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Kill or be Killed #1-4
Kill or be Killed Omnibus
The deluxe collection of BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS bestselling series is finally here! Grad student Dylan must kill one person who deserves it every month, and the deeper he gets in, the more he realizes how many people there are that deserve it. "Catcher in the Rye" meets "Death Wish" in a dark take on the vigilante genre that became a cracked reflection of the world around us.
This deluxe edition hardback contains the entire KILL OR BE KILLED story, as well as the behind the scenes extras and artwork.
Collecting: Kill or Be Killed 1-20
This deluxe edition hardback contains the entire KILL OR BE KILLED story, as well as the behind the scenes extras and artwork.
Collecting: Kill or Be Killed 1-20
624 pages, Hardcover
First published November 19, 2019
16 people are currently reading
562 people want to read
About the author
Ed Brubaker
1,798 books3,009 followersEd Brubaker (born November 17, 1966) is an Eisner Award-winning American cartoonist and writer. He was born at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.
Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.
In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.
Brubaker is best known for his work as a comic book writer on such titles as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Fist, Catwoman, Gotham Central and Uncanny X-Men. In more recent years, he has focused solely on creator-owned titles for Image Comics, such as Fatale, Criminal, Velvet and Kill or Be Killed.
In 2016, Brubaker ventured into television, joining the writing staff of the HBO series Westworld.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
July 24, 2023
I feel weird giving Brubaker only 3 stars. It's not like this book wasn't a page-turner, incredibly entertaining and clever. I absolutely love Brubaker's books, whether it's his Catwoman run, Sleeper, Incognito, Scene of the Crime, Criminal, The Fade Out, and even his autobiographical comic Low-Life. I'm a fan.
I kept getting distracted in this book by endless political ranting/posturing that at times felt like Brubaker tweeting or something rather than unreliable narrator (of which this narrator certainly is one) character study stuff. I have noticed a lot of my favorite writers in recent years letting their twitter personalities (which are always terrible and eventually end up muted by me) or observations bleed into their work. In short, I want my favorite writers to stay off twitter and just do good work. Don't lecture politics to me, tell me a great story with moral ambiguity, and trust that I can think about things for myself.
Not that this doesn't have moral ambiguity, of course it does. I'm aware this may be unfair. But in the afterword in the book, Brubaker does say a lot of this stuff is his own thoughts but filtered into this character too. I don't know. I just know that in the past, Brubaker's stuff didn't have this kind of defensive "woke" air about it (one example; the narrator considers killing drug dealers but rationalizes they are just innocent "cogs" in a corrupt American machine. I... guess? He also apologizes endlessly for a scene where a pair of muggers is depicted as a white man and (gasp) a black man, "how racist is that?" So the villains are all Russian and older white men because anything other than that could incite rage on Twitter, I suspect, and don't get me started on the cartoonish depiction of everyone at the police station)...His stories were normally about scumbags and low lives, many irredeemable and yet human, and didn't seem to care if his young twitter audience would approve of the characters or not.
To me this feels a bit like he's pandering to the mobs of angry twitter people, it feels a bit like he's scared of them, it feels a bit like its lost its edge, it feels a bit like he feels he needs to put all of this in because it's the "responsible" thing to do, especially with the very political state of the comic industry (a quick scan of books on the shelves at your local comic store at any week could attest to this, and I did work at a comic store for a bit), as this book was coming out. And it's not. Art has no obligation to be responsible. At all. And I keep seeing this in people whose work I normally love, whether it's tv shows, books, films, etc.
So 3 stars. I hope I'm wrong about his motivations and intentions for this book, because damn it was fun and exciting to read otherwise.
I kept getting distracted in this book by endless political ranting/posturing that at times felt like Brubaker tweeting or something rather than unreliable narrator (of which this narrator certainly is one) character study stuff. I have noticed a lot of my favorite writers in recent years letting their twitter personalities (which are always terrible and eventually end up muted by me) or observations bleed into their work. In short, I want my favorite writers to stay off twitter and just do good work. Don't lecture politics to me, tell me a great story with moral ambiguity, and trust that I can think about things for myself.
Not that this doesn't have moral ambiguity, of course it does. I'm aware this may be unfair. But in the afterword in the book, Brubaker does say a lot of this stuff is his own thoughts but filtered into this character too. I don't know. I just know that in the past, Brubaker's stuff didn't have this kind of defensive "woke" air about it (one example; the narrator considers killing drug dealers but rationalizes they are just innocent "cogs" in a corrupt American machine. I... guess? He also apologizes endlessly for a scene where a pair of muggers is depicted as a white man and (gasp) a black man, "how racist is that?" So the villains are all Russian and older white men because anything other than that could incite rage on Twitter, I suspect, and don't get me started on the cartoonish depiction of everyone at the police station)...His stories were normally about scumbags and low lives, many irredeemable and yet human, and didn't seem to care if his young twitter audience would approve of the characters or not.
To me this feels a bit like he's pandering to the mobs of angry twitter people, it feels a bit like he's scared of them, it feels a bit like its lost its edge, it feels a bit like he feels he needs to put all of this in because it's the "responsible" thing to do, especially with the very political state of the comic industry (a quick scan of books on the shelves at your local comic store at any week could attest to this, and I did work at a comic store for a bit), as this book was coming out. And it's not. Art has no obligation to be responsible. At all. And I keep seeing this in people whose work I normally love, whether it's tv shows, books, films, etc.
