The Set-Up

The original 1928 narrative poem that inspired Robert Wise’s celebrated 1949 film noir, The Set-Up follows Pansy, a gifted Black prizefighter navigating the brutal American boxing underworld. Told in propulsive, syncopated rhyming couplets, Joseph Moncure March’s hard-boiled Jazz Age tragedy captures the brutal world of prizefighting in 1920s New York.

This Korero Press edition reproduces March’s original 1928 text and pairs it with specially commissioned artwork by Erik Kriek, the award-winning Dutch comic artist. A visually striking illustrated classic for readers of narrative poetry, boxing writing, film noir and Jazz Age culture.

Praise for The Set-Up

“As a whole, The Set-Up is urban, gritty, tough-talking… In short, it is a noir poem.”
— The Hudson Review

“The tale is told in relentless rhyme and pitiless beats presaging modern Hip Hop culture… The Set-Up is a found classic.”
— Comics Review

“A cross between a graphic novel and a heavily illustrated epic poem.”
— Pop Culture Squad

About the author

Joseph Moncure March (1899–1977) was the first managing editor of The New Yorker, where he helped create its Talk of the Town section. After leaving the magazine, he wrote the two Jazz Age narrative poems for which he is best known: The Wild Party and The Set-Up.

Moving to Hollywood in 1929, he became the screenwriter who turned Howard Hughes’ silent classic Hell’s Angels into a talkie—a rewrite that brought the phrase “Excuse me while I put on something more comfortable” into the American lexicon. A Hollywood screenwriter until 1940, March later wrote documentaries for the US State Department and features for The New York Times Magazine.

Read more about The Set-Up

• The Set-Up: Poetry in the Ring – an essay on the poem’s boxing world, film-noir adaptation and history.
• Erik Kriek on Illustrating The Set-Up – an interview with Erik Kriek about illustrating The Set-Up.
• The Set-Up by Joseph Moncure March – the story behind Korero’s illustrated edition.