First there was Max Allan Collins’ legendary graphic novel — “Road to Perdition” — in 1998, then the Academy Award-winning movie in 2002 and his bestselling screenplay novelization.
Now, you can witness the two merge at Scott Community College’s (SCC) in-person film screening and author question and answer panel, on March 22 at the Figge Art Museum, 225 W. 2nd St., Davenport. The film screening (the movie stars Tom Hanks and Paul Newman) will begin at 6 p.m. with the author Q&A panel to follow. The event is free and open to the public.
The panel includes Muscatine Community College graduate Max Allan Collins, author of “Road to Perdition,” his wife Barbara Collins, critically acclaimed author and short story writer, and Matthew Clemens, author and frequent collaborator of Collins.
“Road to Perdition” is the first of five graphic novels in Collins’ series, published by DC Comics’ imprint, Paradox Press in 1998. It has been selected as the Great Scott Read of 2021-2022, with Scott Community College instructors using the graphic novel and text versions in the classroom.
Copies of the book and graphic novel are available to check out from the Scott Community College Library, 500 Belmont Rd., in Bettendorf.
The story is set in the American Midwest during the Great Depression. It follows Michael O’Sullivan, a chief enforcer for an Irish mob family, who is personally betrayed by his masters and forced to flee with his young son Michael, Jr. on a quest for revenge. With Collins’ ties to the Quad Cities, the story draws upon several historical figures, including John Patrick Looney, of Rock Island, as well as Al Capone, Frank Nitti and Eliot Ness.
The film adaptation of Collins’ book was released on July 12, 2002 and eventually grossed $104.5 million in the U.S. box office. It was well-received by critics, who mainly praised the direction and visuals, performances, cinematography, themes and setting. “Road to Perdition” earned six Academy Award nominations, with Conrad H. Hall, the film’s cinematographer, posthumously winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
Collins followed “Perdition” with two acclaimed prose sequels, Road to Purgatory (2004) and Road to Paradise (2005), and a graphic novel sequel, Return to Perdition (2011). He has written a number of innovative suspense series, including Nolan (the author’s first series, about a professional thief), Quarry (the first series about a hired killer), and Eliot Ness (four novels about the famous real-life Untouchable’s Cleveland years).
He is completing a number of “Mike Hammer” novels begun by the late Mickey Spillane, with whom Collins did many projects; the fourth of these, Lady Go, Die!, was published in 2012.
For general information about the event, contact the SCC library at 563-441-4150. For venue information, contact the Figge Art Museum at 563-326-7804.