So 3 stars. I hope I'm wrong about his motivations and intentions for this book, because damn it was fun and exciting to read otherwise.
March 29, 2021
Fairy tales are full of good guys and bad guys and good guys usually win. Then, they have a cake and the princess. Unfortunately, the real world isn't like that. In the real world, the bad guys have already won and tend to rewrite the rules in their own favor.
Kill or be Killed follows a man who stopped putting up with it all. Armed with a gun, hidden behind a mask, he starts to kill bad guys. Because violence begets more violence, innocents are killed. There's also a demon forcing our (anti)hero to bring justice. Possibly, cause he can also be on the wrong meds.
All told, it's an excellent and addictive graphic novel with a unique take on vigilantism.
Kill or be Killed follows a man who stopped putting up with it all. Armed with a gun, hidden behind a mask, he starts to kill bad guys. Because violence begets more violence, innocents are killed. There's also a demon forcing our (anti)hero to bring justice. Possibly, cause he can also be on the wrong meds.
All told, it's an excellent and addictive graphic novel with a unique take on vigilantism.
June 20, 2020
Манера Еда Брубейкера в кримінальних історіях упізнавана відразу: міцні характери, тяжкі життєві ситуації, брутальність, сексуальність та незмінна нуарна (читаємо самотня) атмосфера в урбаністичних декораціях. Усе це може варіюватись від епохи до епохи, але компоненти лишаються незмінними. Звісно, що посилює увесь цей драматичний патос реалістичний малюнок Шона Філіпса з блискучою і вкрай доречною, як правило, колористикою. Здається, що “Убити чи бути вбитим” теж вписується у вищезгаданий алгоритм, але цього разу Брубейкер спрямував курс більше в внутрішнє, екзистенційне пекло героїв, хоча й зовнішнього (у вигляді корупції, моральних девіацій, психозу) теж вистачає. Останні роботи Брубейкера вирізняються цим рефлексивним занурюванням не без постмодерного фльору у вигляді пробивання четвертої стіни (у цьому випадку) чи вінтажної естетики (“Моїми героями завжки були наркоші”). Наскільки добре чи погано?
Протоганіст цієї історії -- середньостатичний студент Ділан, який вирішує покінчити життя суїцидом. Однак абсурдним чином він рятується. Точніше, його рятує демон, який взамін просить вбивати йому одну людину в місяць, бо інакше забере життя. Звісно, що Ділан не просив рятувати його, але мимоволі погоджується на угоду, проте вносить у неї свій моральний імператив: він вбиватиме лише тих, хто на це заслуговує. Так розпочинається кривавий шлях убивці в червоному ковпаку (ні, не такому як у серії про Бетмена) та дробовиком, який змітає на своєму шляху усіляку погань цього світу в Нью-Йорку.
Брубейкер шалено розпочинає свою історію, змішуючи в одне елементи криміналу, психологічного трилеру, містики та юнацької мелодрами. Можна навіть сказати, що він навіть деконструює їх, адже веде історію від обличчя вбивці, який, у кращих традиціях постмодернізму, нам починає симпатизувати. Також цікавим стає те, що ми до кінця не знаємо ким продиктовані мотиви Ділана -- демоном чи його хворою фантазією? Реальність та фантазія переплітаються, розмиваються, але стають все далі й далі більш нестримними у своїй деструктивній складовій. Усе це ускладнюється тим, що батько Ділана був ілюстратором у дешевих горор фензінах, який, зверніть увагу, також покінчив життя самогубством. Можна навіть припустити, що Ділан успадкував не тільки суїцидальні нахили батька, але й також його бурхливу фантазію, яка у якийсь критичний момент оволоділа ним.
Додатковим смисловим рівнем є постійні рефлексії Ділана про наш світ, людську природу, насилля, любов, долю, етику. Монолог із пробиванням четвертої стіни наче зумисне вводить нас в оману своєю наївністю та ідеалізмом, притаманними підліткам, але за ними приховується гостра й часто цинічна критика нашого суспільства. Тому, безумовно, комікс є сильним і голосним висловленням на соціальні теми, де насилля Ділана є уявною і бажаною вендеттою кожного з нас проти несправедливості. Брубейкер провокує, підштовхуючи до незручних ситуацій, де, ймовірно, ми теж часто вчинили би як Ділан, хоча й проти закону.
Як бачимо, це цікава й динамічна історія, яка додає ще одну грань до таланта Брубейкера та Філіпса (тільки мене все переслідувало відчуття анатомічної нерівномірності, особливо у зображенні надто кротких ніг у окремих епізодах). Однак якщо перша половина історії є блискучою і місцями просто геніальною, то вже друга помітно починає збавляти свої темпи. Як тільки розпочинається арка із психіатричною лікарнею, то шаленість Брубейкера набуває формату відстороненого задуму, коли ти фізично відчуваєш, що автор голосно думає як закінчити (читай вразити) свою епопею. Що ж, закінчення відбулося, але воно вийшло, на мій погляд, дещо посереднім і передбачуваним у рамках кримінального кліше. Це не був катарсис, це не був емоційний вибух, а хороший і, як не крути, логічний кінець усіх пригод нашого юного персонажа. І навіть у цьому разі Брубейкер видав міцний, провокативний і сучасний комікс, сповнений вкрай актуальних висловлювань на злободенні теми.
