The Drink Tank Hitman Spectacular!

Cover by john McCrea, originally an unused cover for Hitman #14 Starting in 1995, I discovered that Starman, by James Robinson, was the best comic ever made. The main character was basically me, if I’d had my druthers and fought crime. It was an amazing comic and I have every early issue. I would buy it even if it meant not paying my bills. I loved it, and was buying it every month. In 1996, a new comic hit the stands, and I was only a bit curious. I remember going to Brian’s Books and seeing it on the racks, a guy with guns blazing and Batman. Batman on the cover never really worked to get me to buy a comic, but this one looked interesting. I bought it, took it home and read the hell out of it. This was Hitman, and it had instantly replaced Starman as my favorite monthly reading. It wouldn’t be until Powers came around that I fully immersed myself into a comic. The writing was absolute genius. Garth Ennis, whose Preacher had let me down every time I’d borrowed an issue, was at the peak of his powers, writing a non-superhero book (arguably) in a world of Superheroes. His world was enhanced by amazing art. The style of Hitman was instantly recogniseable. That was John McCrea and his coveres were especially fantastic. I fell in love with the over-all package. Hitman’s main character is a hitman named Tommy Monaghan. Hitman was one of those titles that stuck with me. There are some legendary moments that have just held on to me for ages. The classic is Superman showing up in the pages before a star-struck Tommy. That’s a scene that sticks with you. The association of Superman with Hitman is just so strange and it shows where the weakness in the Superman character and the power of Ennis’ take on Tommy. It’s amazing how brilliantly the entire scenario played out and that it’s still in my memory is even more incredible. I sadly did give up on Hitman after about issue 50. Not due to the content, just because the money wasn’t there anymore. I came back to the trades once or twice, and I’ve often mentioned Hitman as

the comic I’d most like to see revived. They seem to bring back every other character (like Barry Allen! I can’t believe they brought back Barry Allen!) but yet we’ve not seen Hitman return. There’s more to be done with him. I’ve never fully embraced Garth Ennis. Like I said, Preacher wasn’t my thing, never big on his Hellblazer stuff, enjoyed True Faith a bit, liked The Pro, but hated his Punisher stuff (though to be fair, I’ve never liked The Punisher). Hitman was his masterpiece. A piece of writing that was beyond anything else. McCrea’s work Hitgirl by EJ King was just as powerful. His images made Tommy.There’s a certain block-power to Tommy that calls to mind the other great DC heroes: Batman and Superman, while at the same time making him seem more human than any of the others. The writing mixes with the images wonderfully. I’ve often envisioned my own comics imprint. I’ve always dreamed of being able to create characters, give them a set-up and then let others play with them, tell their stories, create their worlds. The first team that comes to mind is Waid writing with the art of the sadly-departed Mike Weiringo, but a close second, and the only ones I’d want to do anything that was really dark, would be Ennis and McCrea. So, this issue of The Drink Tank is dedicated to what is still my favorite comic of the 1990s. Someday, I’ll do one for Powers, and then another for Starman and then one for how Vertigo made me realize I’ve no possible chance for success in this life. Until then, enjoy this look at one of the greatest series ever made.

Hitman, Batman, Superman, and the rest are all trademarks of DC Comics. Except where noted, all Hitman art is by John McCrea All DC Comics characters and the distinctive likeness(es) thereof are Trademarks & Copyright © 1939-2010 DC Comics, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

What Isn’t There To Like? By James Bacon I liked Hitman. It was a skewed take on the DC world, a little out of kilter and synch with the rest of this established and proscribed universe. Tommy Monahan, is instantly likeable, which is good for a hired killer, but then, that’s the true character of this killer showing through. The story of Hitman, a modern tragedy, with much comedy and mirth is really the story of Tommy and his mates, and it really goes far deeper than the average DC Universe comic into the character of the main protagonist. There is something palpably real about the friendships, and the upsets that occur throughout the story, and despite the sometimes bizarre and incredible comic book situations our friends fall into, there is an underlying back bone about friendship, its importance and its complexity which permeates the whole series. That Tommy is a meta-human with powers, that give him headaches, but which can indeed assist him, does not put him in the league of super heroes, and in actual fact he is far from them, looking onward, with an objective and at time disrespectful or fanboyish eye. Issue 34 of Hitman, is perhaps one of my favourite Superman comics, better even than the ‘What Ever Happened to the Man of tomorrow’ story. It deserved it’s Eisner Award. Tommy has a very cynical and wry sense of humour, the way he deals with Batman, or the way he and his friends talk about the annual ‘events’ that befalls the population of Gotham City are examples of the fourth wall, just for a moment slipping, as the reader smiles knowingly at the purposeful jibe against a bigger unseen commercial system.

Ennis very cleverly brings in many brilliant angles to the stories, from Zombie Penguins in Gotham Aquarium, to the Dinosaurs coming through a time portal, because of the nearby research lab. There is no end of possibilities, no end to the absurd, as Tommy and his friends become embroiled in another adventure. There is a real sense of adventure about some of the stories. A Boys Comic element that really excites and catches the imagination. There is also the element where Ennis brings in professional killers of a wide variety, whether it be gangster, or military orientated, in this world of Superheroes and derring-do, there is still room for crime and cold callousness.The issues that featured SAS men, showed that trained professional soldiers, are in essence very tough. The homage paid to various genre’s whether it’s the western, in the Pulp Heroes annual, with art by Carlos Ezquerra, or the Tommy’s Heroes issue, again Ennis manages to pull of fantastic nods to great works, without being shallow or derivative in a disappointing way. Tommy’s history that catches up with him is sorrowful, well thought out and very sad. That a character could have his mother and siblings killed by his father, that so much trauma could occur to an individual, in such a heartfelt way, just adds to the character and helps us understand him a bit more, understand, or try to understand his psyche, what he is made of. Of course on the sadness stakes, the ending of Hitman, the last issues, are really quite phenomenal. If you have read the story, from word go, if you have travelled with Tommy, Natt, Ringo, and Hacken and seen his friends and loved ones die, as his world seems to implode, despite everything, it quickly crescendos into one of the most moving and upsetting endings in comics. As I say to friends and my wife, each time I read it, it’s my chick flick of comics, I can’t stop how it makes me feel.

Comics You Should Own: Hitman by Greg Burgas All art by John McCrea from the Hitman DC series

As usual, MAJOR SPOILERS abound in this post. That’s just how I roll! Of course, Dogwelder isn’t the only reason these are Comics You Should Own. Dogwelder comes from Steve Dillon’s twisted imagination, which gave us a man ... who welds dead dogs to bad guys’ faces. What the hell, indeed. But Hitman is so much more than twisted jokes. Hitman, more than Preacher, more than The Punisher, is Garth Ennis’s masterpiece. orignally appeared as a part of Comics You Should He has never been as good, and he might never be Own on http://www.comicbookresources.com/ as good again. That’s kind of a shame, but we can still re-read this and marvel at just how good it is. One word makes this a Comic You Should What makes this comic Ennis’s masterpiece? Own: DOGWELDER! Preacher, with its Vertigo sensibility, its marketing push, and its lofty themes, is often cited as a comic Hitman by Garth Ennis (writer), John McCrea non-comics readers would like. Preacher, as good as (artist, Demon Annual #2, issues #1-20, 22-60, it is (and it’s quite good), is ultimately somewhat of 1,000,000; JLA/Hitman #1-2), Steve Pugh (artist, issue an immature work. Throughout, it feels as if Ennis is #21; inker, issue #22), Gary Leach (inker, issues #23- rebelling against a Christian upbringing, and while 27, 29-30, 32-60), Andrew Chui (inker, issue #31), there’s nothing wrong with that, it limits the comic Steve Haynie (letterer, Demon Annual #2), Willie somewhat. Ennis also screws up the ending, which Schubert (letterer, issues #1-27), Patricia Prentice lessens the impact of the book. But this isn’t about (letterer, issues #28-60, 1,000,000), Travis Lanham Preacher, it’s about Hitman! (letterer, JLA/Hitman #1-2), Gene D’Angelo (colorist, One reason this is superior to Ennis’s more Demon Annual #2), Carla Feeny (colorist, issues #1lauded work is the supporting cast. Ennis creates a 60, 1,000,000), David Baron (colorist, JLA/Hitman large cast, beginning with the title character, Tommy #1-2). Monaghan. Tommy is a killer who gains super powers in the Demon Annual #2, which was part of the DC, 64 issues (Demon Annual #2; #1-60 + “Bloodlines” crossover in DC’s Annuals back in 1993. #1,000,000; JLA/Hitman #1-2), cover dated Tommy was the only character from the crossover 1993 (Demon Annual #2), April 1996-April 2001, who lasted (the second most successful series to November-December 2007 (JLA/Hitman #1-2). come out of the idea was Anima, which ran 16 issues), which allows Ennis to make a joke about it issue #54 (McAllister mentions that the aliens created a new generation of superpowered beings, and Tommy says, “You mean like whatsizname? An’ that other guy?”). But Ennis gave Tommy a much bigger cast than Jesse Custer had. Tommy is part of a neighborhood - the Cauldron in Gotham City, the worst section of a pretty horrible town - and he hangs out at the same bar - Sean Noonan’s - so he has a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. This allows Ennis to develop one of his favorite themes - that of friendship and sticking by your friends no matter what. In Tommy’s world, there’s nothing worse than not sticking by your friends. The characters who surround Tommy are as interesting as he is, and therein lies the strength of the book. Sean Noonan is the father figure, a retired soldier and hitman who practically raised Tommy. Pat is Sean’s nephew and Tommy’s best friend. Hacken is a crazed killer who is definitely not the brightest bulb in the box, a fact that gets him needled by Pat, who, according to Hacken, always runs to Tommy

