Script: Chris Calkins, Alexander Storm & Julian Brantley
Artist: Manuel Martin
Colorist: Maurico Pinzon
Cover Artist: Tim Bradstreet
Publisher: New Kingdom Entertainment

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Coming across like a classic 80’s action movie, complete with brutal shoot-outs and snappy one-liners, Killer of Men could very well have fallen into the ‘forgettable cliché’ category, were it not for two very important things;

Firstly, the artwork, provided here by Manuel Martin, is truly fantastic.  No, it’s not particularly detailed, nor is it particularly ‘beautiful’ (at least in the conventional sense), but in terms of dark, heavily shaded intensity, it fits the storyline perfectly.  The violence is sufficiently over-the-top, and Martin brings the visceral nature of the shoot-outs to life while still managing to cram tremendous amount of expression into his brilliantly designed characters. Credit should also be given to Maurico Pinzon’s muted colour palette, which compliments Martin’s artwork perfectly and gives the book its gritty, grimy appeal.

Secondly, the main character, Abriam, is sufficiently compelling to carry the comic’s emotional load.  While on paper an ‘ex-soldier turned hit-man seeking redemption for his past sins’ sounds like something out of a high school creative writing contest, the team of script writers manage to erase any potential doubts by injecting a tremendous amount of depth and character into Abriam, and it is his tortured inner monologue that propels the twisting, turning (and increasingly violent) story forward.

I never like to delve too much into spoilers in my reviews, but Killer of Men has a lot of great storytelling going on.  A tense situation with a lot of intriguing characters whose stories steadily converge into one climactic showdown (i.e. shootout), it’s not exactly an intellectual, thought-provoking book by any means, but it is undeniably a huge amount of fun to read.

Abriam aside, the supporting characters are all terrifically well-realised, from gruff, scowling mobsters and their henchmen to smart-ass, wise-cracking FBI agents to a bizarre meth-head with a phobia of human contact who lives his life in a rubber suit and gas mask (yeah, you heard me). The world that has been put together here has a wide variety of interesting moving parts, and the twists and turns of the plot as the book reaches its crescendo are pure 80’s action blockbuster gold.

If you’re looking to be intellectually challenged, or to read something truly groundbreaking, then Killer of Men likely isn’t for you.  But on the other hand, if you want to see a brilliantly well-executed tale of revenge and redemption featuring some good old fashioned escapism into a world of guns, violence and tortured pasts, then I really can’t recommend this title enough.

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The 104-page Killer of Men graphic novel is now available exclusively through ComiXology.

And if you’re still not convinced, here’s a little teaser trailer for you;

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The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson (aka Ceej)
Article Archive: Ceej Says