Протоганіст цієї історії -- середньостатичний студент Ділан, який вирішує покінчити життя суїцидом. Однак абсурдним чином він рятується. Точніше, його рятує демон, який взамін просить вбивати йому одну людину в місяць, бо інакше забере життя. Звісно, що Ділан не просив рятувати його, але мимоволі погоджується на угоду, проте вносить у неї свій моральний імператив: він вбиватиме лише тих, хто на це заслуговує. Так розпочинається кривавий шлях убивці в червоному ковпаку (ні, не такому як у серії про Бетмена) та дробовиком, який змітає на своєму шляху усіляку погань цього світу в Нью-Йорку.
Брубейкер шалено розпочинає свою історію, змішуючи в одне елементи криміналу, психологічного трилеру, містики та юнацької мелодрами. Можна навіть сказати, що він навіть деконструює їх, адже веде історію від обличчя вбивці, який, у кращих традиціях постмодернізму, нам починає симпатизувати. Також цікавим стає те, що ми до кінця не знаємо ким продиктовані мотиви Ділана -- демоном чи його хворою фантазією? Реальність та фантазія переплітаються, розмиваються, але стають все далі й далі більш нестримними у своїй деструктивній складовій. Усе це ускладнюється тим, що батько Ділана був ілюстратором у дешевих горор фензінах, який, зверніть увагу, також покінчив життя самогубством. Можна навіть припустити, що Ділан успадкував не тільки суїцидальні нахили батька, але й також його бурхливу фантазію, яка у якийсь критичний момент оволоділа ним.
Додатковим смисловим рівнем є постійні рефлексії Ділана про наш світ, людську природу, насилля, любов, долю, етику. Монолог із пробиванням четвертої стіни наче зумисне вводить нас в оману своєю наївністю та ідеалізмом, притаманними підліткам, але за ними приховується гостра й часто цинічна критика нашого суспільства. Тому, безумовно, комікс є сильним і голосним висловленням на соціальні теми, де насилля Ділана є уявною і бажаною вендеттою кожного з нас проти несправедливості. Брубейкер провокує, підштовхуючи до незручних ситуацій, де, ймовірно, ми теж часто вчинили би як Ділан, хоча й проти закону.
Як бачимо, це цікава й динамічна історія, яка додає ще одну грань до таланта Брубейкера та Філіпса (тільки мене все переслідувало відчуття анатомічної нерівномірності, особливо у зображенні надто кротких ніг у окремих епізодах). Однак якщо перша половина історії є блискучою і місцями просто геніальною, то вже друга помітно починає збавляти свої темпи. Як тільки розпочинається арка із психіатричною лікарнею, то шаленість Брубейкера набуває формату відстороненого задуму, коли ти фізично відчуваєш, що автор голосно думає як закінчити (читай вразити) свою епопею. Що ж, закінчення відбулося, але воно вийшло, на мій погляд, дещо посереднім і передбачуваним у рамках кримінального кліше. Це не був катарсис, це не був емоційний вибух, а хороший і, як не крути, логічний кінець усіх пригод нашого юного персонажа. І навіть у цьому разі Брубейкер видав міцний, провокативний і сучасний комікс, сповнений вкрай актуальних висловлювань на злободенні теми.
February 20, 2020
(I can't dive really deep into the story, because there are a lot of plot twists and I don't want to spoil it for you) "Kill or be killed" is a crime comic series written by Ed Brubaker, drawn by Sean Phillips, colored by Elizabeth Breitweiser and published by image. Dylan is a 29 year old guy how's still in college and has already tried to kill himself once. His roommate's girlfriend (Kira) is his best friend and also his crush. They also use to kiss together but they are nothing more than that. One night Dylan decides to try again to kill himself and he jumps off the roof. When he's falling he realizes that he wants to live. When he falls down he actually stays alive. He's really happy about it, but then a demon comes and tells him that he saved his life and in return he wants him to kill one bad guy every month. At first Dylan believes that the Demon isn't real, but near the end of the first month he gets really sick and he believes and he's almost going to die, so he believes that the demon is real. He finds a bad guy and he kills him, and next month an other one and so on. The papers start calling him a vigilante and the police makes a task force to bring him down. That's as far as I can go without spoiling anything. The story is very interesting, it has a lot of unexpected plot twists and it's very well written. The whole story is narrated by Dylan (the protagonist). This comic really makes you think about good and bad, about justice and about how fucked up the world and the system is.
The writing is amazing. The story flows perfectly and all the characters are full rounded. They are relatable and they are neither good or bad, they are somewhere in the middle, like all of us. The protagonist makes some questionable decisions and he thinks he's the good guy, but you don't always agree with him. The artwork is really good and the coloring is even better.
10/10
The writing is amazing. The story flows perfectly and all the characters are full rounded. They are relatable and they are neither good or bad, they are somewhere in the middle, like all of us. The protagonist makes some questionable decisions and he thinks he's the good guy, but you don't always agree with him. The artwork is really good and the coloring is even better.
10/10
January 9, 2020
Brilliant storytelling.