for protection (Pat isn’t a hitman, another strike against him). Ringo is a cool Asian assassin, the only one around who’s in Tommy’s class. Early on in the series, Ennis introduces Natt the Hat, an old friend of Tommy’s from Detroit. Natt and Tommy served in the Gulf War together, and Natt comes to Gotham to escape a gang war and becomes Hardy to Tommy’s Laurel. There’s also Tiegel, a Gotham detective who, through the course of the series, falls in love with Tommy and also gets fired because she’s an honest cop in a decidely corrupt department. All of these characters get their own stories at various points in the series, and Ennis does a wonderful job making them real. The characterization in this book is its bedrock. On the surface, what makes the book so glorious is Ennis’s plotting. This book is set firmly in the DC Universe, so there are superheroes galore throughout the run.Tommy himself has super powers, but Ennis does a nifty thing with them - Tommy rarely uses them. He gains X-ray vision and telepathy, both handy for his profession (it’s always good to be able to see the bad guys coming when they’re hiding behind things), but using them gives him a terrible migraine, so usually, Ennis just ignores them. This can be seen as stemming from Ennis’s disdain for superheroes, but it’s not really that. “Bloodlines” demanded that the “victims” get super powers, so Ennis went along with it. When Tommy got a series, Ennis obviously wanted to write it as a “regular” guy interacting with superheroes, so he downplayed the fact that Tommy has powers. But the fact that the book is in Gotham, in the DCU, means that superheroes are always showing up, and this is part of what makes the book so brilliant. Ennis doesn’t really write superheroes “realistically,” but he does make them human. Therefore, in issue #1, in which Tommy is hired to kill the Joker (why not?) and naturally, runs into Batman (DC marketing at work!), he is caught by the Dark Knight and beaten up a bit ... after having eaten curry earlier in the comic. In a brilliant sequence, he vomits all over Batman’s boots ... but that’s not the great part, as fun as it is. In the next panel,

Batman has a look of such disbelief, as if he never contemplated anyone puking on his boots. In the next panel, he lays Tommy out with a huge punch. He’s still Batman, but in two panels, Ennis makes him human by showing how angry he is by someone daring to vomit on him. It’s hilarious but also perfectly true to form. In “Local Hero,” the arc in issues #9-12, Tommy meets Kyle Rayner. Without changing his personality too much and without making him less heroic, Ennis shows how goofy Kyle is and how goofy the entire idea of superheroes is. Issue #11, where Tommy meets Kyle for the first time (after a cliffhanger confrontation at the end of issue #10), is hilarious. Kyle has been told by the government that Tommy intends to assassinate him, so he goes hunting for our hero. Tommy reads Kyle’s mind (“a pretty fast read,” he assures the audience) and discovers what his ring does. Ennis does a great job showing the power of the ring: “So your ring there, what does it do ... That. That. That. Uh-huh. Holy crap, what doesn’t it do.” Then he throws a grenade to Kyle and narrates, “It doesn’t make you smarter.” After they sort out that Kyle was lied to, Tommy takes him to Noonan’s. In another very funny scene, Tommy introduces Kyle to Sixpack, the Cauldron’s local superhero (we’ll get back to Sixpack). He tells Sixpack that “they won’t

let this guy in the Justice Club. Any chance you could put in a word for him?” Kyle tries to protest that he’s never heard of the “Justice Club,” but Sixpack ignores him and tells him they don’t take just anyone off the street. He asks Kyle what his name is, and Kyle tells him he’s Green Lantern. Sixpack says,“Yeah? You don’t look too much like him ...” Kyle tells him he’s the “new one,” but Sixpack tells him, “They only take originals.” Then, when Tommy tells Kyle to get the next round of beers, Kyle, logically, tells him he has no money he “can’t carry cash in this outfit, obviously.” In just a few scenes, Ennis takes the piss out of superheroes and their ilk - “Green on which Tommy is hanging out, and Supes tells him that he couldn’t rescue an astronaut trapped in a shuttle. Superman isn’t upset because the man died, but because he knows what people believe - if Superman is there, they’re safe. But at that moment, the astronaut knew Superman was there but he wasn’t going to save him. Tommy tells him that Superman is everything that’s great about

of how Superman is all that’s good about the country. It’s a brilliant piece of writing, and shows how well balanced Ennis makes his comic - Tommy is a great character, a nice guy (usually), but also a cold-blooded killer. He can charm Superman, vomit on Batman, and fall in love with a police woman. In the coda to Tommy’s series, the JLA/Hitman mini-series that came out in late 2007, Superman is still able to look beyond Tommy’s choice of profession, even if the rest of the Justice League can’t. More than any of the heroes, including the younger ones (Kyle and Wally West), Superman can see shades of gray in the moral makeup of people. Perhaps, Ennis is implying, because his great power requires such discipline on his part, he can understand the temptations of the dark side more than someone like Batman, who will never win his war against crime and can therefore allow himself moral certitudes. E n n i s ’s attitude toward the superhero genre can be seen in Sixpack and Section Eight, the group of absolutely dysfunctional

America - he’s an immigrant who didn’t bring all his culture with him, but decided to simply help people in need without worrying about the past. Ennis does a marvelous job building up to that moment, and it makes so much sense that it’s simply brilliant. But it’s not the only amazing part of the issue. The way Ennis and McCrea show the scene where Superman can’t save the astronaut is devastating, and even the little things - Superman pointing out that Batman’s response to his crisis was “typically grim” and Tommy whining that Bats needs to take a vacation - are spoton. And, hanging over the entire issue like a specter of death, is what Tommy is doing on the roof. On the first page, we see him leaning against a water tower, reading a copy of Newstime (with Superman on the cover, fittingly). Given what we know about Tommy’s profession, we wonder if he’s up to no good. Then, he begins talking to Superman, and we forget about who he is and what he does for a living. Then, when Superman flies away, Tommy goes back to work and shoots his victim. He even uses the guy in his example

heroes he introduces over the course of the series. Sixpack is a drunk who lives in a fantasy world, spinning his disgusting nights in the gutter into battles with Darkseid and other major DC villains. In issue #18, he decides to gather his comrades in Section Eight together once more, as Tommy, Natt, Tiegel, and Catwoman are holed up in a church that is being attacked by an angry demon. Only Section Eight can win the day! The collection of the heroes is a tour de force of parody, complete with individualized logos for the members: Friendly Fire, who only blasts his own teammates; Shakes, who, well, shakes; the Defenestrator, who chucks people through windows (he’s in Arkham, and Ennis pokes fun at the revolving door in the place when the attendant says, “We got pretty strict security procedures here at Arkham ... on the other hand, you seem like a pretty responsible guy. What the hell, huh?” [Needless to say, Sixpack is wearing his completely ill-fitting superhero togs and is obviously drunk]); Jean de Baton-Baton, who hits people with a stick; Dogwelder, who, as I wrote above,

welds dead dogs to people’s faces; Flemgem, who hocks loogies at the bad guys; and Bueno Excellente, who ... well, he sodomizes with extreme prejudice (he “fights evil with the power of perversion,” according to Sixpack). Ennis has always had a twisted and somewhat juvenile sense of humor, but the wonderful thing about Section Eight is that he doesn’t overdo it. They appear in issue #18, fight in issue #19, and take off in issue #20. Sixpack remains a supporting character, but Ennis uses him sparingly.They only reappear in issues #51-52, when a demon is about to take over the world.This is when Ennis is wrapping up the series, so several cast members have already died, and he dispatches most of Section Eight is hilarious, gruesome, and even tragic fashion. But Sixpack saves the world because he’s a superhero. The demon offers him a chance to fight in hell - “try your strength against us in a battle for your own soul. Win your salvation ... or meet your damnation. do this now, and we shall spare this world.” Sixpack doesn’t hesitate, but walks straight into the jaws of hell. In a beautiful epilogue, the narration wonders if maybe Sixpack got out. McCrea shows us a man in a suit standing in front of a group, and the narration reads,“Perhaps Sidney Speck, now attending A.A. meetings in New York City, might know a thing or two ... but if he does, he’s not saying.” This wonderful ending for a joke character is Ennis at his finest - he might not like superheroes, but he shows us that anyone can be one, if they just believe. And Sidney, a.k.a. Sixpack, is one of the few characters who gets a happy ending in the book. These moments, along with the plots of the story arcs, drive the book and make it such a “fun” read. It veers breathlessly from raucous comedy to dark tragedy, and Ennis does wonders with both extremes. Just to go over them before we come to the major theme of the comic and why it’s so good, the arcs are: Issues #1-3 (“A Rage in Arkham”): Tommy is hired to kill the Joker, but it turns out to be a trap set by demons called the Arkannone, who want Tommy to be their hired gun on Earth. Naturally, he refuses. Issues #4-7 (“Ten Thousand Bullets”): Mo Dubelz, the gangster from the original Demon Annual, puts a hit out on Tommy. Tommy, you see, killed his brother, Joe - who is Mo’s conjoined twin. So half of Mo Dubelz is a rotting corpse. This arc also features Nightfist (“He will hit you with his fist!”), a Batman parody who gets what’s coming to him, and Johnny Navarone, the fastest gun in the world, who Tommy luckily kills but whose

