Hitman: Ace of Killers

Written by Garth Ennis
Art by John McCrea and Steve Pugh
Published by DC Comics

For all of its insane creative energy, The Authority is still a superhero book. Guys in tights, literally punching the brains out of bad guys and trading quips with evil overlords--yep, a superhero book.

What makes Hitman such an interesting read is that it isn't a superhero book--and yet, it is. Tommy Monaghan and his partner-in-murder Natt live in Gotham City and occupy the DC Universe. They have adventures with Catwoman and the Demon Etrigan. Tommy even has a superpower of his own. But they're hitmen, not heroes; they're anti-heroes at best. They're two likeable, down-to-earth guys who also happen to shoot people for a living and who live in a world where you have to believe a man can fly. As Monaghan himself says, "Yeah, I kill people. Bad people. It ain't like I'm sneakin' up behind union guys with a thirty-eight, or whackin' some poor bastard who can't make the payments."

The Ace of Killers trade paperback collects a solid eight-issue run of the ongoing Hitman series, including one of its best storylines, in which the demon assassin Mawzir is sent to Earth to take out a hit on Tommy. Through the winding pathway of the plot, Tommy and Natt end up in a church with off-duty cop Debbie Tiegel, Catwoman and Jason Blood, a.k.a. Etrigan. While Etrigan is in Hell attempting to obtain the only weapon that can kill the Mawzir, the rest of the uneasy allies must survive a steady barrage of gunfire and explosives from the Mawzir's army of gangland thugs.

The storyline lasts six issues, and yet it essentially takes place in a single night. This leaves writer Garth Ennis plenty of room for the great characterizations and dialogue that have become his trademark in Hitman. These are plain funny, real characters, in spite of the world they occupy. Where Ellis opts for characters whose perspective matches their reality, Ennis' characters are more real than their reality. They say the things we readers must be thinking; they speculate on how kinky Catwoman must be to wear her slinky spandex outfit, and they mock Jason Blood's hypersensitive bitching about the burden he bears. Everything is taken at face value, but nothing is taken seriously.

Ennis also proves to be adept at carefully developing the romance between Tommy and Tiegel. She's a young cop who has no experience with men; he's a randy hitman who must be a suspect in more than a handful of G.C.P.D. cases. Somehow they connect, and somehow Ennis makes it believable, building up their flirtatious banter until they finally give in to their desire. Thanks to Ennis' approach to the DC universe, it stretches more credibilty to have his hitman hook up with a cop than it does for his hitman to read minds--but he pulls off both effortlessly, through great writing.

As if all of that wasn't enough, the final story in the book is EASILY worth the $18 price tag alone. It's a Christmas tale about a radioactive Santa, narrated in rhyming couplets--Dr. Seuss meets Quentin Tarantino. The story's crazy and extreme--just like Ellis' stories on The Authority. Both tackle the ever-expanding envelope of the superhero genre with equal energy; they just approach it from different perspectives. And best of all, it's a fair bet that neither will ever employ a dog wearing spectacles and his team of fellow canine crimefighters as a supporting cast.