horror.
Because
the man once known as Hurdis Jones has now become... THE NIGHT
DRIVER.
The Night
Driver is a full-color, 96-page graphic novel produced
by CinemaGraphix,
was published by Moonstone Books in early 2007, following a
99¢ "preview" comic the previous summer.
Purely a
work-for-hire assignment, I adapted a screenplay by John
Cork (Bond Girls Are Forever) into graphic novel
form, and it was illustrated by newcomer Christopher Legasse.
Although
the story isn't my own, it was a real challenge for me as a
writer to take a script intended for film and make it work in
comics form, especially as it's a suspense story, an unusual
genre for comics.
I'm hoping
to do more work for the CinemaGraphix guys in the future.
Praise
for The Night Driver:
“Cinematic
storytelling takes you on a relentless ride in this top-notch
thriller. Smart, dark, sexy, and at times brutal.”
- Max Allan Collins
Writer: Road to Perdition, Ms. Tree
"The
Night Driver deftly fulfills its visually driven mandate,
with big-paneled art and an energetic sense of pacing. ...The
Hitcher channeling Robert Bloch—good, bloody fun..."
—Gary Butler
Rue Morgue magazine
"Smart
and scary. ...intense... reminded me of Steven Spielberg's Duel.
Writers Cork and Mills do a good job delineating characters
with relatively little dialogue. I definitely prefer getting
to know your victims before doing them in."
—William A. Spangler
Amazon.com
"Part
The Hitcher, part The Machinist... The Night
Driver is actually a pitch for a film without studio backing.
Instead of shopping this pitch around to producers in script
form, Moonstone has collaborated with its creators to create
a visual pitch for all of us to enjoy. And maybe, just maybe,
someone in Hollywood will take enough notice to make it into
something special. And, to be honest, I'd kind of like to see
this pitch made into something on film."
—Ambush Bug
Ain't
it Cool News
“It’s
rather apropos that The Night Driver was released on
the winter equinox. This is a dark, dark little book…The
Night Driver is a story-telling success mostly because of
its pacing. The book strings together a series of seemingly
mundane events that begin to unfold into a thrill chase that
is exciting, sexy and, at times, incredibly brutal. Each of
the moments, though, has something interesting to offer the
reader. Even dialogue with an ordinary cashier becomes something
easy and fun to read. Very little happens by accident in this
story…Bottom Line: A fun, scary read for those long winter
nights. Definitely worth the twelve bucks.
—Matthew McLean
The Comics Review, 9/10
“The
story by John Cork and Christopher Mills is a unique thriller.
The twists toward the end, I really did not see coming, which
I was glad of. I thought I had it all figured out, and bam!
I was wrong … If you’re looking for something different,
or you’re a big fan of some of the Moonstone Noir books
and books like Fell, you should pick up this thrilling
ride.
—Lucas Siegel
Shotgun Reviews / Newsarama