death has consequences in the future. Issue #8 (“The Night the Lights Went Out”): A “Final Night” issue, in which Tommy and the gang hang out at Sean’s bar and tell stories about times they almost died. Issues #9-12 (“Local Hero”): The government wants Tommy to assassinate superheroes for them, and when Tommy says no, they sic Green Lantern on him. Tommy ends up blackmailing the government official who tried to hire him. Issues #13-14 (“Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium”): Exactly what it sounds like. A scientist tests a zombie-creating drug (developed to bring soldiers back to life) at the aquarium, and Tommy and his friends need to stop it. This gives Ennis and McCrea an excuse for the gang to slaughter baby seals and penguins and other cute animals. Issues #15-20 (“Ace of Killers”): The return of the Arkannone, the Mawzir (their earthly agent), Jason Blood (and Etrigan), and guest-starring Catwoman. Selina steals the only gun that can kill a demon, and the Arkannone want it for their own. This arc brings the demon Baytor (who showed up in Ennis’s Demon run) into the cast, as he eventually becomes a fantastic bartender at Noonan’s. Issue #21 (“Kiss Me”): Tommy and Tiegel do the nasty, and Tommy accidentally stumbles across a drug deal that will have bad consequences in the future. Issue #22 (“The Santa Contract”):A deranged, radioactive Santa Claus stalks Gotham (the narration is in rhyme, like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”) and Tommy and Natt have to kill him. Very funny and bleak, and a nice Bladerunner reference. Issues #23-28 (“Who Dares Wins”): An old mistake comes back to haunt Tommy and Natt when the SAS (Special Air Service) comes to kill them. They drag the Brits into a gang war and escape only by luck. Issue #28 is an epilogue in which Tommy,

foreshadowing like crazy, wonders if they’ve gone too far in their professions and there’s no turning back. Issues #29-33 (“Tommy’s Heroes”): In order to feel like he’s not a complete scumbag, Tommy heads to Africa to fight rebels for a despot. He takes along all his friends, and of course, things aren’t what they seem in the desert. Issue #1,000,000 (“To Hell With the Future”; released between issues #31 and 32): Spoiled rich kids in the 853rd century bring Tommy forward in time because they believes he’s a hero; he tells them how screwed up the truth really is and, in the meantime, meets some idiotic superheroes. Issue #34 (“Of Thee I Sing”): See above. Issues #35-36 (“Katie”): Tommy learns about his family’s past, much to his and everyone else’s detriment. Possibly the bleakest story in the run. Issues #37-38 (“Dead Man’s Land”): Using the Gotham earthquake as a backdrop (a bit late, but still), Ennis tells a tale of vampires taking over, and he uses one of the undead from his run on Hellblazer to do it. We also meet a character Maggie Lorenzo - who will help determine Tommy’s ultimate fate. Ennis also has some fun with DC’s annual summer events in #37. Issues #39-42 (“For Tomorrow”): Ringo gets involved with some unsavory characters, Tommy gets dragged into it, and lots of people die. Issue #43 (“The Morning After, the Night Before”): Tommy cheats on Tiegel and gets caught. Hilarity ensues. Issues #44-46 (“Fresh Meat”): A time machine malfunctions, bringing dinosaurs back to the present. Tommy and Natt have to figure out how to stop them. Ennis does a nice job showing why dinosaurs might not like it here, despite all the human snacks waiting to be eaten. Issues #47-50 (“The Old Dog”):The daughter of a gangster who was killed when the SAS guys showed up wants revenge. Needless to say, things don’t end well. Issue #50 is an epilogue, showing Noonan’s fifty years in the future and featuring one of the most breathtaking and horrific double-page splash pages you’re going to see in a DC book. Issues #51-52 (“Superguy”): See above.

Issues #53-60 (“Closing Time”): The government guy who wanted to hire Tommy is back, experimenting on soldiers using the “Bloodlines” virus. Maggie Lorenzo happened to witness some of it, so she comes to Tommy for protection. Many, many more people die, obviously. These plots make the book entertaining, as Ennis rarely take the foot off the gas. Tommy’s world is filled with violence and death, and it’s often done in a wildly humorous manner. Ennis, however, makes sure the humor is balanced by a deep sense of loss when important characters die. It’s because of the book’s major theme that both the humor and the tragedy work. Beyond the plots, the theme Ennis wants to explore is loyalty and friendship. This seems very important to him, particularly at this time, as it’s a major theme of Preacher as well (and, to a slightly lesser extent, Hellblazer). The reason tragedy stalks all the characters in the book is because they are loyal to their friends. This is clear from the second arc, “Ten Thousand Bullets,” which begins with Tommy on a rooftop, bemoaning the loss of his best friend. Ennis introduces Natt the Hat in this issue, and we believe that he’ll be the one to die, but instead, Pat does. Pat, Sean’s nephew, isn’t a killer, and therefore doesn’t have the respect of Tommy’s peers, especially Hacken, whom he picks on constantly. In issue #5, Hacken calls him out for always hiding behind Tommy and his uncle when things get tough, and so, in issue #6, Pat holds out when Johnny Navarone is looking for Tommy, and pays the price. We see the aftermath of Navarone’s “interrogation,” as Pat is sitting in his bathtub, which is almost overflowing with his own blood. He tells Tommy he didn’t want to tell Navarone anything because he had to stand up for himself, just once. Tommy says, “I wish you’d told him everything. I wish you’d’ve sung like a freakin’ canary. I wouldn’t’ve cared.” Pat tells him he wanted to be a tough guy, and Tommy says, “You were the toughest guy of all,” before putting a bullet in his brain to put him out of his misery.This leads to issue #7, in which Tommy and Natt kill every gangster they see. It’s a horrific issue, but Ennis has set it up beautifully, and we feel Tommy’s

pain as he slaughters his way through Mo Dubelz’s gang. This establishes a pattern in the book, although none of Tommy’s gang dies until Ringo in issue #42. Tommy’s world is defined by loyalty to his friends and neighborhood. We see this in “Local Hero,” for example, in which the neighbors in the Cauldron cheer when Tommy faces down the Gotham police. In “Who Dares Wins,” this theme is twisted to horrible effect. The SAS is after Tommy and Natt because they accidentally killed a couple of British soldiers in Iraq (another humorous anecdote from earlier in the series that takes on deadly implications later). One of the SAS squad, Eddie Baker, doesn’t want to take on the mission from the beginning - he knows it’s a crock, as he understands that accidents happen in war. But he does his duty, not only because he’s a good soldier, but because his mates are on board. The SAS are so much better at killing than Tommy and Natt it’s not funny, but our heroes manage to stay alive, mainly through luck (issue #24 features a hilariously gruesome shoot-out in a fast food restaurant during which Tommy and Natt hide behind a ridiculously obese man who suffers a fatal heart attack as the gunfight begins), and they get involved in a gang war with Men’s Room Louie, a one-time patron of Tommy who didn’t like him accidentally breaking up the drug

deal in issue #21. Tommy and Natt distract the SAS by putting the gangsters in front of them, with much mayhem following. One of the SAS men is killed again, accidentally - and the remaining declare war on Gotham itself. Baker knows his commander, Captain Page, is out of control, but he keeps going along with him, because they’re mates. Finally, when he and his commander have Tommy and Natt at their mercy, Baker wants to let them go, but Page shoots him. Before Page can kill Tommy and Natt, Baker manages to get up and snap his neck. Tommy holds out his hand, saying, “Why don’t you just let us help you?” and Baker responds, “’Cos all me mates are dead.” With that, he drags Page’s body into the burning wreckage of a gas station, which explodes. It’s loyalty to friends taken to the extreme, but it shows what the characters are willing to do for each other. It also nicely foreshadows the end of the series, when Tommy is faced with a similar choice. This theme continues in the series. It’s most evident in the more tragic arcs, such as “For Tomorrow,” which features Ringo’s last stand, and “The Old Dog,” in which Tommy finally realizes how much of a father Sean has been to him but doesn’t tell him because it’s not what men do. Of course, Sean is killed before Tommy can say anything about his true feelings. This leads to issue #50, which features a Gotham of 2050, one with skyscrapers reaching to the heavens but one in which Noonan’s bar still stands. Some young punks come in talking about how great it is to be in the bar where Tommy and the others sat (Baytor is still tending bar, of course). An old man sitting near them reminisces about the old days, before Pat died, and decides to set the record straight (his reverie features a funny scene in which Sixpack walks in with Batman’s cowl and utility belt, saying he came across them during his crimefighting adventures, and Tommy tells him to put them back where he found them). The old man tells the kids the real story about their adventures, explaining that Sean always told them never to quit, not even to their last drop of blood. Hacken (for the old man is the goofy member of the crew) continues with the foreshadowing, “All gone now. Alla them. Years an’ years ago. Swept up by somethin’ -- Somethin’ inside them, that made them step into the valley of the shadow when they coulda got away instead. I never got it. Not ‘til years had passed. But there was so much I never understood.” It’s a wonderful issue, made even more memorable by the two-page spread of what Tommy does after Sean is killed: Again, Ennis shows the price of friendship and loyalty. Although this act has nothing to do with

