collecting the serial from 2000AD progs 780 to 791
Writer: John Wagner
Artist: Arthur Ranson
Publisher: Rebellion (ISBN 1-904265-05-7)
Harry Exton is a professional killer. Formerly a British soldier, on leaving the army he hired himself out as a mercenary in various hotspots in the world - he took no moral stance, just worked for the highest bidder. Now he's retired from that game, and the quiet life beckons until he ex-comrade-in-arms, Carl, tells him about "The Killing Game"...a game played by the rich, whereby they hire their own personal killers - called Button Men - and pit these guys against each other in various contests and locales, wagering on the outcome.
Harry's not really overly interested in taking part, but when he's made the target by a particular player's current Button Man, and finds that the simple act of offing him gains him 20K and a whole lot of respect, he joins in...for a while.
But how do you stop killing when all you know is what a voice on the end of a telephone tells you? When stopping killing automatically makes you a major league target? When everyone else who tried to get out of the Killing Games got a bullet in the back for their trouble?
It's hard to figure that the episodes forming this book were created over ten years ago, as, with the exception of the archaic telephones and monetary amounts (20K for a killing? someone should've updating the lettering to make this a more modern 100K), it could easily take place in modern day Britain. It's got a up-to-date vibe to it, you almost feel you could recognise the various locales this book takes place in, as if you could take a short drive into the countryside and revisit the scenes of Harry's killings.
Wagner's script is a little dry in places - there's not much in the way of humour here, when your expectation from modern comics would be for a vein of black humour to run through the strip, but this does help the sombre atmosphere generated by the art - and the big plot-twist is obvious from the first couple of pages, and confirmed by an obvious name plate and a verbal reference very early on, but this is just a minor quibble. The final page - although wrapping up the first story - does leave you screaming "but what happens next?"...fortunately this is just the first in a three-volume series, here's hoping Rebellion bring the next two books out in short order.
Which leads me to the presentation of this volume - it's in French graphic album style, that's A4 size, hard cover, quality end papers, and heavy-stock glossy interior pages. All it is missing is a place-marker ribbon but this is deemed unnecessary as the book is designed to be read (and feels much better read) in one go, rather than dipped into over several sessions. Kudos to the production team for this hard-wearing volume (mind you, some DVD-style bonus material beyond a couple of introductions would've been nice - sketchbook pages, script-to-page samples, original 2000AD covers - there's not even an indication that the story will continue with the exception of a small "01" on the spine - a simple "Harry Exton Will Return" would have been so simple to add).
It's these minor quibbles plus the price (such quality obvious carries an appropriate price tag) which cause the final bullet to be docked from the score, but feel rest assured that this is an excellent book, a worthy addition to anyone's library.
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