Sam and Twitch: Volume 1

Sam & Twitch: The Brian Michael Bendis Collection #1

by Brian Michael Bendis, Ashley Wood (Illustrator), Alex Maleev (Cover artist)

Nine issues of what Brian Michael Bendis does best are collected here! Features the acclaimed Udaku Hunter story arc, an Ashley Wood gallery and other special bonuses. A must-have collection for any fan!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Comix, Graphic Novels Comics, Mystery

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2006

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vote: ☆☆☆☆ 1/2

This storyline was Brian Michael Bendis' first mainstream comic ever, a good mix of hard boiled crime, thriller and urban horror, filled with twists and humour.



Not bad at all and Bendis knows how to write, but Medina's artworks were really good but confusing ones sometimes.



And I'm more a fan of the McFarlane/Holguin original take on Sam and Twitch characters.



Spawn's hilarious cameo raised final vote half star.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm puzzled. When I logged on Goodreads that I'd started reading this, I saw, with some confusion, that I'd already read it. Rated it four stars and everything. Now it's certainly possible that I did. I read a lot, as anyone who follows my reviews can attest. It's not surprising that I would forget some of those books over the years. Indeed, that's one of the reasons I started keeping a reading journal many years before I'd even heard of Goodreads, and why I went through those journals once I did and logged them all as read. Indeed, it's one of the reasons I decided to start writing reviews of everything I read, as a way of fixing the book in my mind, the review acting as a memory aid. Anyway, I figured it would all come back to me once I started reading this book.

But it didn't. I would be willing to swear that I have never read this book before. I have no idea why I logged it as read or where the four star rating came from, not that it's undeserved or anything. Weird.

In any case, I definitely really just did read it for sure. Honestly. And it was good. Sam and Twitch originally appeared in Todd MacFarlane's Spawn. Then Bendis and Angel Medina got the go-ahead to build a series around them. Bendis was, at the time, known primarily for crime comics: Jinx and Goldfish, and just starting on Torso. A comic book about a couple of NYC cops with a touch of the supernatural was right up his alley. This is definitely an early Bendis title. The trademark dialogue and pacing crackle with nervous energy. He's out to dazzle the reader with everything he's got. This first volume is mostly one long storyline, involving dead mobsters and four severed thumbs, all seemingly from the same person ... The story will keep you on the edge of your seat through countless twists and turns. It's no wonder this book was so highly praised when these comics first came out. The artwork is lovely, every bit up to the challenge of keeping up with Bendis' thumbnails while still retaining a strong identity of its own. Angel Medina's expressive figures remind me of Sam Keith's work in some ways. It's beautiful stuff.

All in all, this is an impressive book that certainly lives up to its reputation. I prefer to think that I somehow got it confused with another book, because the idea that I would have forgotten it to this extent is just too crazy for words. Highly recommended!

[Pedro Plasencia Martínez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuando la historia fluye con humor negro, autopsias, interrogatorios, tiroteos y palizas, la obra llega a ser muy buena, pero el elemento de fantasía superheroica oscura, con sus explicaciones absurdas, impide que sea una obra maestra. Lo que es indudable es que la pareja que forman estos detectives con personalidades y con procedimientos tan opuestos, es de las mejores que nos han dado los cómics y va a funcionar siempre.

ENGLISH
When the story flows with black humor, autopsies, interrogations, shootings and beatings, the work becomes very good, but the element of dark superhero fantasy, with its absurd explanations, prevents it from being a masterpiece. What is undoubtable is that the couple formed by these detectives with such opposite personalities and procedures is one of the best that comics have given us and will always work.

[Rohan Raj Kansal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was some crazy shit.
I really really liked the art, the caricature style, very impressive. The stories were very well written and along with the graphics, this was a blast. I would very much watch a motion picture of Sam and Twitch. I really liked their bond, their banters and ofc KC Mecroy.
More than being a detective series, it has kinda supernatural vibe. In the Udaku case, sure they did some detective work but in the Witchcraft the perpetrator was just caught like that.
Not gonna lie though, I am really looking forward to the second volume.

PS: I didn't know this is a spinoff of SPAWN, gotta read it too.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam and Twitch, vol. 1 is a very good crime story.

Its detectives, the titular Sam and Twitch, feel like fully-formed people from the jump. They have long relationships and complex lives. They live in a world that feels, well, lived in.

Then they catch a case that doesn't make any sense. And the bodies start to drop. And did I mention that there may be a supernatural element?

This leads us into a mystery whose twists I didn't see coming, a story with beats that made me laugh with delight, and a comix experience that left me a satisfied reader. In short, I enjoyed Sam and Twitch, vol. 1. This was worth my time.

[boofykins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fan-f@#%ing-tastic!

[Raquel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,8

[Bus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta bastante bien pero la edición es tan mala que arruina la lectura. Me he quedado ciego en algunos pasajes

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good artwork, good dialog.
Little let down by the ending

[Filiberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente!

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I came to this comic without any prior Spawn experience, or any B.M. Bendis knowledge. So when I say that Bendis's story is nicely convoluted but also contrived and silly, I hope you'll forgive my innocence. And when I mention that the real attraction here is the pencils by Angel Medina (aided by creepy-genius colors & inks from Jonathan Glapion & Todd Broeker etc.), you'll probably want to check it out yourself, 'cause visuals is what comix is all about. As for the cop protagonists -- a mismatched duo that's less Laurel & Hardy than Cook & Bendix (as in Elisha Jr. & William) -- they let the chaos and conspiracy rotate slowly around them in strange & hilarious (but maybe predictable) ways.

[Keith Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before Brian Michael Bendis became the most bankable writer at Marvel Comics, he wrote this Spawn spin-off featuring two New York police detectives. The eponymous Sam and Twitch are the only clean cops in an extremely corrupt department. The plot involves mobsters, feds, betrayals, and ghostly hit men in white trench coats.

Angel Medina's art is completely unique. He manages to be both gritty and cartoony at the same time. He provides much needed dynamism to what comes dangerously close to being a talking heads book. Bendis' best skill as a writer is his dialogue, but long conversations tend to slow down the storytelling in a visual media like comics, so an artist like Medina is a fine match.

[Sridatta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, for someone who has written some of the best stuff in the genre of crime comics this might seem a little wayward from his natural best. But, i must insist that this is indeed one of the better things written by Bendis. Plot has some similarities to his other works but the art is absolutely engrossing. I suggest anyone looking for good crime comics to give this a try.

[Cliff Bumgardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big Brian Michael Bendis fan. The guy knows comics, and he has a deep understanding of his genre. He knows how to take the police procedural and twist it in different ways, and Sam and Twitch is a very fun take on it. It's a genre book, so there's no real surprises, but it's a a fun read. If you're a fan of the genre, or especially if you're a fan of Bendis, you should give it a look.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis can really write.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bendis' gritty crime writing meshed with glossy art. Perfect. Highlights include Spawn's cameo and the CSI body part discovery.

[M.i. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before there was a true detective, these two were doing the occult sleuthing genre proud. Also worth noting is Spawn's brief appearances in some of the stories.

[Steve Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

joe pinchback should love this

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Bendis, and you love cop shows like NYPD Blue, Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Wire, then you will also love this set. It's a pitch-perfect match-up.

[Automation · Rating 2 out of 5]

a rare miss by Brian Michael Bendis....