July 16, 2023
(Zero spoiler review)
I'm pretty angry right now, and I guess I reserve a portion of that for myself. I've mentioned a number of times how I like to save books I really REALLY expect to like. Squirrel them away for a rainy day when I need a sure fire hit. Well, not only was I doing it with Kill or be Killed, but this was in fact THE book that started it all. The first deluxe edition I desperately wanted to own when I got into comics. After acquiring it, it's been sitting on the shelf for nearly three years, just waiting for it's time to shine. Well it's time certainly came... and went. And, well, it sure as hell wasn't worth the wait.
First off, to the contributors who actually did their job well. Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser knocked it out of the park. I've never seen such detail and realism on any of his previous artwork. I've always enjoyed it, as it sets a wonderfully moody tone for Brubaker's noirish tales, but here he has turned in the best work of his career (even if he still doesn't always capture facial expressions as well as he could have), and Breitweiser's has splashed the colour around like an absolute champ. It's either a blessing or a curse that it went into what is almost certainly my least liked indie Brubaker story, but here we are.
Brubaker and Brubaker alone is the sole reason this one disappoints. First off, the unreliable narrator schtick is some truly weak sauce at the best of times. Here, it is competent at best, and woeful at worst. His descent into meta commentary at times about this very fact is painful to witness. Like he knew how bad it was, but just thought screw it, rather than actually try and find a clever way around the hole he chose to write himself into. There was that, and there was about a dozen other pretty limp attempts to exposit or limply explain some pretty poor narrative decisions. More than once I had to shake my head at it all, although sometimes it was just for some horrendous dialogue choices. Not to mention that this book clearly suffers from the fact that it was written post 2016. I won't belabour the point, because woke messaging in comics has become so common, so facile as to barely even rate mentioning anymore, but god help me, I really didn't ever want to have to experience it in a Brubaker story. This was never going to be a favourite for me, but the continual insufferable signaling within this book only cemented my distaste for it earlier than was necessary, because the longer this story goes on, it goes further and further off the rails until the final few issues... and that ending... god help me. The final page twist was fine, but everything leading up to it... Eeesh.
It really is a shame the story couldn't live up to the artwork. That said, despite all the issues I have with it, many of which I can't be bothered listing, either for the sake of spoilers or otherwise, this still was a pretty readable story. But a readable story I don't ever see myself reading again. 3/5
OmniBen.
I'm pretty angry right now, and I guess I reserve a portion of that for myself. I've mentioned a number of times how I like to save books I really REALLY expect to like. Squirrel them away for a rainy day when I need a sure fire hit. Well, not only was I doing it with Kill or be Killed, but this was in fact THE book that started it all. The first deluxe edition I desperately wanted to own when I got into comics. After acquiring it, it's been sitting on the shelf for nearly three years, just waiting for it's time to shine. Well it's time certainly came... and went. And, well, it sure as hell wasn't worth the wait.
First off, to the contributors who actually did their job well. Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser knocked it out of the park. I've never seen such detail and realism on any of his previous artwork. I've always enjoyed it, as it sets a wonderfully moody tone for Brubaker's noirish tales, but here he has turned in the best work of his career (even if he still doesn't always capture facial expressions as well as he could have), and Breitweiser's has splashed the colour around like an absolute champ. It's either a blessing or a curse that it went into what is almost certainly my least liked indie Brubaker story, but here we are.
Brubaker and Brubaker alone is the sole reason this one disappoints. First off, the unreliable narrator schtick is some truly weak sauce at the best of times. Here, it is competent at best, and woeful at worst. His descent into meta commentary at times about this very fact is painful to witness. Like he knew how bad it was, but just thought screw it, rather than actually try and find a clever way around the hole he chose to write himself into. There was that, and there was about a dozen other pretty limp attempts to exposit or limply explain some pretty poor narrative decisions. More than once I had to shake my head at it all, although sometimes it was just for some horrendous dialogue choices. Not to mention that this book clearly suffers from the fact that it was written post 2016. I won't belabour the point, because woke messaging in comics has become so common, so facile as to barely even rate mentioning anymore, but god help me, I really didn't ever want to have to experience it in a Brubaker story. This was never going to be a favourite for me, but the continual insufferable signaling within this book only cemented my distaste for it earlier than was necessary, because the longer this story goes on, it goes further and further off the rails until the final few issues... and that ending... god help me. The final page twist was fine, but everything leading up to it... Eeesh.
It really is a shame the story couldn't live up to the artwork. That said, despite all the issues I have with it, many of which I can't be bothered listing, either for the sake of spoilers or otherwise, this still was a pretty readable story. But a readable story I don't ever see myself reading again. 3/5
OmniBen.
December 13, 2019
I'm pretty sure this is my favorite comic I've read in 2019 (and I've read a lot of them). It's just been a while since I picked up a book that I felt a full-on need to continue. The kind of excitement a truly excellent book gives you where you'll be going about your day, wishing work and all life's other distractions would just get out of the way for a while so you can sit down and read. Kill or Be Killed gave me that in spades.
It's not just the excellent pacing, meta, self-aware narrative structure or tense cliffhangers at the end of each issue. All of those elements shine through, handled masterfully by Brubaker. But I've read a lot of ultimately empty thrillers that also nail those elements, only to reveal themselves to have nothing much at all to say about anything, including their characters.
