A comiXologist Recommends
Kill or Be Killed #1, @imagecomics
by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser
Kill or Be Killed is the latest from the terrific trio of Brubaker, Phillips and Breitweiser and in my opinon it’s the newest example of the comic book you can give to your non-comic friends as an example of why serialized comics should be considered equal in artistic achievement to any film, novel or short story. These collaborators, who produced 2016 Eisner Winner The Fade Out, are at the top of their game and it’s a pleasure to be along for the ride. Kill or Be Killed is a must-buy comic that sets up a story that should develop into a delightful noir-infused, twist-filled character study.
The premise of the comic is simple: it’s also the title of the book. The main character, Dylan, is introduced to the reader whilst on a spree of Death Wish-like vigilante murders of “people who deserve it.” This is carried out with efficient, impressionstic art from Sean Phillips and the noir-shadow-plus-viscera coloring of Elizabeth Breitweiser. The book and art ooze late 1970s, early1980s, revenge inspiration, appropriate for today during the déjà vu season of political rhetoric we’re about to endure. If you haven’t read comics by Ed Brubaker, you’re missing out as the script for this reads as well as any writer working in fiction or comics today.
More important than any one of these comic pro’s individual contribution, it’s clear that this is a team effort, the art and script work together flawlessly and emanate the fun it seems like this trio is having when they make comics.
There is a twist about halfway through the story that I can’t tell you about. I will say that it too is 70s/80s inspired and takes a pulpy tale and makes it more pulpy… differently pulpy.
Josh Doyle-Elmer is the Email marketing specialist who only watches movies released before 1989.
comiXology Unlimited Staff Selects
The Fade Out
Writer/Artist: Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips
How you discovered it: Saw the first cover on comiXology.com
Why you like it: It’s a book about writers, as a bad amateur writer it speaks to me.
Favorite characters: Gil
Favorite moments: I’m a fan of anytime a character mutters “I think… I really messed up…” after a night of libations
-Josh Doyle-Elmer, Email Marketing Specialist
Read The Fade Out and thousands of other comics on comiXology Unlimited!
The Fade Out #10, October 2015, written by Ed Brubaker, penciled by Sean Phillips
Nobody does comics noir like Brubaker and Phillips. Check out the Fade Out #10 here.
(via zebtronarama)
Brubaker and Phillips Blast into THE FADE OUT
Poring over The Fade Out #1 again for tonight’s #LateNightReads to make sure I didn’t miss anything!
A comiXologist Recommends:
Harris Smith recommends The Fade Out #1
From Criminal to Gotham Central to Fatale, there’s no disputing that Ed Brubaker is one of the modern masters of crime fiction. The strength of his work derives from a keen synthesis of his influences, particularly 30’s-60’s hardboiled crime novels and film noir, combined with a streak of imaginative originality. In Gotham Central, for example, he crafted an expertly written Ed McBain-styled police procedural and grafted it into the ongoing continuity of the DC superhero universe. Fatale began like a Dashiell Hammet-influenced detective story, combined with an element of Lovecraftian horror, then spun both ideas off in a variety of unexpected directions. A significant factor in Brubaker’s appeal is that his influences are primarily stylistic, he doesn’t bog the reader down with excessive references or in-jokes, but rather uses his understanding of genre to capture its spirit, in the service of some often highly original storytelling.
In his latest, The Fade Out, from Image, Brubaker recalls the Hollywood-set noir of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, In a Lonely Place (originally a novel by Dorothy Hughes, later a film by Nicholas Ray, starring Humphrey Bogart) and The Big Knife (originally a Clifford Odets play, later a film by Robert Aldrich), as well as the non-crime desperation of Tinseltown-themed stories like The Day of the Locust (both Nathaniel West’s novel and John Schlesinger’s film, one of my personal all-time favorites) and Kenneth Anger’s salacious non-fiction Hollywood Babylon. Like these classics, Brubaker casts a cynical eye on the glamor of the movie world and focuses on the corruption and decadence underneath. Taking place in 1948, The Fade Out focuses on Charlie Parish, a seemingly burnt out screenwriter who awakens from a night of blackout drinking to discover he may or may not be implicated in a murder. Along the way, Brubaker evokes Pearl Harbor, the Hollywood blacklist and other heady elements that ground the story in historical reality. Tonally, The Fade Out expertly builds, in just the first issue, from uneasiness to dread to suspense and ends satisfyingly on a low-key cliffhanger that left me anxious to find out what could possibly come next.
If you’re a fan of Brubaker, you already know what kind of magic there is to be found here. If you’re new to his work, this fresh, smart, exciting new series is a great opportunity to get onboard.
[Read The Fade Out #1 on comiXology]
Harris Smith is a Brooklyn-based comics and media professional. In addition to his role as a Senior Production Coordinator at comiXology, he edits several comics anthologies, including Jeans and Felony Comics, under the banner of Negative Pleasure Publications. He’s also the host of the weekly radio show Neagtive Pleasure on Newtown Radio.