Written By: Ed Brubaker
Art By: Sean Phillips
Color Art By: Elizabeth Breitweiser

Publisher: Image

There are a few sure fire teams in comics to guarantee I buy a book. While a bunch of those teams include Morrison, the top of the list, without question, is Brubaker, Phillips, and Breitweiser. From Criminal, to Fatale, and last scene in The Fade Out, the team has yet to produce anything less than stellar. That said, the release of Kill or Be Killed this week may be the most anticipated book of the year for me, and it did not disappoint.

There’s one thing to always remember when you’re going into a story by this team: most of the characters are down right contemptible. This is no different. In this slightly oversized first issue, we follow Dylan, who we see at the start of the issue killing someone, as we discover what led him to this road. This is the best kind of first issue, in that there’s a lot to grab onto, as we see Dylan’s interaction with friends Mason and Kira branch off into various directions, establishing a well connected personal world where, while they aren’t great people, they’re compelling. Dylan reminds me a lot of Charlie Parish from The Fade Out. You never really like him, but you’re somewhat sympathetic to him and what’s happening to his world. We get that here, as Dylan has a pretty rough life, and is being hounded by even the larger world around him. In a series of events that I won’t spoil, Dylan is confronted with trying to figure out real from not real, and massive life decisions hang in the balance. This issue really encapsulates how Brubaker has made his mark in the comics world. While being introduced to these characters, and the world, it starts off clear and only gets stronger. Every time these creators work together, it feels like a movie straight out of the 1950’s or so, and Brubaker’s script keeps that nostalgic feel while still being modern. Also, while there’s certainly more to the story, this issue could conceivably be a one shot story in itself. It’s an excellent example of serialised storytelling done right: even though it ties into a larger narrative, this chapter itself has a beginning, middle, and satisfying end.

I’m going to get to Sean Phillips, but we need to talk about how good Breitweiser’s colors are in the book. Her muted, dirty palette manage to scream through the page, doing way more than just establishing the world. The actions of the art are bleeding through the colors and burning themselves into your mind. This looks like a color study, but done through the Phillips line. While the rendering and script are revealing slowly, the colors are in your face with what you’re going to be dealing with throughout the issue. It does not get any better than that. In terms of the line work, if you’re familiar with Sean Phillips, you know the drill. On top of he’s already tall reputation, he seems to have gone even deeper into detail in this issue; really hyping up a cinematic feel in the action sequences. The storytelling could stand alone with no words, and the choice to go full page with a side panel of text for certain big moments are stark and attention grabbing. Also, Phillips has the chance to design an aspect of the story that’s straight out of Bill Sienkiewicz’s New Mutants, which was a delightful surprise. And, my favorite aspect of art; between him and Breitweiser, the use of light, in its color and its inverse of shadow, is supremely done as well.

As you can probably tell, I cannot say enough good about this issue. Comics, on the whole, will be hard pressed to produce an issue this year that I enjoy more than this. The team has done it again.

 

5 Backstabs out of 5