Not so here. Brubaker, accompanied by Phillips' striking, visceral visuals, has some shit to say through his main character. As Dylan begins descending into the depths of becoming a vigilante serial killer, a full-on murderer who deludes himself into believing he's a source of good in the world, his internal monologue, rife with hatred of corruption, ineffective government, and an unfair criminal justice system, begins to come across as horrifyingly reasonable. By crafting a story where the killer's beliefs align very directly with a lot of society's most-pronounced woes, Brubaker & Phillips leads us into very troubling territory. We start thinking, obviously murder is wrong, and one shouldn't take the law into their own hands, but... maybe this guy's right?
And yet, Brubaker himself never really takes a side. Since the entire book is narrated by Dylan, the point of view is coming from a man who sometimes realizes he's wrong, but works very hard to justify his own actions so as not to go completely crazy (with mixed results). Phillips bleak-but-gorgeous artwork, meanwhile, hammers home the harsh realities of Dylan's violence. Therefore, we're left with this dichotomy of ideas on the page, which only seeks to challenge us further. It's one of the most detailed, thorough portraits of a criminal I've ever read in comics, and I couldn't get enough of it.
I am not exaggerating (or at least I don't feel like I am) when I say this book does everything right. The plot, the characters, the tension, the stylized narration. It even sticks the landing, which basically never happens. I truly loved every minute of it.
It's not just the excellent pacing, meta, self-aware narrative structure or tense cliffhangers at the end of each issue. All of those elements shine through, handled masterfully by Brubaker. But I've read a lot of ultimately empty thrillers that also nail those elements, only to reveal themselves to have nothing much at all to say about anything, including their characters.
Not so here. Brubaker, accompanied by Phillips' striking, visceral visuals, has some shit to say through his main character. As Dylan begins descending into the depths of becoming a vigilante serial killer, a full-on murderer who deludes himself into believing he's a source of good in the world, his internal monologue, rife with hatred of corruption, ineffective government, and an unfair criminal justice system, begins to come across as horrifyingly reasonable. By crafting a story where the killer's beliefs align very directly with a lot of society's most-pronounced woes, Brubaker & Phillips leads us into very troubling territory. We start thinking, obviously murder is wrong, and one shouldn't take the law into their own hands, but... maybe this guy's right?
And yet, Brubaker himself never really takes a side. Since the entire book is narrated by Dylan, the point of view is coming from a man who sometimes realizes he's wrong, but works very hard to justify his own actions so as not to go completely crazy (with mixed results). Phillips bleak-but-gorgeous artwork, meanwhile, hammers home the harsh realities of Dylan's violence. Therefore, we're left with this dichotomy of ideas on the page, which only seeks to challenge us further. It's one of the most detailed, thorough portraits of a criminal I've ever read in comics, and I couldn't get enough of it.
I am not exaggerating (or at least I don't feel like I am) when I say this book does everything right. The plot, the characters, the tension, the stylized narration. It even sticks the landing, which basically never happens. I truly loved every minute of it.
August 23, 2020
Another solid-to-excellent Brubaker-Phillips joint. The one thing that bothered me from time to time while reading it could be, on a second thought, its greatest strength: the meandering story structure, which is closer to a four act structure (or Japanese cinema). The deviation from 99% of what we’re being fed through thousands of western novels, movies and especially tv shows feels like a relief.
March 15, 2020
Too much of the author’s annoyingly whiny worldview comes spilling out of the protagonist’s head, but God, this is still a magnificent, magnificent work.
February 22, 2020
Edición deluxe integral con los cuatro tomso (20 issues) en una edición en formato más grande tapa dura.
Contents
7 Kill or Be Killed
545 Extras
546 Covers
575 Essays and Illustrations *
616 Miscellaneous
623 Afterword
624 Biographies
*pese al título no están los ensayos de los issues originales sino simplemente las ilustraciones correspondientes.
Contents
7 Kill or Be Killed
545 Extras
546 Covers
575 Essays and Illustrations *
616 Miscellaneous
623 Afterword
624 Biographies
*pese al título no están los ensayos de los issues originales sino simplemente las ilustraciones correspondientes.
January 20, 2023
Kill or Be Killed is an excellent crime comic book series written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Sean Phillips. Though this is a crime series, it's more accurate to state it's a psychological one. Truthfully, the psychological exploration was more interesting than I expected. We view the world primarily through Dylan's lens and why he decided he should decide to bring judgement. The story it's telling is nothing unique, but the execution more than makes up for it. One aspect I enjoyed is exploring how the past can subconsciously change you. We see this through both Kira's and Dylan's views on how to view the people around them. These circumstances that occur in our protagonist's life allow for some interesting psychological exploration. The narration style is something that clicked with me. When you read the series, you will immediately understand what I mean, there's a lot of breaking the fourth wall, though it isn't obnoxious about it.
The Art is pretty exceptional by Sean Phillips. The compositions of the individual frames, the flow of the story (the visual storytelling) and the beautiful use of colour throughout. The duo is very good at utilising dead space to convey an atmosphere. As a whole, it's exceptionally paced and has a distinct style. The characters did their job, the highlight will be Kira and Dylan and one more character (won't name because of spoilers). I appreciated the experimental nature of some of the art which will take this comic up another notch. The ending I felt was fitting for this type of story.