Tommy’s ultimate fate, it shows that he’s gone beyond redemption and is simply looking for a way out of the pain of existence. As Hacken says fifty years in the future, he had a chance to get out, but he didn’t take it. “’Cos all [his] mates are dead,” so what is there to live for? All of this comes full circle in the final arc, which is where this book separates itself from Preacher, as its ending is much better. Maggie Lorenzo, whose son was taken by the vampires in issues #37 and 38, comes to Tommy for help after she witnesses a government assassination of a rogue soldier. The government is using the “Bloodlines” technology to create new, controllable superhumans, and it’s not going well. One of them escapes, and agents track him down and kill him. Maggie is just an innocent bystander. Tommy doesn’t have to help her, but of course he does. This brings him into conflict with the government agent who tried to recruit him back in “Local Hero,” who has recruited Johnny Navarone’s son, Mark, to deal with Tommy. Through the entire arc, Tommy begins to realize he can’t get out, and he takes steps to wrap up his affairs - he knows the government (or rogue elements thereof) won’t let him go. He convinces Tiegel to leave town

because he knows she’ll be collateral damage. We get a flashback to his first murder, of a drug dealer who was threatening Pat. Sean reiterates the theme of the book when he tells Tommy, “You always stick by your friends. If it comes to it, you give your life for ‘em.” We also get the origin of his friendship with Natt. Finally, the government agrees to send a helicopter to get Maggie out of Gotham and into a new identity. They refuse to send any more help, so Tommy, Natt, and Kathryn (the CIA agent who convinced Kyle Rayner to go after Tommy) go into the facility where the experiments are taking place and destroy it. In issue #60, as they go to the helicopter, the government agents attack, and it all goes pear-shaped. Both Natt and Tommy go down as the helicopter leaves, and in one of the most poignant endings to a comic you’ll ever see, Tommy tells Natt a dream he had about Noonan’s bar. Everyone is there drinking, and Sean says “There ain’t no closin’ time. But you gotta leave your guns at the door.” Natt considers this for a second, and then Ennis and McCrea give us this beautiful final panel: Of course Tommy couldn’t survive. He had gone too far and killed too many people. But he lived honorably and always stood by those he loved. Ennis never drives this point into the ground, because whenever it comes up, it’s always in the context of the stories. We know almost from the beginning of the series that it won’t end well, but if we look beyond the fact that Tommy and his friends die, it does end well - triumphantly, even. Tommy has almost single-handedly taken down all of Gotham’s gangs, stopped demons from taking over the world, saved the city from a vampire infestation, and ended a horrific government experiment. He always stuck by his friends, and he died saving one (Maggie) from death and another (Natt) from a fate worse than death (Natt would have been experimented on by the government). The way he lived is brought into focus a bit more in the crossover with the Justice League, in which he once again inspires Superman. Tommy saves not only Superman but the entire League, mainly because he was willing to kill. The superheroes have honor, but Tommy does too, in his way. Superman makes the point that the superheroes can afford to be morally outraged by what Tommy does because they don’t need to kill. But when Tommy needs to save people, he needs to be brutal, and that’s something superheroes - even Batman can’t do. The brilliance of Ennis is matched by John McCrea, who’s the perfect artist for the kind of twisted things the script calls for. It calls for horrible

violence, emoting from the characters, and all sorts of amazingly weird things. McCrea never flinches, as he gives us wild ten-armed demons, kooky parodies of superheroes (Shadow-Force, Nightfist, Overforce and the Over-Patrol from the One Millionth issue, Skull and Scarlet Rose, Section Eight), cute zombie animals, incredibly realistic war scenes, and glorious gigantic dinosaurs. He also shines on the quieter scenes, like when Sean dies and Tommy can’t cry: McCrea also does a nice job with the people in the book - everyone looks real. Tommy is not necessarily buff, Tiegel looks like a real woman, Natt is fat but not obnoxiously so, and even the goofy characters - the Dubelz twins, Men’s Room Louie, Sixpack, the guy with a tesseract in his ass (more childish Ennis humor, but again, he doesn’t overdo it) aren’t too wild. It looks like a comic book, to be sure, but that’s a big part of its charm. Despite the fine craftsmanship, this isn’t a comic that relies on making things look “realistic,” and therefore the entire book is more real. McCrea creates a truly wonderful world, a Gotham that is more of a real city than it often is in the Batman books. It’s not a pleasant place, but McCrea does a good job showing how these people can carve out small places that feel like home. He adds so many details to each page it’s silly to go over them, and the fact that he drew every issue of the run (save one) puts many prima donna artists to shame. Hitman never garnered the critical or commercial acclaim that Preacher did, and the only reason I can come up with to explain it is that it took place firmly in the DCU but it wasn’t a superhero book, so DC didn’t quite know what to do with it. Preacher explores many of the same themes (friendship and loyalty is a big part of that book, too), but less subtly than Hitman does, and Ennis, interestingly enough, reins in his more obnoxious tendencies on this comic, probably because it wasn’t a Vertigo book. By doing that, he’s able to more fully explore the themes without the ultra-violence and creepy sex overwhelming everything. Because he’s able to use DC icons, he’s able to comment quite a bit on superheroes themselves, both the good and bad of the genre. But because it helps to know something about the heroes Ennis skewers, it’s possible (probable?) this was less accessible than Preacher. That’s a shame, because the presence of superheroes in the comic are a relatively minor part of the whole. It’s really too bad, because Hitman is much better than Preacher. It’s deeper, more mature, far funnier, ends better, and has better art. As much as I like Preacher, Hitman deserves much of the praise that goes to that book. It’s a crime against the readership of good

comics that less than half of this has been released in trade format. Everything through issue #28 (the end of “Who Dares Wins”) has been collected, but I have no idea if they’re still in print or not. DC apparently has no plans whatsoever to get the entire series out in trade, which is about on par with them not getting Ostrander’s Suicide Squad or The Spectre out in trade. The saga of Tommy Monaghan is a magnificent comic book, and shows why Ennis is such a damned fine writer. Forget The Punisher - go find Hitman! (If you’re in the mood, you can peruse the Comics You Should Own archive. And yes, I’m aware that the series had one annual, and Ennis wrote some stories of Tommy that appeared in The Demon and in an issue of Batman Chronicles. Some of those I’ve read, but none are essential, although the time he was recruited for the Justice League is a pretty damned funny scene.)

The Tank by James Bacon Tommy’s Heroes is one of my favourite arc’s of Hitman. As Natt and Tommy escape the dangers of Gotham City, after the Men’s Room Luis incident, they like a pair of Wild Geese join up as mercenaries and take a job of work in Tynadia. The story itself is interesting, as within it, is another, linking back to the Who Dares Wins storyline, as one of the other Merc’s who befriends Tommy and Natt is Bob Mitchell, an ex-para who knew SAS man Eddie Baker, who died in Gotham. Garth Ennis seems to just enjoy the things that many people do, and having a Tiger Tank turn up in Hitman is quite brilliant. Although in The Demon, he did have the Haunted Tank turn up, and he also had a tank turn up in Johans Tiger... The reference to Kelly’s Heroes is quite obvious, but it’s the subtle touches, the graffiti inside the tank by Tiegal’s grandfather, the words on the front of the tank, that a tank could turn up somewhere odd, is not beyond all possibilities, a Mercedes Benz Grosser 770 turned up last year, and there were only just over 200 of them made, so finding one of 1,300 is not that unlikely, although only six Tiger 1’s now exist.

only became apparent when the Germans faced the Russian T-34 and KV-1’s in 1941. Henschel and Porsche set about designing a tank, that would meet the requirements - both designs armed with a Krupp built 88mm gun, similar to the famous 88Flak, but different and a Krupp built turret. The Henschel version won based on manoeuvrability, and was selected on the 29th of April 1942, after being shown to Hitler as part of his birthday. The tank was very heavily armoured, unlike the Panther which cleverly utilised sloped armour, the Tiger seems to have literally vertical armour, buts its tremendous thickness made it robust, the front facing armour was some 100mm thick. This added to its gun, which could accurately fire armour piercing shells at 3000m’s made it pretty unstoppable as a gun platform. It could decimate T-34’s, Cromwell, Churchills, Sherman A1’s and Sherman Firefly’s hundreds of yards before those tanks could hope for a penetrating shot. 1

The manoeuvrability of this tank was not bad either, considering it was a Heavy vehicle at some 57 tons, it could spin in place, using regenerative steering, and it had a maximum road speed of 24mph, and a Cross Country speed of 12 mph. The Panzers III and IV road speed was 25mph and 13mph off road. The only German tank that was seriously faster than the Tiger I was the Panther, with a road speed of 28mph and a cross country speed of 15mph. The mobility of the The Tiger 1 tank was not so strong. The 21 litre Maybach engine Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausführung E (PzKpfw VI created 700 horse powers, but really the transmission Ausf. E) armoured combat vehicle 6,Version E wasn’t up to driving the heavy weight and this and Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Sd.Kfz.) special ordnance other mechanical issues were a bigger problem vehicle 181 for the Tiger than enemy action. Tanks need to be moved, and traditionally, since World War 1, trains The requirement for a heavy tank really have always been utilised.This has not changed, hence why tanks do not seem to have become enormous over ninety years of development. The Tiger needed to have its track changed to fit on a specific railway wagon for transportation, an example of the unnecessary. The cost of the tank was incredible, depending where one reads, they cost 250K Reich Marks. Some 300,000 man hours. Costs for a Panzer III were 97K RM;s, panzer IV 104K RM’s and the panther panzer V 117k RM’s. So a Tiger cost some $100K each.

