Comics / European Comics

The Killer #1


By Jason Mott
January 19, 2007 - 14:15

Archaia Studios Press
Writer: Matz
Artist: Luc Jacamon


The_Killer_1_cover_small.JPG
Just when you thought the hired assassin story was dead: the body rises, an extinguished cigarette dangling from a narrow, firm lip is relit, smoke rolls from the nostrils, a cold, methodical hand reclaims the gun. The Killer is a gritty, noir comic that follows the life and mind of an, thus far, unnamed assassin. As this first issue opens, our blonde gunman is brooding in his own thoughts as he waits for the arrival of his latest mark. As he watches and waits, the assassin ruminates about how and why he transitioned from law student to gunman, while doing a frightening job of justifying murder for hire.

Written by Matz and originally published in France in 1998, The Killer is being imported and re-presented for an American audience and I find it hard to believe that any of what made this series popular in France was lost in the translation. Matz’s writing of The Killer is disarming and potent, just as any hired gun should be. Part of what makes the writing here unique is the self-awareness of the narration. The assassin at the center of the story knows that we are there; he feels us staring, acknowledges our disgust at his trade and addresses it. The Killer straddles the fence between Post-Modern fiction and fictional memoir writing. The narrator is both separate from the reader and, at the same time, part of the readership – he speaks to himself and accuses us in the same breath. A high-wire act worthy of Ringling Brothers.

Luc Jacamon handles the artwork on The Killer with deftness. He gives The Killer an unexpected look and feel. Dirty, bloody and harsh at times, the artwork is balanced by the calm, even pacing of the story panels. By the halfway point of the issue, even the simplest of activities in The Killer is full of subtext and suspicion. Simply slicing an apple seems foreboding and disconcerting and Jacamon manages to maintain the intensity with ease and finesse. Knowing the malign nature of the book, Jacamon manages to do something new an unique with the face of The Killer’s central character: he makes him look like the first guy in line for chess club and the last guy to sign up for the “hired gun” class. The unnamed hero is a thin, lanky, blonde-haired wisp of a guy who looks like he may have just escaped from a Woody Allen look-alike contest. But I dare you to say it to his face. By the end of the book, the assassin’s thin, awkward frame feels more substantial, crafted more from wood than straw. His former frailty feels more like efficiency, the efficiency of predators. It’s only after you close the book and begin to reread that you realize that nothing in the artwork has changed – he’s the same character on the last page as he was on page one – but you realize now that this isn’t the kid you picked on in high school all grown up… this is someone different, someone sharper, harder, someone you need to keep an eye on.


Slated to be a 10 part affair, The Killer is the book you need to watch.



Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

    RSS       Mobile       Contact        Advertising       Terms of Service    ComicBookBin


© Copyright 2002-2023, Toon Doctor Inc. - All rights Reserved. All other texts, images, characters and trademarks are copyright their respective owners. Use of material in this document (including reproduction, modification, distribution, electronic transmission or republication) without prior written permission is strictly prohibited. Toon Doctor ® is registered trademarks of Toon Doctor Inc. Privacy Policy