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| HITMAN |
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Volume
One |
| by Garth Ennis & John McCrea |
Paperback: 144 pages
DC Comics
ISBN: 1563893142 |
$9.95
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| A Super-Powered
Hitman-- You Gotta Problem With That?
Meet Tommy Monaghan, professional
hitman. Life is never the same for Tommy once he gets telepathy and x-ray
vision foisted upon him....but it sure is funny. Garth Ennis, whose PREACHER
series is one of the best out there, is responsible for this hilariously
deranged comic book, set within the DC universe in the city of Gotham (and
yes, you-know-who does show up). |
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| Tommy
Monaghan is an assassin; that's right, he's your standard, grade-A hit
man. Well, maybe he's not so standard. Tommy also happens to have super
powers--just telepathy and x-ray vision, mind you. But let's face it, those
are pretty super. Writer Garth Ennis and artist John McCrea have come up
with a character that has surprising complexity. By all accounts this hit
man should be an antihero, and yet, Monaghan has strict rules for himself:
he doesn't shoot anyone he considers "one of the good guys." Naturally,
there's a lot of subjectivity here, possibly even hypocrisy, but this murky
area between good and evil, right and wrong, is one of Ennis's strong points.
In what is essentially a superhero setting (Gotham City, home of Batman),
this book delivers elements of action, adventure, crime, and horror, all
held together by Ennis's funny and believable dialogue. The blurb on the
back cover sums it up nicely: "No fancy costume. No magic tricks. Just
plenty of ammo, a pack of cigs, and a pitcher of beer."
--Jim
Pascoe
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| HITMAN |
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10,000
BULLETS |
by Garth Ennis, John McCrea, Willie Schubert,
& Car Feeny |
Paperback: 112 pages
DC Comics
ISBN: 1563894041 |
$9.95
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| From the introduction
by Kevin Smith of CLERKS and CHASING AMY fame, to the final chapter, which
offers an unconventional tie-in to your standard DC "end of the world"
crossover, this book is a real kick in the pants. If the first three pages
don't make you laugh, this book might not be for you... but if you're in
the mood for Siamese-twin mobsters whose other halves are dead, a motherlode-amount
of blood and killing, funny-as-hell war stories, the world's stupidest
superhero, and the only "gangsta" in America who doesn't swear, this book
just might be your cup of tea. |
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| A
run-of-the-mill assassin gets bitten by some kind of demon, and instead
of being dead, the attack left him with telepathy and x-ray vision, making
him an even better hit man. That's Tommy Monaghan's story, and from there
it gets better and better. The second collection of Hitman comic-books
is much stronger and much more consistent than the original volume. 10,000
Bullets is a tale of vengeance and honor. Writer Garth Ennis has a kind
of magic in which he takes characters who live firmly outside of the conventional
and then infuses them with a heightened morality. In Tommy Monaghan you'll
find a character you can both cheer for and feel sorry for, because he's
not a stereotyped killer--he's a three-dimensional human being. This book's
only real limitation is that some of the characters, specifically Monaghan's
new girlfriend, are introduced in the previous collection. Nevertheless,
10,000 BULLETS is an exciting read even for newcomers to Ennis' work.
--Jim
Pascoe
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| HITMAN |
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LOCAL
HEROES |
| by Garth Ennis, John McCrea, Steve Pugh, & Carlos
Ezquerra |
Paperback: 192 pages
DC Comics
ISBN: 1563895099 |
$17.95
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| Probably the
coolest, funniest Hitman storyline so far: First, there's the ultra-cool
multi-parter with Hitman facing off against Green Lantern, which results
in a hilarious showdown. Then there's the two-parter about the zoo animals
turning into zombies-- really, really hilarious. |
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