Now to give some context,America built over fifty thousand Sherman Tanks, at the cost of $33K@ while the Soviet Union built eighty four thousand T34’s at an average cost of about $38K@ That $100K in 1942 is worth about $1.3m today. Although Christopeher Wilbreck priced the Tiger closer to 800K2 RM’s or some $4.16 million in today’s money. That’s a lot less than a challenger 2 or Abrhams M1A, and not too much more than a Leopard 2, but quite a bit more than a Russian T90. They were expensive machines, and there were only some 1,300 built. The tank was such, that it could be damaged, made inoperable, ‘killed’ even, and if recovered, repaired rebuilt and sent back to the front. This means that the Tiger had a shocking Kill ratio, some 1,700 tigers were ‘knocked out’ and in return, regimental archives show that the Tiger was responsible for some 9,850 kills. 3 The Tiger tank is somewhat exemplified by the actions of Micheal Whitman, the most celebrated commander of this class of Tank. A WAffen SS officer, he rose through the ranks and at the age of 29 commanded a Tiger Tank on the eastern Front. His tally was phenomenal knocking out 13 T-34’s in one day, and scattering many more. He was a national Hero, and repeatedly awarded, receiving the Iron Cross and Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. The later award was only awarded to 159 Germans. In Normandy, where he was dispatched to in 1944 he took part i the Battle of Villars Bocage, and ambushed successful tanks of the 7th Armoured Division. On this day, the 13th June, some British 14 tanks and 15 personnel carriers along with 2 antitank guns were destroyed by Whitman. Perhaps more luck and guile than true tactical and strategic intelligence, he was killed in August 1944 during a batlle for Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil in Northern France, hit by a Sherman Firefly tank of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. In Hitman, a Tiger is found in Africa, these tanks served in North Africa, where their awesome weaponry was a big advantage, over long clear distances. Tigers were first sent to Africa with the Panzer Abteilung 501 in November 1942, with a total of 20 being dispatched by the end of January 1943. Subsequently Panzer Abteilung 504 were sent with 18 Tigers and 2 Panzerbefehlswagon

in March 1943. It is recorded that some of these were destroyed and captured. On such tank was Tiger 131, currently in Bovington Tank Musuem, and until quite recently in full running order. I visited the library and reading room, and chatted with author, curator and historian David Fletcher on a number of armour matters this month. I was keen to see this tank. It was part of the 504th in Tunisia, and was captured pretty intact by British forces, of the 48th Royal Tank Regiment on the 21st of April 1943. The Tiger had received a lucky shot that came off the gun barrel and slammed into the turret ring, damaging it and jamming it, as well as wounding the Tank Commander. The crew baled at that stage. It was sent back to the UK for evaluation. In 1951 the MOS handed it over to Bovington Tank Museum. The tank was restored over a thirteen year period, starting in 1990, with the assistance of the Army Base Repair Organisation. The engine was found to be unserviceable, so one of the Maybach engines from a Tiger II (King Tiger) was removed and installed.The Museum has two Tiger II’s.The Tank was in running order in 2004, and has run quite well. Now seven years later, with just 77 miles on the clock, the Museum wish re-engineer authentic parts for the final drive and engine cooling system, that will extend the lifetime of this working exhibit, the only one in the world, and one of only 6 Tigers known to exist. I was pleased to see, during my Visit, that a group of men, were busily striping parts of the tank, some £8.5k already raised. Just seeing the beast, it is still a large tank in comparison to so many of the 200+ on display. My favourite memoir that is related to the Tiger Tank, must be that of Hans Von Luck, a Colonel

in the Wermacht, he fought in Europe, the Eastern Front,Africa and in Europe again. He was instrumental in slowing down invading Allied forces in Northern France. His autobiography is a very interesting read, he spent five years in a Gulag, and after the war he also had an interesting time, befriending Stepehn Ambrose, who encouraged him to write Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck, Cassel Military Paperbacks, an amazing book.

Germans used overlapping road wheels, whereas the T-34 were wide in line road wheels, a design that continues to this day.

For more information about Tanks, check out http://www.tankmuseum.org/ The Tiger information centre: http:// www.alanhamby.com/tiger.html After the Battle isues 138 Villars Bocage Revisited. Kurowski, Franz (2004). Panzer Aces: German Tank The Tiger I was soon replaced by the Tiger Commanders of WWII. Stackpole Books II or the King Tiger, which was better engine, had an Jentz, Tom and Sarson, Peter Tiger 1 Heavy Tank armour upgrade and benefitted from sloping armour, 1942-45 New Vanguard Osprey 1993 similar to the Panther. Both tanks formed the basis for many other variants. http://daisenryaku.sega.jp/dengeki/papercraft.html Zaloga, Steven J., Jim Kinnear (1996). T-34-85 Medium Tiger I Weight 62.72 tons, Length 6.29 m (20 ft 8 Tank 1944–94, Oxford: Osprey Publishing in) 8.45 m (27 ft 9 in with gun forward) Zaloga, Steven (1993). Sherman Medium Tank 1942Width 3.55 m (11 ft 8 in) Height 3.0 m (9 ft 10 in) 1945. City: Osprey Publishing (UK) Crew 5 Taylor, Daniel (1999). Villers-Bocage Through the Lens. armament 1× 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56 - 92 rounds After After the Battle Engine Maybach HL230 P45 (V-12 petrol) 700 PS Hart, Stephen Ashley (2007). Sherman Firefly Vs Tiger: (690.4 hp, 514.8 kW) Normandy 1944 (Duel): Normandy 1944. Osprey Challenger 2 Weight 68.9 Tonnes Length 8.3 m (27 Publishing. ISBN 1-84603-150-8. ft 3 in) 11.50 m (37 ft 9 in with gun forward) Width 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) Height 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) (Endnotes) 1 JENTZ, Thomas L.; Germany’s TIGER Tanks - Tiger I Crew 4 and II: Combat Tactics; schiffer 2004 armament L30A1 120 mm rifled gun with 52 rounds 2 Wilbeck, Christopher W “Sledgehammers: Strengths Engine Perkins CV-12 Diesel 1,200 hp (890 kW) and Flaws of Tiger Heavy Tank Battalions in World War II Aberjona Press 2004 Power 3 Tigers in Combat I and Tigers in Combat II by Speed 59 km/h (37 mph) 40 km/h (25 mph) off road Wolfgang Schneider Stackpole Books 2004 and 2005 Tigers in Kelly’s heroes. The Tigers in Kelly’s Heroes, were in fact T-34’s dressed up as Tigers. Kelly’s Heroes was filmed in Yugoslavia, and made use of Tanks that had previously been used in the film, The Battle of The Neretva, a 3 hour epic movie, about a massive battle with Yogoslave Partisans. Yugoslavia had Shermans and T-34 tanks, and for the Battle of Neretva they dressed some of the T-34’s to look like Tigers. These were used as the front Tanks, in one of the main battles, but one can clearly make out Shermans and T-34’s just with German markings among the dozens of tanks used. Kellys Heroes utilised these shermans and dressed T-34’s for teh movie. An easy giveaway, is the style of wheels. The Art by Paul McCrea from Tommy’s Heroes arc of Hitman

Jeee Wizz Garth: Confessions of a Fanboy. by James Bacon Art by John McCrea Trincon forever changed the way I would see comics. I met Garth Ennis, John McCrea and Steve Dillon. As a teenager, this event was important, how would I know. I had been reading comics since I was four, my earliest memories of my Dad reading digest sized Battle and Commando comics, and I had gone on the well worn path of many others, going from boys comics such as Battle and Warlord to the science fiction anthology and home of such greats as Judge Dredd and Rogue trooper - 2000AD. So I loved 2000AD. They were great, cheap and plentiful. I had the best second hand comic shop in the world in Phantasia, situated about 15 minutes walk from my City Centre school in Dublin. Apart from having comics the main asset was a part time comic shop keeper, Mick O’Connor who is one of my best friends to this day, it was an entrance into the world of adult science fiction and comic readers who banded together and did stuff like socialising and drinking and talking about comics, and even though I was fifteen when I walked into this seemingly new dimension and it took me a while to realise that I had fallen in with a bad lot of good folk, they all listened to what I had to say. That took me from the day in day out of shitty school and introduced me to a place where you didn’t have to be an A-grader to have an intelligent conversation or score goal on the pitch to be respected. I started to do more than read comics. I started to learn who wrote what and who drew what. I hadn’t much time for American comics and definitely had a bad opinion of Marvel comics, no one really argued, although I remember sage words from Mick along the lines of each to their own and horses for courses and Jesus would you have a look at that… Anyhow, I was really into 2000AD and I had started to go to Irish Science Fiction meetings following encouragement from Mick and generally met many good people, like Padraig, Anna, Peter, Danny, Jonathon and others. At this stage someone had mentioned the first Octocon to me, but for some god awful reason that I will always pretend I regret I never listened, or took it in, or paid attention and actually missed out on what could have been my first convention. That’s fairly OK though, I don’t regret or miss

what I couldn’t have had. So I was into the scene and Trincon was on the horizon, it looked brilliant to me. So I was prepared for Trincon. This was a convention run by The Dublin University Science fiction Society. DUSFS – pronounced Duss-Fuss. Trinity College in Dublin was celebrating their 400th birthday and all the societies were getting a higher capitation and huge grants were available to do extra activities. DUSFS saw opportunity, had seen hat Octocon was made of and went hell for leather as one might say, but in those days science fiction was more parkas black jumpers, docs and combats than leather, but anyhow. So the flyers were really professional and the guest list tremendously impressive. Unlike the logo: /| / \ / \ T R I N C /___.| | | | || | | | | \_/ \_/