In Conclusion, I read this comic in one day, it's a fast and engaging read that's worth your time.
8/10
The Art is pretty exceptional by Sean Phillips. The compositions of the individual frames, the flow of the story (the visual storytelling) and the beautiful use of colour throughout. The duo is very good at utilising dead space to convey an atmosphere. As a whole, it's exceptionally paced and has a distinct style. The characters did their job, the highlight will be Kira and Dylan and one more character (won't name because of spoilers). I appreciated the experimental nature of some of the art which will take this comic up another notch. The ending I felt was fitting for this type of story.
In Conclusion, I read this comic in one day, it's a fast and engaging read that's worth your time.
8/10
September 26, 2023
This one’s a page-turner! I enjoyed the first person narrative and how the narrator sneakily switches from talking to you to talking with you, the reader.
February 29, 2020
Un par de años antes de que la película del Joker pusiera en el debate mediático a la salud mental y su invisibilidad en los espacios públicos de discusión (siempre es más fácil esconder lo que no queremos ver bajo la alfombra), el capo de Ed Brubaker ya le metía el diente al tema en Kill or Be Killed. Veinte numeritos notables, recopilados en esta edición de lujo que vale cada dólar a 40 pesos que vayas a gastar en ella.
Si bien la historia tiene una premisa bastante sencilla (luego de un fallido intento de suicidio, un pibe se transforma en un vigilante que hace justicia por mano propia al ser presionado por una entidad diabólica que le dice "o salís a limpiar malandras o te llevo conmigo") y carece de la densidad dramática de otras gemas del Ed, como por ejemplo la gloriosa The Fade Out, o la lovecraftiana Fatale, de todas maneras se las arregla para disparar varias lecturas en distintas direcciones.
Como ya es costumbre, el Bru viene acompañado del maestro Sean Phillips en el arte, y de la colorista Elizabeth Breitweiser, que si no es la mejor de la industria en su rubro, seguro pega en el palo.
Si bien la historia tiene una premisa bastante sencilla (luego de un fallido intento de suicidio, un pibe se transforma en un vigilante que hace justicia por mano propia al ser presionado por una entidad diabólica que le dice "o salís a limpiar malandras o te llevo conmigo") y carece de la densidad dramática de otras gemas del Ed, como por ejemplo la gloriosa The Fade Out, o la lovecraftiana Fatale, de todas maneras se las arregla para disparar varias lecturas en distintas direcciones.
Como ya es costumbre, el Bru viene acompañado del maestro Sean Phillips en el arte, y de la colorista Elizabeth Breitweiser, que si no es la mejor de la industria en su rubro, seguro pega en el palo.
December 16, 2019
Upon opening the cover and reading the first couple pages of this, I immediately felt a sense of comfort and familiarity mixed with excitement. I love this creative team and I love their crime noir stories. The immersive words of Brubaker, the detailed and emotive drawings of Phillips and the nuanced colors of Breitweiser. Together, they create stories that engage me, asking the questions of what does it take to enter a life of crime? Is it multiple steps or one wrong move? Do you have to have it in your genes or is it learned?
This story is probably the most direct I've seen when it comes to these questions. The reader is carried through by the main character as he evolved(devolved?) into a multiple murderer and along the way speaks to the reader, giving insight into what he was thinking and feeling. Brubaker plays with the narrative style, "breaking the fourth wall" so to speak, yet is still able to offer a few surprises. There's also a little bit of commentary on today's society, riddled throughout the issues, each one a new straw being placed on the camel's back. But is that all it takes? Brubaker also touches on the idea of how mental health may or may not play into it.
It's multi-layered and beautifully rendered and I had a hard time putting it down. Another fine chapter in their body of work.
This story is probably the most direct I've seen when it comes to these questions. The reader is carried through by the main character as he evolved(devolved?) into a multiple murderer and along the way speaks to the reader, giving insight into what he was thinking and feeling. Brubaker plays with the narrative style, "breaking the fourth wall" so to speak, yet is still able to offer a few surprises. There's also a little bit of commentary on today's society, riddled throughout the issues, each one a new straw being placed on the camel's back. But is that all it takes? Brubaker also touches on the idea of how mental health may or may not play into it.
It's multi-layered and beautifully rendered and I had a hard time putting it down. Another fine chapter in their body of work.
March 3, 2021
While this is essentially a story about a vigilante killer, which is not my cup of tea, the storytelling is very strong. Most (maybe all?) issues/chapters start in mid-action and then backtrack, and everything is told strictly from the point-of-view of a mentally unstable person who is sometimes medicated and sometimes not and is sometimes deliberately misleading the reader. Brubaker is becoming one of my favorite writers for comics, and Phillips is the perfect collaborator.
October 13, 2024
Kill or Be Killed: The Deluxe Edition collects issues 1-20 of the series written by Ed Brubaker and art by Sean Phillips.
Dylan is millennial living in New York City just trying to survive life. He lives with a roommate who is dating his best friend, who Dylan secretly loves. After a botched suicide attempt, Dylan is faced with a Demon who informs him he saved his life and in return Dylan must provide the Demon with one life per month. This leads Dylan down a dark and twisted path that involves murder, jealousy, drugs, the Russian mob, The NYPD, and insanity.
