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Hitman by Garth Ennis and John McCrea Omnibus Vol. 1
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.
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.
1136 pages, Hardcover
Published July 30, 2024
13 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Garth Ennis
2,633 books3,194 followersEnnis 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's 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's 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
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's 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's 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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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 3, 2024
(Zero spoiler review)
I really like Hitman, or as it is more accurately known, TheBoysPreacherPunisher. TheBoyPreacherPunisher was really good. I really like how this book was like The Boys. And I really like how it was like Preacher. And I really really like how it was like the Punisher. Boy oh boy, Garth Ennis really Garth Ennis'd it on this one.
In all seriousness though, it is pretty good. Perhaps not as accomplished as the best of his work on the aforementioned titles, but despite its similarities to his other series, (you really could throw Hellblazer in there as well), you can't help but acknowledge just how much top tier content the man has put out.
John McCrea's art was great, especially when Guy Leach came on inks and tidied his messier style up somewhat.
Very much worth a look. 4/5
OmniBen.
I really like Hitman, or as it is more accurately known, TheBoysPreacherPunisher. TheBoyPreacherPunisher was really good. I really like how this book was like The Boys. And I really like how it was like Preacher. And I really really like how it was like the Punisher. Boy oh boy, Garth Ennis really Garth Ennis'd it on this one.
In all seriousness though, it is pretty good. Perhaps not as accomplished as the best of his work on the aforementioned titles, but despite its similarities to his other series, (you really could throw Hellblazer in there as well), you can't help but acknowledge just how much top tier content the man has put out.
John McCrea's art was great, especially when Guy Leach came on inks and tidied his messier style up somewhat.
Very much worth a look. 4/5
OmniBen.
August 13, 2024
Absolutely loved this omnibus!! Hitman was so damn awesome had literally everything I love! From that Tommy Looks like the terminator,feels like an American version of Constantine(all the grittiness,bar and supernatural stuff)and set in Gotham city!also you can already see that Ennis is gonna write top notch War Comics from a few different stories in this omnibus.Loved all the homage to John Woo Two gun Hong Kong movies.Also one particular badass story that is a tribute to Clint Eastwood and spaghetti westerns!(i absolutely love spaghetti westerns)anyone that knows me knows that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood are my all time favorite actors and biggest heroes to me since I was a kid.only one that tops them is my comic hero Batman.This is set in Gotham Freaking City so go figure! After waiting to read this for over 10 years I would say it is well worth the wait! It’s like Garth Ennis and John McCrea went inside my brain with telepathy (hehe)blended everything I love and made this comic! 5 stars!! Can’t wait till we get volume 2.who knows this might actually be the comic series to dethrone my fav comic Run Preacher.Dont walk RUN to go buy this omnibus NOW!!
November 17, 2024
Hitman by Garth Ennis & John McCrea.
This was a hoot !
Tommy Monaghan kills people for a living, he has some crazy powers due to a sort of accident. He is a Neanderthal, but a fantastic fun character. Lots of DC character make a apearance, Batman who he pukes on, Catwoman, Green Lantern and Etrigan the Demon. He and his buddies from his favorite bar get in all kinds of trouble and its so funny. Ennis is great with his dialogue and his sense of friendship. This is a very big omnibus, but one that flies by.
This was a hoot !
Tommy Monaghan kills people for a living, he has some crazy powers due to a sort of accident. He is a Neanderthal, but a fantastic fun character. Lots of DC character make a apearance, Batman who he pukes on, Catwoman, Green Lantern and Etrigan the Demon. He and his buddies from his favorite bar get in all kinds of trouble and its so funny. Ennis is great with his dialogue and his sense of friendship. This is a very big omnibus, but one that flies by.
May 19, 2025
This was entertaining, yet not up my alley.
A hitman who can read minds, who is located in an unfriendly corner of Gotham City and shoots lots and lots of people. There's a lot of funny jokes in here and a healthy cast of supporting characters. Lots of factions are involved in the life of the Hitman and there's always some plot threads carrying the story forward. But I do have my problems with the book.
Most stories in here follow the exact same template. There's 2-3 different factions involved and things escalate until a big shootout, where everybody dies with the exception of the protagonist and his homies. It's fun the first two times, but it gets very repetitious and stale the next 3 or 4 times in this book.
I wish the mind reading angle would have been portrayed more consistently. After the first few issues, the protagonist never uses it or makes some excuse why he can't. Instead, there's dirty jokes and violence. Same with his relationships; they are barely explored and quickly relegated off panel. Same with the balance between having strict morales and raising violence all over the cities. It's an interesting contrast, I'd have liked to see more of.
I can also tell that the writer really dislikes superheroes, for they are portrayed in a very bad light. Either they are stupid and incompetent, cruel and violent or both. There's a couple of guest appearances in here: Batman, Green Lantern and Catwoman. All of them are written way out of character.
Then there's the origin story within the Demon series, that was published a few years prior to the ongoing series. DC decided to collect that at the end of this volume, which is a big mistake in my opinion, as those stories are referenced in the ongoing series and should be read first.