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My friends in Phantasia primed me for Trincon. There was much furore in the run up to Trincon. The students had unwisely called the dean an old nob or some such in their promotional flyer ( I still have one somewhere) in the usual student attempt to be rebellious. Initially those of us who were just looking forward to a convention were worried it would be cancelled, but an apology was made. The craic in Phantasia was great, it would be like some sort of mecca to go to in between ISFA meetings and everything was discussed, and many of my opinions in life for the better or worse were nurtured into being in this small shop. I had such a great time here mostly doing what people call retail therapy now, but back then it was feeding my reading habit. So it was shortly upon us, and it was £15, which was a shed load of cash to someone whose bus fare was 30p, and a batter burger and chips 80 pence in Brunos takeaway on Liffey st. And second hand 2000 AD’s were 20 p on a good day – 25 p on a Terry day. So £15 was a big deal, but when I registered cause I was still at school and had a school bus pass I.D. thing they gave me a student rate, although made it clear I wasn’t a proper student, yet, I didn’t care as I was too busy looking at a girl who seemed pretty. I must admit I had a likening for college girls when I was at school. So who was at the convention, well here is a

list

Iain Banks, Stephen Gallagher, Peter Morwood, Greg Bear, David Garnett, Terry Pratchett, John Brunner, Mary Gentle, David Pringle, Ramsey Campbell, Katerine Kurtz, Nicholas Royle, Storm Constintine, Anne Mcaffery, Bob Shaw, Diane Duane, Ian McDonald, David Wingrove, Harry Harrison, Geoff Ryman, Elizebeth Scarbourough, Steve Baxter and Micheal Marshal Smith, with special comics guests Steve Dillon, Garth Ennis and John McCrea. Ok, that’s shit hot list in anyone’s SF book. Its quite possibly a who’s who of SF writers of the early nineties in the Ireland and the UK. Greg Bear was huge at the time, and it was a killer list for all concerned. I of course didn’t get to meet Bob Shaw, but John Brunner had an absolutely beautiful wife with him and I noticed him therefore. But I didn’t meet Bosh, or other UK people who I would later get to meet, who were at the convention. There was much laughter at David Wingrove, he had explained what his books were about, but had done so in a rather unfortunate manner and we all sort of took the piss for the rest of the weekend. Every time I hear Chung Ko I have a little inward laugh. Its like a japanessey blade runner apparently. So the con was upon us, and the way it worked was badly. This was after all a student con. The main talks were in the college itself, in the lecture halls, and there was also some evening activity in some of the more salubrious of locations. The dealer’s room and convention bar and some of the smaller reading rooms was in the Powers Hotel on Nassau street, which is the southern side of Trinity. The boys I was with decided the place to be was the bar, this was also the hotel where all the guests were staying, the dealers room, where some of my friends were working and there was a quiz and other activities planned for the bar. So I was in the Bar. I was a teenager, under eighteen. Perfectly placed. My main mission of the weekend, apart from checking out chicks, chatting to mates and perhaps blagging some booze, was to get my comics signed. I was prepared and had a small selection for the aforementioned comic guests to sign, not too many mind, just key favourites. Garth Ennis had started his comic career while still at college, he was 19 and started writing Troubled souls, a cracking story about the troubles, at their height, for Crisis. By Trincon he had gone on to do a large amount of other work, including the Irish version of a Judge in Judge Dredd’s world, Judge Joyce from the

Emerald Isle and also the contentious True Faith for Crisis. I was a reader of these stories and wasn’t at all taken aback by their maturity of the issues or the writing. I really enjoyed them; yet even at this stage I hadn’t actually looked across the pond towards American comic writing, somehow perceiving these stories as being more juvenile somehow not worthy of my time and effort. John Mcrea was drawing Judge Dredd stories as well as having been the artist on Troubled souls and Steve Dillon was an absolute God of art, having drawn some of the greatest 2000AD characters from Judge Dredd to Rogue Trooper. So I had my few comics ready. What I wasn’t ready for was the idea of getting a sketch. Now forgive my naivety, but I just hadn’t thought that would be something they would do. So, I was nervous and with Mick we approached the lads, the 3 of them looked more like my friends than the rest of the guests, the leather jackets, long coats, and drinking aspect that they shared seemed to speak quite loudly to me. They were gentleman like and immediately welcomed me and offered to sign anything I had.

So I got my comics signed and in no time I was as chuffed as you can imagine. I was quick off the mark and although I hadn’t got much in the way of spare cash, I immediately offered the lads a drink, if they would buy it themselves, and they of course they gratefully accepted this offer. I didn’t realise that at that stage I had committed the best drop goal any comic fan can ever learn – get em signed and buy em a drink. Then Garth suggested I get a couple of sketches. I was a bit flabbergasted. He suggested I get some decent paper, and the lads agreed, so I got some from the reception. Steve immediately drew a cool looking Judge Dredd, it took him no time at all, and I was transfixed. He offered another, and he kindly drew an Irish Judge in my guise. Meanwhile John McCrea had offered to do a normal judge in my guise, this following on from wonderful piece from troubled souls. John and Garth were from Belfast although John was thinking of moving to Birmingham and Steve was living in Raheny, near where Mick lived on the north side of Dublin. This was like some sort of comic orgy for me, it was beyond my wildest dreams that I could get artwork like this, so quickly so easily, and I was immediately addicted. The lads would later regret this, as I would always ask Steve for a sketch, but he was always kind to me, and these days I suppose I am calmer and just buy artwork. The guys did a couple more, I have them still to this day, and the Powers Hotel headed paper on the rear. So the weekend continued, and it got a bit blurry as it went. I chatted at length with the lads, and they chatted with me, and they talked shop and didn’t mind at all that I was eavesdropping or worse added my tuppence they didn’t dismiss me out of hand or ignore me, but made encouraging or discouraging noises as required. Things got a bit strange. The lads decided I should have a couple of drinks, so I did, and then things get a bit blurry, and time and activities seem to drift into one another and then the lads are off for a meal or something and I am with Mick and the boys and I am drinking more. Its getting grimmer now that I think about and activities bleed into one another like some sort of Wibbley Wobbley Wonder Scoobydoo moment. I know that I was brought over to meet Harry Harrison as I love Jim D’Griz,The Stainless Steel Rat, I am not sure Harry thought much of my appreciation for his comic version of his well known science

fictional character but I was too young to show true disdain to and too drunk to know if Harry was just surprised to find a boy babbling about comics at a science fiction con. I think its best put he was very tolerant. Today I would say he is a true gentleman of science fiction and god knows how he put up with oiks like me. Then there were more drinks, in a different part of the hotel, maybe this was the next day, I don’t know, what I do know is that I didn’t go home, which was a bit like a good idea as I was drunk, I think I ended up in Padraigs and Anna’s but that’s OK, cause Anna was like a big sister, well a beautiful big sister, who everyone in the world would like to go out with, but I definitely behaved myself, cause she always kept me in line, and out of trouble and noticed nice girls I should pay attention to, and gave me the most sexiest look of ‘trouble’ when I was up to no good. I was continuing to drink, I have no idea how much or what kind of booze, I know I was at times with the comic lads in between their official engagements, which I opted out of, but they were at the hotel a lot and I was in their wake, like a true fanboy and I know this for sure because a couple of time Noreen Monahan a stalwart of Irish conventions, came over and mentioned to the lads that I was only a young fella and that I wasn’t used to drink, initially cause she wore glasses, they thought she was my ma, which was pretty funny and sorta cool at the same time. I remember Helen Ryder taking me for something to eat because someone had to, with a big tall man, who was a writer, he was a nice fella, even if he was Canadian, as I explained to him, and I had no inhibitions about him being gay, and I think I may have impressed him by explaining that he was OK in my book for being gay, and tall and a Canadian, or maybe I said it to Hellen and she SHHHH SSSHHH’d me, I cant be sure, I know I was either in trouble and he was also tolerant and smiley and I remember a sandwich. Then I was asked by the Trincon people to find the comic people who were meant to be on a panel. I said I knew who they were and must have been sober enough to actually seem like I knew what I was doing, and I was sent around to Keoghs pub to let them know they were required. Keoghs was bustling rammed to the gunwales, but in a snug the lads were drinking and they welcomed me, and agreed to come back to the con, as long as I joined them in some drinks and toasts, were they doubles, were they triples, could I care, I was having a great time on some sort of strontium mission to consume any free booze

that came my way, and if this was entertainment to all and sundry, like I cared. I remember eventually getting home and having to go straight to bed, so my parents wouldn’t find me, or that was the plan, I am pretty sure Mom directed towards my room. I know I had a special bag for my artwork and comics, which was reinforced and looked after and I still have those pictures today. Was I on a high, oh yes I was, it was an amazing weekend. I hadn’t missed anything I had arrived at something that was to have great importance in my life. You see through all the drink fuelled kaleidoscope memories to this day I can vividly remember Garth calling me to one side to show me something he had rolled up in his long coat inside pocket. He took out a beautiful piece of Glenn Fabry artwork. ‘Have a look at this, it’s an American comic I am writing for, I think you’d like it, its called Hellblazer.’ He spoke to me about it, how he was writing and how Will Simpson from Northern Ireland and who had also worked on 2000AD was the artist at the moment and how Steve would shortly be taking on some of it as well. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, the Irish Judge team, that was nearly too much. I wasn’t so much as sold, as bought. It was the cover to Helblzer 52. His Belfast soft accent and charm, alluring and that’s before you consider I was standing next to someone I literally considered as an entertainment god. This guy WROTE comics I loved. It wasn’t pretentious bullshit, I loved his writing and here he was giving me a feeble fanboy a moment of his time to recommend something, that by the way he concealed the artwork was very important and not to be known publicly. I was on my