Possibly the greatest writer and artist team in comic history reunite to tell this modern day crime and serial-killer pulp story. The narrative weaves through Dylan's staggering thought process which ends up being a brilliant plot devices. Even if you don't believe in Dylan's reasoning, you can totally understand how he is justifying his actions which makes this story feel so real. It also feel like a story that you could hear about on the evening news which really grounds the story in reality. Sean Phillip's art is amazing as usual with Jacob Phillips providing the color. You can really picture the rest of New York right outside of each image. The deluxe edition comes in a sturdy hardcover with thick pages that showcase the art. A cover gallery and art by Sean and Jacob that were inspired by the book are located in the appendix. This is a modern day classic that all crime fans should read.
Dylan is millennial living in New York City just trying to survive life. He lives with a roommate who is dating his best friend, who Dylan secretly loves. After a botched suicide attempt, Dylan is faced with a Demon who informs him he saved his life and in return Dylan must provide the Demon with one life per month. This leads Dylan down a dark and twisted path that involves murder, jealousy, drugs, the Russian mob, The NYPD, and insanity.
Possibly the greatest writer and artist team in comic history reunite to tell this modern day crime and serial-killer pulp story. The narrative weaves through Dylan's staggering thought process which ends up being a brilliant plot devices. Even if you don't believe in Dylan's reasoning, you can totally understand how he is justifying his actions which makes this story feel so real. It also feel like a story that you could hear about on the evening news which really grounds the story in reality. Sean Phillip's art is amazing as usual with Jacob Phillips providing the color. You can really picture the rest of New York right outside of each image. The deluxe edition comes in a sturdy hardcover with thick pages that showcase the art. A cover gallery and art by Sean and Jacob that were inspired by the book are located in the appendix. This is a modern day classic that all crime fans should read.
December 31, 2019
Read as single issues. I don’t think this is up there with the best of Brubaker and Phillips, but it’s an interesting idea that blends some of the crime and horror elements that they’ve been playing with recently and transposes them on to modern times. As intended, I’m extremely conflicted by the main character, which is to Brubaker’s credit, but it doesn’t mean I enjoyed reading about him from issue to issue. He’s an asshole, in the shortest version, and not a particularly interesting one, and it makes caring about his journey difficult. There’s interesting ideas surrounding him, and lots of meta-commentary on the nature of storytelling, but it’s definitely not as playful as their more recent work and I’m not sure there’s enough here for me to come back to. The art by Phillips is, as usual, beautiful.
April 29, 2020
A perfect comic book. The moral questions, incredible narration, phenomenal pacing just makes this a necessity for everyone who likes comics or crime to read.
December 9, 2019
Kill or Be Killed by Ed Brubaker (with Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser)
Got this a few days ago and couldn’t put it down.
The story tells us about Dylan, a 28-year-old grad student in NYC who decides to commit suicide because his life is not quite going how he expected it. Except that at the last minute, a demon saves his life and makes it clear to Dylan that he is now indebted to the demon for such act of ‘kindness’. So what would the demon want in return for saving Dylan’s life? Well, a good ‘ole murder per month, that is. Dylan initially doesn’t want to do that since…well, it’s not the nicest or simplest of requests, but with time we see how things change a bit and Dylan is able to keep the demon fed. Dylan’s solution to his predicament is to go after bad guys. But things don’t usually turn out as cleanly as one would hope when making an omelet, let alone when one has to plan some murders. If you start killing bad people, chances are bad people are going to try to hit back at you - that is, kill you.
Throughout the story we learn about Dylan’s past and what makes him click, we get to know about his best friend Kira, his roommate, and his mother. We also learn about Dylan’s dad’s career and how that affected and continues to affect Dylan. We also see things from a different perspective – that is, from the perspective of the NYPD and the person in charge of solving the murder mystery (Detective Sharpe) – and how they would go about handling a killer in the middle of NYC.
The story is only 20 issues long, but it packs a whole lot: murder, mystery, demons, the darkness and grittiness of (some parts of) NYC, crime, love, love triangles, tragedy, hoodies, inner demons, cruelty, morality, and a lot of snow.
My main criticism for the book is that having an open-ended conclusion felt a bit unsatisfying and didn’t quite stick the landing. I usually don’t have issues with open-ended stories, but this one just felt a bit anticlimactic. I think a main question in the story gets no real answer and gets brushed away (and forgotten) after a bit. There are many ways to interpret this, but I wanted a real answer…
Also, two things about the deluxe format (which is how I read the story):
1) I own other Image titles in oversized format and this one is not so great. While the build of the book is solid and there is a large section of extras at the end of the book with covers, etc., we don’t get the covers for every issue before they start (or a proper table of content or even page numbers, but that’s just a peeve of mine). All we get is a red page in between each issue. They could have done a lot better with that.
2) I know Elizabeth Breitweiser is the colorist and may not have been an integral part of developing the story. I also know the importance of authorship, especially in this kind of work. That being said, the issues (and I think the trades, too) included her name in the cover and I think the deluxe should have done the same. Her colors were just as important as Philips’ pencils. She really sells the mood and adds a lot of depth and texture to the pages.
A good ‘ole 8/10 for me in story and art.
Got this a few days ago and couldn’t put it down.
