For one because I think he is an underrated artist but also to pimp the HITMAN omnibus once again since it is offered at a real bargain price at amazon Spain and I don't want the information to get buried in the bonus section of a still unfinished post some visitors might not even check out.
As longtime followers of the blog already know I don't make comicbook recommendations without a reason and in most of the cases it is because of a discount by amazon. Since I am now living in Spain these discounts are now all on amazon Spain ( sorry to all my readers in other countries ) but I still like to make them from time to time like in July 2023 when they were offering the two gigantic hardcovers - KIRBY IS MIGHTY ! and KIRBY IS FANTASTIC ! - for 55 EUROS or in May 2023 when they offered the MARVEL UNIVERSE BY CHRIS CLAREMONT omnibus for just 53 EUROS.
Well in this case it is - as you might have guessed - the HITMAN omnibus which has 1074 pages ( with bonus material ) a regular in store price of 125 bucks and you can get it now from amazon Spain for a measly 38 EUROS. Not for 100 EUROS. Not 75 EUROS. Not 50 EUROS. Not even 40 EUROS. 38 EUROS and that includes handling, packaging and shipping.
I know what you are thinking. Where is the catch ? Because if something sounds too good to be true it usually is. That is what I thought when I saw the DREADSTAR omnibus collection offered for 30 EUROS at amazon Germany back when I was living there. Because each of these hardcovers alone has a store price of 100 Dollars. So I thought it was either an error and they were selling the softcover versions, or it would be just one of them - probably the third one because these don't sell as well as the first two - and the slipcase and you have to buy the other two. But I ordered it anyway and lo and behold it was the mero mero DREADSTAR omnibus collection without any printing errors or such for which you usually pay around 300 Dollars and I got it for a laughable 30 EUROS. Of course I had to practically give it away for free when I had to sell almost my entire comicbook collection to come here to Spain - but that is another story.
Anyway, as my faithful readers know I never put these amazon offers on the blog without having the book in question because it could have been the softcover version, there could have been printing errors or whatever.
But no, this is the real deal omnibus, 1074 pages of unadulterated, two barrel hitman shooting action and for 38 EUROS. Now for those who are not that familiar with Garth Ennis ouvre and only know his more famous series PREACHER or THE BOYS or his work on PUNISHER or HELLBLAZER ( well what do you know we are still talking about that book ) HITMAN is a series that spun out of the most unlikely of places : DC's BLOODLINES.
Coming out in 1993 it is one of the more forgettable crossovers in which aliens come to earth and want to take dominion. The gist of the story is that these aliens suck the spinal fluid out of humans but one in 1,000 humans survive and gain super powers. The story would unfold in two BLOODLINES issues and 23 annuals and each annual would feature a new character with super powers. So they told the creators that they had to come up with a new character and the rights for the characters would of course lie with DC Comics. Which sounds like a brilliant idea. The crux of the plan was that if you tell a creator that he has to come up with a new character but they won't have any rights over the character they are not going to put much effort into it. Which is why you have never heard of the characters that were featured in the BLOODLINES crossovers as even those that got a solo series didn't last long. With one notable exception.
That's right, introduced in the DEMON ANNUAL 2 by Garth Ennis and John McCrea Tommy Monaghan - a lowlife hitman who operates in Gotham - somehow struck a cord with readers and spun out into a 61 issue ongoing series not counting annuals and specials. If I had to describe HITMAN to somebody I would say that it is probably Garth Ennis most accessible series as well as one of his best. Everybody who has read this blog over an extended period of time knows that I am of two minds about Garth Ennis work. On one side he is undeniably one of the great comicbook writers of our generation who has done such iconic series like PREACHER.
But on the other side - talking about preaching - his constant super hero hate tends to get in the way of telling stories as well as on the reader's nerves over time. Yes, books like THE BOYS obviously lives off his disdain for superhero comicbooks ( probably because they dominated the comic market when he grew up ) but you think that after a decade or two he would get over it. Because we already get it. Garth Ennis doesn't like superheroes. Now can we please get over it and go to something else ?
And there is something of it in HITMAN but not as annoying as in some of his other work. Maybe it helps that one of the superheroes that Garth Ennis has his way with in the series is Kyle Rayner Green Lantern whom I also am not that fond of. Out of all the Green Lanterns he is the one who never connected with me despite that he is also somewhat of an artist.
Since the series takes mainly place in Gotham you can't avoid cameos like Batman or Catwoman and the last one is handled superbly. Methinks Mister Ennis might have a crush on Catwoman. But then who doesn't ?
There is also the obvious crossover with THE DEMON taking advantage of the situation that Garth Ennis was writing both books at that time plus a really touching issue 34 in which Tommy meets Superman on a rooftop and they have an interesting conversation. Without any double meaning.
Because yes, HITMAN is one of the typical Garth Ennis books with a lot of crude stuff, graphic violence, a lot of killing ( the main character is a hitman after all ) and the usual things you would expect from a Garth Ennis comicbook. But out of all of his series this book is probably most grounded in the real world ( when it doesn't involve aliens or demons from hell or zombie penguins ) with a cast that are not the good guys but still guys you can root for and a main character who may not be the smartest guy ( especially in the way he uses his super powers ) and kills people for a living but at the end of the day tries to do the right thing and lives by his own code of respect, honour and loyalty. What sets this book apart is that it has a lot of heart, blood and guts and you can't help but you want to know more about this unlikely crew from Noonan's bar.
One last thing that may be interesting for the german speaking part of my audience and which always got a laugh out of me are the antics of the grandfather of one of Tommy's love interests who apparently was a Nazi and who mistakes Tommy for his old Gruppenfuehrer. Anyway, no matter if you have read some of Garth Ennis more popular work or only know the tv adaptions give this series a try. You won't be disappointed.
But stop. You might say what about the artist ? What about John McCrea ? I would say that he is what I like to call an acquired taste. Which is not to say that he is bad - just the opposite - but like with Jack Kirby or Bill Sienkiewicz you probably won't like him right away since his style is not what you might call mainstream. But once you get accustomed to it you will love it and want to see more of it. One thing I just recently found out is that his style on commissions or sketches looks way better than what he puts into most books. So no, there are no complaints on that front so you better think hard about getting the HITMAN omnibus rather sooner than later because we know these amazon offers never last long.
shoot em upbele
gunman
No comments:
Post a Comment