yellow brick road, at other times Garth mention other American comics, my usual disdain and negativity discreetly decided that it should scurry away, not shunned by Garth, but my own respect for this man, who was advising me what to read, how could I object. No whoer like a converted whoer. I went out the next week and found issues 41 upward of Hellblazer and was totally mind blown. Here was a comic that I could understand that was dark, that spoke to me, that was set in Ireland and that had a in your face arrogance and humour about it that just said farewell runners, hello doc martins. That weekend I got turned onto American comics. That’s weekend I met Comic people, who were cool to me. That weekend I learned that I could enjoy myself at conventions, and be among people who would look after me. That weekend I realised that a science fiction convention was more than just books, but that it was possible, just maybe to have people like Garth along as guests, who spoke directly to me. The importance of having a guest who excites the person who is running the con has never left me. Jeez, I wonder do Garth, Steve and John have any idea. I suppose they do. I met John last year at a massive media con, I give a hand with that, and he drew me a nice sketch. I invited all three to as many conventions as possible, and Garth and Steve were both special Comics guests at Octocon, as was Will Simpson, also from Northern Ireland. I met Garth Ennis in New York while on my Taff trip, the guy is such a decent chap and has produced such an amazing body of work, I just cant get over how much of his work I really enjoy. I

got a mention in the Preacher letters column, I have bought artwork and paraphernalia. I have gone on from looking at that picture by Glenn, to brining Glenn Fabry to Ireland to be a GOH at They Came and Shaved us, I review comics now for the BSFA, I have ensured that any kids programming I am involved with always have comics panels and I always feel that these comics lads gave me some sort of extra love for the mixing of my hobbies which I am fortunate to achieve. The importance of that weekend should not be belittled. Mick had alredy set me on a path, but the burning lights that shone along the way were so important. Garth is cynical, worldly, he had this sort of attitude, even back then, there is something insightful about his attitude, They only thing missing was girls, but I am sure I ogled at them a lot and probably blushfully chatted up one or two in moments of drunkenness, but I don’t think that’s what the weekend was about, it was about a bunch of Boys and a Bunch of Comic Professionals. Thanks Lads.

Having Your Cake and Eating It by Michael Abbott Hero.

The subject of mainstream comics is the

There, that’s the first sweeping generalisation out of the way. Basically, writing about the Hero can go one of two ways. You can construct the Hero, or deconstruct him (or her). If you construct the Hero, you are asking what they are like, and what makes them heroic. Who’s more heroic? Superman, because he is more powerful, or Batman, because he does more with less power? Or maybe Superman because he believes in the American dream, or Batman, because he doesn’t, but carries on anyway? If you’re deconstructing them, you’re doubting that they are a Hero at all. Maybe you are planning to reconstruct them, or maybe you’ve just had enough of them. You could be writing about the personality disorders of Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons), or the police procedural Powers (Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming), where superheroes stand in for modern celebrity culture. Hitman, brilliantly, does both. It’s set in the DC Universe, where there are lots of heroes. It’s even set in Gotham City, home of the Batman. So yes, it features superheroes. Tommy Monaghan has “superpowers”: telepathy and X-ray vision. But they are marginal to who he is, and sometimes he doesn’t use them for an entire story. Instead, he relies on his gun skills, his quick wits, his speed, and sometimes his friends. Most of his friends are contract killers. So is Tommy. Every story in Hitman is packed with plot, sharp dialogue, humour and interesting characters. It’s never didactic or wordy, but at the same time, it is asking “why is Tommy the hero here?” and “What is a hero?” He’s sure not a hero because of his superpowers. Green Lantern turns up and is kind of a twit. Batman turns up and gets more respect but of course he worked for his abilities, and Green Lantern was just gifted his. (And as for Section Eight... Well, yes, there would be heroes like that out there.) Garth Ennis obviously sees superheroes as a bit ridiculous, and deconstructs them good and hard. And then he looks briefly at the martial arts hero: there’s a scene where Tommy and Nat are attacked by an awful lot of ninjas, and kill them all with automatic weaponry. (I think John McCrea had fun drawing that one.) What kind of hero would you like,

we are being asked? Ennis isn’t sure he likes superheroes, or ninjas, and he seems to like the Tarantino-style “tough guy with a gun” a lot more. Is this the proposed Hero? Well, he has cool trenchcoat and shades, snappy dialogue, an impressive bodycount, and he doesn’t get scared. That’s a popular Hero picture, for sure. Look more closely, and there are better reasons to say Tommy’s a Hero. Like many such characters, Tommy is a killer with a conscience: he turns down a lot of dirty jobs, he daydreams about getting out of the business, he helps people when he can. He tries not to kill good people, and sometimes he does good by killing someone. But even as he is constructing his “Killer with a Code” hero, Ennis is deconstructing him as well. There are points where he only survives by dumb luck (the SAS team, for instance, pretty clearly outclass him, despite having no superpowers at all), or by having powerful friends. But more than that: conversations between Tommy and Ringo make it clear that they are lying to themselves when they say they can put aside the violence. Tommy’s father figure Sean gets a going over from policewoman Tiegel, as someone who never taught Tommy proper morals - and she’s right. Again and again, through all the action, we are shown the limitations of Tommy’s view of life, of his moral outlook, and of his willpower. And in the end, we are shown the consequences of living by the gun. The Hero has been made, analysed, and destroyed, all in one go.You know, Hitman just knocks it out of the park. Heroically so

Garth Ennis speaks on Hitman Garth Ennis on how Hitman come about. Tommy spun out of a 20 issue run that John McCrea and I did on the Demon, there was an annual event, a cross over, see I have done my share, it was called Bloodlines and the idea was alien monsters came to earth, bit people and every 1,000 victim would develop super powers, so it’s quite clever of DC because you know, they publish this cross over, there is a new character created in every title and they end up with 20 or 30 new characters. John and I were both into John Woo’s Hong Kong shoot-‘em-up movies at the time, and fancied something in that vein. Tommy was the one John and I came up with, Gotham city hitman gets bit by the alien monster and develops x-ray vision and telepathy, oh and his eyes turn jet black as well. That really was the starting point, there wasn’t much more to it than that. Really when you look at the idea of the character, it’s not terribly original it’s the treatment of the concept, it’s the personality that we gave him and the supporting that we surrounded him with, which made the book the success it was. Garth Ennis on The crew at Noonans Pub, Pekinpah, Gotham. Sean and Pat had already been established in The Demon, as surrogate father and brother figures to Tommy. Hacken was the comic relief idiot. Ringo was a nod to the aforementioned John Woo movies, a direct lift of the tragic gunman character usually played by Chow Yun Fat. And the Cauldron was Hell’s Kitchen, twenty or thirty years ago, an Irish ghetto forgotten/ignored by polite society. Garth Ennis on what the series Hitman is about and how it ended Hitman was a book and it’s one of my all time favourites, that I did with John McCrea, the lead character is Tommy Monagahan who is a Hitman, who as we set him up, really just as the pitch to get the thing going, was supposed to specialise in killing off super powered or super natural characters, in which he was aided by his own superpowers, which he gained by accident. Half the time I forgot he had the powers and half the time i forget he was supposed to kill super powered people. It was really the story of Tommy and his friends who were also hit men who drank in this one little bar in a dark corner of Gotham city, it was funny, in a very dark way, I don’t think it ever got goofy or bloody weird, I think what sustained it was

peoples affection for the characters, who were all very well realised by John McCrea, it lasted 60 issues, about half of it has been collected, although those collections are slowly going out of print, it would be wonderful to see the books collected and kept in print. As I say it’s a story I am terribly fond of and a lot o other people seem to be two. I have since written a JLA story, that John McCrea drew, it was kinda the lost Hitman story, the one we never had room for in the monthly, and it shows you what happened when Tommy ended up teaming up with the JLA, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern. The Mawzir, Tommys demonic enemy in ‘A Rage in Arkham’ He was really just meant to be a thoroughgoing scumbag, not much more to it than that, although his origin as six Nazi bastards glued together was kind of interesting. I try not to have characters return too often, otherwise you get that tedious sort of “the Joker’s escaped again” feeling. My general line in The Punisher, for instance, is that you can’t survive two encounters with Frank Castle – the second time around, either you kill him or he kills you. That probably held true for Tommy Monaghan, as well. Garth Ennis on Section Eight There was s super team, the leader of which drank in the same bar as Tommy. The super team was called Section Eight. The idea was to have a bunch of superheroes who just couldn’t cut it. Sixpack their leader was a delusional drunk in soiled tights, and therefore the most direct commentary on superheroes. Shakes had epilepsy, there was no excuse for that at all. Jean De Baton was born of an old Denis Leary rant, back when I thought it was big and clever to make fun of the French. Flemgem was pretty obvious, likewise Friendly Fire. The Defenestrator was born of a guy John and I heard about, who apparently collected comic book artwork featuring images of women being flung through windows. We thought we were onto a surefire money maker, but we never heard from the guy. And Bueno Excellente, whose power we could never reveal but which was actually pretty obvious, came from a porno movie a friend of John’s saw- in which a gentleman indicated his approval of a young lady’s actions by groaning, “Bueno… bueno… excellente… ”. He told us about this, and something about the way he said it made me think- there’s a character in there, somewhere. Dogwelder was Steve Dillon’s. He and a friend came up with Dogwelder in a bar a long

you can’t do that. We’d have the odd “Goddamn” or “son of a bitch” excised, usually quite arbitrarily. People look for rules for this kind of thing, when in fact the last thing you ever want is a series of set rules- because whoever’s setting them will automatically err on the side of caution. What you want is a smart editor who knows how to catch his boss in a good mood, and I’m fortunate to have worked with several. The one book we ran into trouble with was the Hitman/Lobo special, for which a mature readers label was deemed essential. Dogwelder did not play well in certain quarters. Lobo’s unconscious tryst with Bueno appalled a number of people, and in fact had to be toned down.

time ago, and he said we were more than welcome.

