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Hitman
Series · 4 books · 1996-2019

Books in series

Hitman, Vol. 1 book cover
#1

Hitman, Vol. 1

A Rage in Arkham

1996

On the back streets of Gotham City, ex-military operative Tommy Monaghan has set himself up as a hired gun. Surrounded by an odd assortment of friends and allies, the Hitman with a heart must deal with personal conflicts over honor and morals as he makes a living with a gun. But even with the telepathic ability to read his targets' minds, he still finds himself well over his head when he runs into some of Gotham's most notorious citizens such as the Demon, the Joker, and the Dark Knight himself, the Batman. Plus, a vindictive mob boss from his past puts a contract out on Tommy. With his friends caught in the crossfire, he must find a way to take out the hired assassin and exact retribution against the mafia head. But even with his extrarodinary powers, the Hitman may find that a trained killer and a mob army is just too much for one man. Collects THE DEMON ANNUAL #2, THE BATMAN CHRONICLES #4 and HITMAN #1-3!
Hitman, Vol. 2 book cover
#2

Hitman, Vol. 2

10,000 Bullets

1998

Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy) says it well in his intro: "Everyone's a Garth Ennis fan these days, for cryin' out loud!" That may well be true because, in this reviewer's opinion, no one in the industry—and I mean no one—can more effectively blend bloodshed, drama, and subversive intellect into comic writing like Garth Ennis. Check out his Preacher titles to get the gist. Blazingly original, irreverent, and—yes! — smart. And Hitman follows suit. Shabby tough guy Tommy Monaghan is a hit man of some notoriety, but lately he's got a contract on his own head, to the tune of 100K. So every shooter in town's going after Tommy with, well, 10,000 bullets. Want to know why? It's pretty gross...but I like gross! See, there's this mob boss named Moe Dubelz, and he's big—big as in he makes Dutch Shultz look like a small-time numbers runner. Now here's the part you're gonna love. Moe has, well, two heads; he's what they call a conjoined twin. In other words, one head is Moe, the other head is his brother Joe. And two years ago Joe got his coconut popped by Tommy's expert marksmanship. This leaves Moe with a considerable impediment: He's got a dead head lolling next to him, and the left half of his body is rotting. No wonder the guy's pissed off! Enter pistol-meister Johnny Navarone (picture Mickey Rourke with muscles, in a white double-breasted suit). Johnny's a Philly Shooter—and that ain't a drink—and he'll put our jaded hero on ice for a smooth half a mil. Here's where this book takes off, in all its urban dirt and gutter life and evil SOBs waiting around every streetcorner. (Hmm, sounds kind of like where I live.) But this ain't New York, folks, and it ain't L.A. It's Gotham! Tommy and his bad-ass hunting pal Natt lock and load, then, and embark on a human turkey shoot to make Pacino in Scarface proud. Here Garth Ennis displays still more of his creative versatility in style and action that won't quit. And you won't quit either, until you've turned the last page. —Edward Lee Collects HITMAN #4-8 and HITMAN ANNUAL #1.
Hitman, Vol. 3 book cover
#3

Hitman, Vol. 3

Local Heroes

1999

Combining incredible humor, witty dialogue and quick-paced action, HITMAN: LOCAL HEROES tells the story of Tommy Monaghan, a hit man with super powers and morals. In the third volume of the series, Tommy's talents are tested as he faces off against Western outlaws and an army of zombie sea animals. Also included in this book is a hilarious confrontation with Green Lantern, which teaches the Spandex-clad super hero a lesson about taking on a street-smart hit man from the back streets of Gotham City. Collected from HITMAN #9-14.
Hitman's Greatest Hits book cover
#14

Hitman's Greatest Hits

2019

Written by Garth Ennis, whose comics have been adapted into the AMC TV series Preacher and the upcoming Amazon TV series The Boys, Hitman is an action-packed, often funny series starring Tommy Monaghan, a super-powered gun for hire with a heart of gold. His name is Tommy Monaghan, and he kills people for a living—but then again, nobody's perfect. In fact, for a hired killer, Tommy's actually a pretty decent guy. Tommy is good enough at his job that he can pick and choose his contracts and for those that he accepts he follows a strict bad-guys-only policy. Fortunately for him, there's no shortage of lowlifes who fit his criteria in Gotham City's seedy underworld; unfortunately for them, he also has some helpful superpowers—X-ray vision and telepathy—that give him an edge over nearly any opponent, from the lowest street thug to the deadliest super-villain. Of course, the flashier heroes of the DC Universe take a dim view of Tommy's vocational success. But in the tenements and taverns of Gotham's notorious Cauldron district, honor and friendship are more important than moral righteousness—and professional rivalries are a much bigger threat than the forces of law and order. For Tommy and his crew down at Noonan's Bar, dealing with it all—the capes, the gangsters, the mad scientists, and their mutated victims—is just another day at the office. Lovingly crafted by acclaimed comics writer Garth Ennis ( Preacher, Hellblazer ) and beloved artist John McCrea ( The Demon, Superboy ), Hitman's Greatest Hits collects over 300 pages of gunslinging adventures from Gotham's second favorite local hero—including the classic tales "Ten Thousand Bullets," "Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium," and "Of Thee I Sing." Collects The Demon Annual #2, Hitman #4-7, #13-14, #34, and Justice League/Hitman #1-2.

Authors

Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Author · 84 books

Ennis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar. Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years. Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics' horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis' run. Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation. While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire. Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics. After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint. In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd. Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press. In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle. In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name). Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth\_Ennis

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