Scarface: Scarred for Life

by John Layman

Say hello to IDW's gun-toting, profanity-spewing, law-breaking, drug-peddling leeeetle friend. Tony Montana, is back, you stinking cock-a-roaches, in the savage sequel to the legendary '80s-era Miami gangster movie, Scarface.

Genres: Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

John Steele Layman is an American comic book writer and letterer. Layman is most known for writing Chew, published by Image Comics.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you saw the main character of Scarface Tony Montana as a tragic hero, then this comic isn't for you. If you saw him as a badass antihero, then this comic might be for you. The art has a dark cartoon-ish spin to it, it goes well with the Robert Rodriguez style of violence throughout the story. Reading it myself, I didn't find it to be too entertaining just because I saw Scarface to be a tragic hero. Still, if you want to a violent story with over the top violence, this might be a read for you.

[Sunil · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Layman felt that he really discovered his voice in this book, a sequel to Scarface where Tony Montana survives and tries to rebuild his empire. Violently. There is really not much to it besides lots of rampaging violence, but Layman has a good sense of humor about how over-the-top it all is and stages several good action scenes. He doesn't attempt to capture the movie characters' voices at all—after all, this is where he found his own voice. It's a fun, cartoony romp.

[Rebecca Blevins · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork was what hooked me to check this miniseries out. I'm a sucker for hyper stylized cartoon work and I felt it was very suitable for the high octane violence. So no, the characters don't look exactly like the actors and actresses in the movie, but that didn't bother me at all.

The writing...well...it's a mixed bag. On one hand, Layman really nailed Tony's characterization and there were some humorous moments that made me smile. However, I don't think the direction he went with the story was all that great. I would have love to have seen more nuance to it (like the movie) and really see how Tony dealt with hitting rock bottom with the only few people he cared about dead due to his actions. But, as a reviewer pointed out here, I saw Tony and his journey as more tragic than just someone being a tougher-than-nails crook. Then again, if they were only allowed to do five issues, that's not enough time to really explore that path. Also, there were some things in the comic that were inconsistent with the movie. Like Elvira's characterization and Sosa's.

[DeadWeight · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strangely enough, this terrible book is not the only trans-media attempt at a Scarface sequel — there was also the game Scarface: The World Is Yours for the Xbox. I don't know why it is that the ending of Scarface inspires this many attempts to "continue" the story; one would think that being shotgunned in the spine at point-blank range would have some degree of finality to it. But no! The extremely lucrative Scarface -poster industry virtually demanded that some concession be made for the teeming future-frat-boys.

All I really remember of the book is that there's a scene where a crippled Tony Montana forces a man to eat a bag of his shit.

[Rey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 2.5/5.

About Tony Montana coming back. Has cartoony style while contrarily being brutal in its violence like the movie. Had some good moments but others not so much.

Liked how he sets to get back up and his dialogue is abit funny in how extremely cocky he is. However, it didnt land on other aspects, the end left some to be desired.

[Jak-Luke Sharp · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s fine. Just far too short and silly

[Ska · Rating 4 out of 5]

mungkinlah keterujaan membaca novel graphic berwarna kertas licin secara fizikal buat rating empat bintang. Dan anti hero Tony Montana yang kebal macam Rambo, dengan visual darah merata - merata lagi buat teruja.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Layman did a fine job matching the tone of the comic to the movie. He even nailed the voice of Tony Montana (Al Pacino.)

[Matt Shelton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, gave it away.