Al Pacino is one of those actors whose onscreen magnetism makes every movie he makes a must see. Movie audiences have been drawn to the iconic actor ever since he graced the screen in the original Godfather. His penchant for tough guys has been his calling card, often playing rough characters whose lives have not always been the best. His role in Donnie Brasco was probably some of his best work and he didn’t even occupy the titular role.

One of his best roles of recent, and probably one that is so underrated, is Stand Up Guys. It’s a movie about aging gangsters trying to find equity one last time. It’s a nod to a long-celebrated genre which hadn’t had entries in recent years and to a generation whose contributions had largely been forgotten. In a fictional telling of a historical figure we get a reimagining of the infamous gangster, Meyer Lansky, in Meyer, where he gets to pull off one last job.

We meet Meyer in a retirement home in Florida where he is operating an assumed name of Morris Gluck. He suffers endless disrespect and feels as though the community is sucking the life out of him. This all changes when one of the orderlies David breaks Lansky out for one last con job.

Overall, Meyer is an excellent graphic novel which is across between Bubba Ho-Tep if it had gangsters and Pineapple Express if it was a serious drama. The story by Jonathan Lang is engaging and intense. The art by the creative team is captivating. Altogether, a story that is both fun and a love letter  to those gangster movies everyone loves.

Story: Jonathan Lang
Art: Andrea Mutti, Shawn Martinbrough, and Andre Szymanowicz
Story: 9.7 Art: 9.6 Overall: 9.66 Recommendation: Buy