The artwork takes some getting used to. For some reason blood splatters, of which there's plenty in here, are portrayed in black. The first couple of times I've actually confused them with oil spills. Most characters look rough, but it fits the gangster's theme of this book.
All in all, it is entertaining, but there's better books, even within the same genre, in my opinion, e.g. The Question or Green Arrow.
A hitman who can read minds, who is located in an unfriendly corner of Gotham City and shoots lots and lots of people. There's a lot of funny jokes in here and a healthy cast of supporting characters. Lots of factions are involved in the life of the Hitman and there's always some plot threads carrying the story forward. But I do have my problems with the book.
Most stories in here follow the exact same template. There's 2-3 different factions involved and things escalate until a big shootout, where everybody dies with the exception of the protagonist and his homies. It's fun the first two times, but it gets very repetitious and stale the next 3 or 4 times in this book.
I wish the mind reading angle would have been portrayed more consistently. After the first few issues, the protagonist never uses it or makes some excuse why he can't. Instead, there's dirty jokes and violence. Same with his relationships; they are barely explored and quickly relegated off panel. Same with the balance between having strict morales and raising violence all over the cities. It's an interesting contrast, I'd have liked to see more of.
I can also tell that the writer really dislikes superheroes, for they are portrayed in a very bad light. Either they are stupid and incompetent, cruel and violent or both. There's a couple of guest appearances in here: Batman, Green Lantern and Catwoman. All of them are written way out of character.
Then there's the origin story within the Demon series, that was published a few years prior to the ongoing series. DC decided to collect that at the end of this volume, which is a big mistake in my opinion, as those stories are referenced in the ongoing series and should be read first.
The artwork takes some getting used to. For some reason blood splatters, of which there's plenty in here, are portrayed in black. The first couple of times I've actually confused them with oil spills. Most characters look rough, but it fits the gangster's theme of this book.
All in all, it is entertaining, but there's better books, even within the same genre, in my opinion, e.g. The Question or Green Arrow.
August 22, 2025
Enjoyable read that gets better towards the end.
This is that era for Ennis where he was definitely pushing some boundaries, but nowhere near what we see with The Boys and later independent stuff. That said, this is his work after his run on The Demon, and he was definitely still defining his voice and his character interactions when he builds his own supporting cast and character backstories, as opposed to working with established ones.
I picked this up because I remembered reading some issues of this when it first came out, being entertained by it, but not enough to pick it up regularly. I came across this book for cheap, cheap enough where I bought it for the GL cameo and for the Demon issues.
It was worth what I paid.
It's fun. It's not too serious. It shows how what could be 2-d characters can be enhanced by their supporting cast and backstories (later, we see more of this in Preacher), and we can see the line between "must be a good guy" and "but how good, really?"
I don't recommend reading this in one sitting, though it is a quick read. I enjoyed it more where I'd read a storyline or two (usually around 5 issues each), go read something else, come back to this a couple of days later, lather, rinse, repeat.
It's entertaining to see a writer who worked on The Demon, this, Preacher, Hellblazer, The Boys, and some later, more edgelord (though with more substance that that would suggest) works evolving.
This is that era for Ennis where he was definitely pushing some boundaries, but nowhere near what we see with The Boys and later independent stuff. That said, this is his work after his run on The Demon, and he was definitely still defining his voice and his character interactions when he builds his own supporting cast and character backstories, as opposed to working with established ones.
I picked this up because I remembered reading some issues of this when it first came out, being entertained by it, but not enough to pick it up regularly. I came across this book for cheap, cheap enough where I bought it for the GL cameo and for the Demon issues.
It was worth what I paid.
It's fun. It's not too serious. It shows how what could be 2-d characters can be enhanced by their supporting cast and backstories (later, we see more of this in Preacher), and we can see the line between "must be a good guy" and "but how good, really?"
I don't recommend reading this in one sitting, though it is a quick read. I enjoyed it more where I'd read a storyline or two (usually around 5 issues each), go read something else, come back to this a couple of days later, lather, rinse, repeat.
It's entertaining to see a writer who worked on The Demon, this, Preacher, Hellblazer, The Boys, and some later, more edgelord (though with more substance that that would suggest) works evolving.
September 22, 2024
It is crazy to me to think that Ennis was writing Preacher and The Punisher simultaneously with Hitman. Loyalty, family, honor, and yeah, even heroism, are ever present in the meatheads and killers parked at Noonan's Sleazy Bar. This is truly a great comic series. I think that male friendship and camaraderie have never been treated better in comics. It balances gross Ennis comedy moments with very earnest tragic events and I think it really works in a way that only writers like Ennis can pull off. No doubt, I can assure by reading Ennis’ work that he is no misanthrope as some people usually claim. He really understands human relationships and, although Hitman hasn’t truly complex relationships between the characters and some could even argue they are simplistic, he makes Tommy a tridimensional character and a product of the times he was written. What a ride. I absolutely loved the quirky humor in this. And all the super weird characters. And all the jabs at other DC titles. If you love Garth Ennis works this is a comic for you.
