Atomic Chili

For fans of Joe R. Lansdale, it’s hard to think of a more delicious treat than a well-produced collection of 10 comic adaptations of his short stories. From the striking mixed-media color cover by Dave Dorman, to the biography and bibliography at the end, Atomic Chili: The Illustrated Joe R. Lansdale is a lovingly executed homage to the storyteller from East Texas. Included are top-notch versions, in a variety of artistic styles, of “By Bizarre Hands,” “Night They Missed the Horror Show,” “Dead in the West,” “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back,” and “Steel Valentine.” The New York Times places Lansdale in the tradition of “country-noir” pioneered by writers such as James M. Cain, Erskine Caldwell, and Jim Thompson: “They share a total trust in the straightforward power of a man’s voice speaking when that man has a witch’s brew of a tale to tell. No tricks, no stylish ennui, no somnambulant remoteness or pointless savagery are required, but a rare sort of gift is, and Joe Lansdale has his in bushel baskets.”