Garth Ennis on – The appeal of writing Tommy His irreverence. The supreme ease of writing a character whose sense of humour was pretty much my own. And a natural affection for the underdog, too.

Garth Ennis on Rules: Garth Ennis on mainstream and censorship. The only rule, really, was to avoid writing Was it mainstream? A little bit, you couldn’t superhero characters or participating in crossovers ay fuck, but on the other hand you could show a as much as humanly possible, and if I had to, to do 300 pound man take a direct hit from a grenade and it on my own terms. Stay in our own little corner. burst and a tidal wave of gore carry the two lead characters of the book out the back of the restaurant Garth Ennis on Tommy Killing Arkham it happened in. You could show some pretty dreadful inmates. things and John did, but I think because of the kinda To Tommy, they’re scum – mentally ill or skewed sense of humour that that book had, we gota not, they’re serial killers, rapists and paedophiles. away with a lot more than we otherwise might. May as well kill them, we’ll hardly be losing the It was because we filled it full of characters cure for cancer. And there’s money to be made. like Section Eight and because we took that kind of skewed bizarre approach that we were able to Garth Ennis on Tommy’s powers: get away with so much, I think. . People who might I kept forgetting to use them. otherwise had said no you can’t possible do that’ if we simply had sexual or violence situations or filled Garth Ennis on Natt the Hat the book with profanity and it would have been I wanted Tommy to have a good friend who very easy to say, you cannot do this. People who was his equal (or in Natt’s case, slightly outclassed would have a tendency to censor us would look at him, at least in terms of toughness). He ended characters in section eight and go ‘I am not entirely up being in a lot more storylines than I intended, sure what they are doing here and i don’t think i like but it seemed to work out well for all concerned. it but I can’t exactly say why so I guess I am going to let them get away with it. Also Beune Excellente Garthe Ennis on Superheroes: who was a member of section eight and we got away Tommy saw them all as idiots, mostly with Beuno simply by never showing what it was he walking bullet-magnets to be avoided like the plague. actually did to people, although there were enough Occasionally they would be worthy of a little more clues provided that I think you could kinda tell, but respect, eg. someone as dangerous as Batman, but again, so long as we don’t show it, no one can go, no

at the end of the day it’s still a man in tights. My own attitude has always been to write established characters as I think they would actually behave, rather than by any company guidelines. Batman, again, is one of those military genius figures like General Patton – you’d want him on your side, but you wouldn’t want to spend more than two seconds in his company

Garth Ennis’ favourite moment Pat’s funeral, anything involving Tiegel’s grandfather, Sixpack sacrificing himself, Bueno’s appearances, Ringo’s last words.

Garth Ennis’ Favourite action sequences? Tommy and Ringo defending Wendy’s Garth Ennis on Superman apartment in part two of “For Tomorrow,” the To Tommy, Superman is the ultimate dinosaur stuff, the tank bits in “Tommy’s Heroes.” American, the one concept which will turn our boy just a little bit sentimental. To me – again, Garth Ennis on Tiegel writing the way I think the character would beTiegel was fun, in that she tried hard to be a Superman should be like Jesus. Constantly let take-no-crap type but was constantly drawn back to down by humanity, and never giving up on them. Tommy anyway. I loved writing her grandfather, there was something gloriously perverse going on there. Garth Ennis on Crossovers. Ultimately, Tiegel survived because she did to Tommy The challenges were that they were mostly what he couldn’t do to the life he led: she walked away. bloody awful, and there was simply no escape from them. The Batman ones in particular involved Garth Ennis on other artists something deeply unimaginative happening to Gotham When you’re talking about the likes of Carlos City every year or so (earthquake, plague, unsightly Ezquerra and Doug Mahnke, you know you’re in good urban decay), culminating in Batman finishing the story hands. in a slightly darker charcoal shade of outfit – thus fulfilling the initial promise of nothing ever being the Garth Ennis gives us a hint? same, presumably. This was not the writers’ fault, by There’s actually one character from Hitman the way, far from it. I used to read the series outlines who went on to feature in another long-running for these things and despair for the poor bastards. series I’ve done; a series I continue to write You did what you could. Occasionally you could to this day. If you read carefully, you’ll find her. have a bit of fun, like One Million, or taking the piss out of No Man’s Land. And, to be fair, the Garth Ennis on the future of Tommy, is there Final Night story did end up being pretty good. one? I don’t think so, this is all there was left to tell. Garth Ennis’ favourite character But I’d love to bring back Section Eight for a special, Probably the Daredevil guy, Blind Bastard. It and I know Baytor has a lot of life left in him. If the had to be done. three people and a cat who actually remember those characters could let DC know about it, we could Garthe Ennis on “Zombie Night at the dream the impossible dream. Or something. Gotham Aquarium” I was looking at some adorable baby seals, Garth Ennis being sentimental during a visit to the San Diego Aquarium in the Beyond the people we love, what else summer of 1995 and it suddenly occurred to me: what if they were undead? Garth Ennis’ favourite story’s “Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium,” “For Tomorrow,” “Fresh Meat,” “Superguy,” “The Old Dog.”

is there in life that’s worth hanging onto? They all brought a lump to the throat. I liked them That’s about as sentimental as I ever get, all; each death took us a step closer to the end of incidentally; if asked again, I’ll deny I ever said it. everything. Hitman is one of my all-time favorites, Garth Ennis on the End and my affection for the book and the characters I figured out that particular ending about outstrips almost everything else I’ve ever worked halfway through the book’s run. I knew what would on. Preacher ended exactly at the point it was happen, I just wasn’t sure of the details meant to and remains in print- and then some – to I’d been given the word that Hitman would have to this day, I have absolutely no regrets there at all. start winding down about a year and a half before The Demon I recall with a wry smile. Hellblazer, the last issue shipped. Sales were nothing special, and it sounds bizarre, but half the time I forget I even weren’t giving any sign of improving. I was amazed we wrote it. The Punisher rolls on down its bloody lasted as long as we did. Looking forward to writing path. But Hitman I remember with enormous the final storyline, doing all the scenes I had stored fondness, and a certain degree of pride- for a away for so long. Slightly sad, knowing it was the end book like that, with no superheroes and no mature of an era. readers label, to last five years and be full of the I figured out pretty early on that everyone kind of madness we filled it with… well, that’s not would eventually buy the farm. They lived by the gun, such bad going, is it? so that was how they had to check out. The order of I was happy to leave it where I did, it has a nice the deaths was set pretty much by the effect they’d sense of completion. have on Tommy: Pat (it isn’t a game anymore), his sister (this life kills innocents, too), Ringo (if he can die, what chance do I have), Sean (exit the father figure, the one constant), Sixpack (not even the comic relief gets out of this)…leading, of course, to the inevitable.

Official STUFF

First off, Hitman was created by Garth Ennis and John McCRea, it is copyright to them and DC Comics. This is a fanzine, an amateur effort to pay homage to one of our favourite comics. It is not a Hitman product, it is a homage to a body of work that makes us, the editors of this fanzine, laugh out loud. it is free online at www.efanzines.com and we will give some printed ones away free as well. If we meet you, we will also give

a free HITMAN comic with it, this is not a gimmick, we want to promote the comic. Feel free to print this fanzine as many �mes as you want, but all the images are copyrighted, the original script is copyrighted and all contribu�ons are copyrighted to those contributors. We simply asked for permission, from John and Garth to do this fanzine. We are grateful for permission to use quotes Garth has made for other interviews, specifically the Newsarama interview with Zack Smith (www.newsarama.com) and the YouTube interview with The Comic Collec�ve, who do some amazing stuff (h�p://www.youtube.com/user/thecomiccollec�ve). They asked the ques�ons we would have asked. IN fairness, these were done around the �me of the release of the Hitman/JLA issues, and when the Trade Paperbacks were slowly going out of print. We are very grateful to John McCrea for finding an unused Hitman cover and allowing us to use it, along with all the images he let us use. These images are copyrighted to John McCrea. Last year DC re-released A Rage in Gotham, with a new introduc�on from Steve Dillon, and most importantly with a number 1, on the spine, I know as I just bought it for a friend’s birthday. I am hopeful, that they con�nue, and I see that Ten Thousand Bullets, Volume 2 of Hitman is scheduled for release in March. Our goal is to talk about and feature a comic that makes us both laugh out loud, and despite the percep�on that it may be full of school boy humour, we both feel it’s very though�ul, clever and an insight into friendships, rela�onships and ordinary stuff, a key feature through the sixty comics and 4 specials, that a cursory glance would never reveal. Last year, DC released an updated version of Hitman in trade paperback format, with an excellent Steve Dillon introduc�on. We really hope if you do one thing, you go and buy this trade paperback collec�on of comics. If you do not laugh, well, we will buy you a beer, and if you do, you can let us know.

Drink Tank 245 Chris Garcia & James Bacon - Editors