One minor nitpick: personally I would have put the Demon issues at the beginning of the omnibus, so that everything is in chronological order.
One minor nitpick: personally I would have put the Demon issues at the beginning of the omnibus, so that everything is in chronological order.
July 4, 2025
This is one of my absolute favourite series of all time and absolutely deserves all five of these stars.
But whoever out this omnibus together needs a shake. We start off with Hitman #1-33, then we get Tommy's first appearances in The Demon, a story from Batman to promote the first issue and finally annual #1. Wouldn't it make more sense to put everything chronologically? I know a big ol omnibus is meant for people who are already fans, but it's not friendly to newcomers at all. If I lend this to someone I'll have to say "start reading from page 700 to around 900, then go back to the start. Then once you got issue 12, jump back to page 900..."
Also, Hitman #1000000 came out the same month as issue #31. I get that you don't want to put an unrelated joke issue in the middle of an ongoing story line - maybe THAT'S the kind of thing you put in the back- but it's not reprinted here at all. Maybe it will be in the future volume 2, but it's not listed in the Amazon description. I really hope that gets fixed. Seems absurd to publish two expensive hardcovers and then ignore one issue.
But whoever out this omnibus together needs a shake. We start off with Hitman #1-33, then we get Tommy's first appearances in The Demon, a story from Batman to promote the first issue and finally annual #1. Wouldn't it make more sense to put everything chronologically? I know a big ol omnibus is meant for people who are already fans, but it's not friendly to newcomers at all. If I lend this to someone I'll have to say "start reading from page 700 to around 900, then go back to the start. Then once you got issue 12, jump back to page 900..."
Also, Hitman #1000000 came out the same month as issue #31. I get that you don't want to put an unrelated joke issue in the middle of an ongoing story line - maybe THAT'S the kind of thing you put in the back- but it's not reprinted here at all. Maybe it will be in the future volume 2, but it's not listed in the Amazon description. I really hope that gets fixed. Seems absurd to publish two expensive hardcovers and then ignore one issue.
January 4, 2026
It took me a while to finish it, because I have this irreparably bad habit of getting through a major chunk of a book, putting it down for a while, and then picking it up 6-8 months later, but on a whim I decided to up and finish it this morning. Damn, what a wallop that was. Hitman was one of the first comics that made me fall in love with comics in the first place. While my first DC comics were Batman: The Killing Joke and Sandman Mystery Theatre, I pretty soon went through all of the Vertigo titles after, and from there moved to the works of different creators. All of this is to say Garth Ennis has been pretty formative as a writer for me, especially insomuch as his work shaped a lot of my understanding of what good comics should be: Character-driven, emotionally balanced (he mixes deft humor with high drama very well), and quite frankly, badass. Anyone who reads this eventually ends up being invested in the characters' lives. Ennis is a master of writing human relationships like its nobody's business. Truly, a special book, and I can't wait to get to the second half.
December 21, 2025
This is classic Ennis through and through, with all of his typical topics: friendship, good-hearted bastards, gun-action, Texas, Clint Eastwood, the mob, s.a.s, Irish culture, jabs at superheroes, crazy Russians, supernatural horror mixed with humor, doomed relationships, war stories, joke-characters. While settled in the DC universe, most of the time the comic feels like its own contained reality, and when superheroes make an appearance, it's brief and tongue-in-cheek, most of the time. There are some serious moments, and hints of gross violence, but by Ennis' standards it is quite restrained (maybe because of DC editorial). One of his best.
January 12, 2025
A comic where you only ever see the hero's side adventures and never really see the day-to-day premise: a hitman who's contracts are usually superheroes.
Snappy, great character relationships, lots of heads exploding, and dialogue that feels ripped straight from an eavesdropping session at the local bar... all classic Ennis, just in a "motherlovin'" PG-13 package. Etrigan is such an underrated supporting character.
Also just a beautifully printed edition.
Snappy, great character relationships, lots of heads exploding, and dialogue that feels ripped straight from an eavesdropping session at the local bar... all classic Ennis, just in a "motherlovin'" PG-13 package. Etrigan is such an underrated supporting character.
Also just a beautifully printed edition.
July 23, 2025
Apart from the issues with the British army members, I really liked all of this and thought it was great. I just feel like those characters weren't interesting at all, and Men's Room Louie was completely wasted by being killed so early.
9/10. Can't wait for the second volume in December.
9/10. Can't wait for the second volume in December.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2025
Es justo lo que uno espera: ironía, alcohol, tabaco y una buena dosis de tiros. No es una obra que te vaya a cambiar la vida, pero sí una que te saca una sonrisa constante. Ojalá el Pacificador de James Gunn bebiera un poco más del macarrismo de Ennis.
February 12, 2025
It's too big. I also find the art of John McCrea to be ... an acquired taste.
April 27, 2025
Ennis, nuff said.
December 27, 2025
One of Garth's best this one is a hit from beginning to end if you love the preacher or the boys you will love this five stars
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews