End of Life #1 – Kyle Starks, Writer; Steve Pugh, Artist; Chris O’Halloran, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: The second Vertigo title to launch takes a lighter tone, combining high-octane crime action with some dark comedy as we’re thrown into the chaotic world of Eddie Stallion – an assassin whose lifestyle has caught up to him. A member of the Menagerie, an elite gang of animal-themed criminals, he takes freelance work to make money – until a group of idiots hire him for a heist in what turns out to be the head of the Menagerie’s mansion. This betrayal is an instant death sentence for a member of the Menagerie, and Eddie soon finds himself with an army hunting him and even his frenemy and occasional lover not really willing to lend him much help. With nowhere else to go, he heads back to the no-hope, dead-end town where he grew up, and he has nothing but bad memories of. And the same goes for his drunken, brash father, as it’s clear that the two dislike each other just as much as the day Eddie left.
These two characters are a lot of fun, both being scummy in their own way but both having legitimate points to make. The reveal that Eddie’s father is dying, while it’s telegraphed well in advance, adds some nice emotional weight to the issue. However, the real star of this comic is the setting. A dead small town that used to be home to an amusement park, it lost its cash cow when the creator of the comic strip it was based on turned out to be a Nazi groomer, and it’s been a slow death ever since. That’s led to an increase in crime, as Eddie finds out when he’s in the middle of offending a gas station clerk and her son and a band of low-level criminals come in. There’s a great twist to end the issue that really shouldn’t be spoiled, but this is a fantastic start that gives us a great new antihero, and a lot of that trademark Kyle Starks offbeat energy that’s made him a breakout creator.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