The story tells us about Dylan, a 28-year-old grad student in NYC who decides to commit suicide because his life is not quite going how he expected it. Except that at the last minute, a demon saves his life and makes it clear to Dylan that he is now indebted to the demon for such act of ‘kindness’. So what would the demon want in return for saving Dylan’s life? Well, a good ‘ole murder per month, that is. Dylan initially doesn’t want to do that since…well, it’s not the nicest or simplest of requests, but with time we see how things change a bit and Dylan is able to keep the demon fed. Dylan’s solution to his predicament is to go after bad guys. But things don’t usually turn out as cleanly as one would hope when making an omelet, let alone when one has to plan some murders. If you start killing bad people, chances are bad people are going to try to hit back at you - that is, kill you.
Throughout the story we learn about Dylan’s past and what makes him click, we get to know about his best friend Kira, his roommate, and his mother. We also learn about Dylan’s dad’s career and how that affected and continues to affect Dylan. We also see things from a different perspective – that is, from the perspective of the NYPD and the person in charge of solving the murder mystery (Detective Sharpe) – and how they would go about handling a killer in the middle of NYC.
The story is only 20 issues long, but it packs a whole lot: murder, mystery, demons, the darkness and grittiness of (some parts of) NYC, crime, love, love triangles, tragedy, hoodies, inner demons, cruelty, morality, and a lot of snow.
My main criticism for the book is that having an open-ended conclusion felt a bit unsatisfying and didn’t quite stick the landing. I usually don’t have issues with open-ended stories, but this one just felt a bit anticlimactic. I think a main question in the story gets no real answer and gets brushed away (and forgotten) after a bit. There are many ways to interpret this, but I wanted a real answer…
Also, two things about the deluxe format (which is how I read the story):
1) I own other Image titles in oversized format and this one is not so great. While the build of the book is solid and there is a large section of extras at the end of the book with covers, etc., we don’t get the covers for every issue before they start (or a proper table of content or even page numbers, but that’s just a peeve of mine). All we get is a red page in between each issue. They could have done a lot better with that.
2) I know Elizabeth Breitweiser is the colorist and may not have been an integral part of developing the story. I also know the importance of authorship, especially in this kind of work. That being said, the issues (and I think the trades, too) included her name in the cover and I think the deluxe should have done the same. Her colors were just as important as Philips’ pencils. She really sells the mood and adds a lot of depth and texture to the pages.
A good ‘ole 8/10 for me in story and art.
March 26, 2020
It was good I really did enjoy it but nothing really blew me away I guess. Great writing and amazing art. Very negative view of the world and I’m not sure if it was the character or the writers.
December 1, 2019
Such a great read. Narrated by our main protagonist, we go on a journey of his self discovery. He sees a demon and is tricked into killing wrong doers for it. But all is not what it seams.
Great character building and the ‘friends’ trio sharing a flat adds so really interesting slice of life moments.
Art is gorgeous and the build of the book is great with a nice sewn spine.
Only real caveat is that the main girl’s hair changed from blonde to blue snd back a few times an no reason was given. Doesn’t take away from an awesome book overall from the all star team of Brubaker, Philips and Breitweiser.
Great character building and the ‘friends’ trio sharing a flat adds so really interesting slice of life moments.
Art is gorgeous and the build of the book is great with a nice sewn spine.
Only real caveat is that the main girl’s hair changed from blonde to blue snd back a few times an no reason was given. Doesn’t take away from an awesome book overall from the all star team of Brubaker, Philips and Breitweiser.
December 14, 2019
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips give us a violent, complex, twisted story of a particular human and humanity. The complexity and the universals are wrapped smoothly in the driving narrative and the compelling voice of the narrator. This is the kind of read that confirms your worst feelings about the world, compels you to take a shower after you’re done reading, and is ultimately satisfying.
November 27, 2021
Hardcover de gran tamaño con los 20 numerazos de Kill or be Killed en uno.
September 29, 2020
A stunning and dark criminal odyssey. Pitch-perfect writing and outstanding artwork! This one pulls you in and won't let go.
July 30, 2021
One of my favorite stories of all time ! Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips knocked it out of the park and outdid themselves with this one !
November 22, 2025
Since I had recently read some of Criminal, Brubaker and Phillips's best work, I looked at a couple of the floppies of this series I had once bought, and decided to buy this large one-volume edition. I had reviewed all four volumes just as they came out, and maybe even some of the individual issues. And I loved rereading this.
Brubaker says in an afterword that he and Sean had just finished a complex and deeply researched series, The Fade Out, which dug deeply into his own family history in Hollywood, so he was looking to next do something sorta light and pulpy, an homage to fifties/sixties horror comics, with a (very smart and fun) Brubakerish meta turn. As it turns out, the pulpy part got done, but the light part did not, though it still is fun to read for variopus reasons.
In an afterword after the fourth and last volume, Brubaker had said that he was inspired in the shaping of the story by Joni Mitchell's "The Last Time I Saw Richard" and seventies Spiderman superhero comics. I still say I never saw any of this in my first reading, but now think the refs are there and smart (Dylan, our mc, sings that song in a karaoke bar with bff Kira listening). Brubaker says he is disappointed that almost no one in any reviews ever seems to notice many of his sprinkled meta-references throughout, such as the mention of two cops named Stan (Lee) and Steve (Ditko).
So Kill or Be Killed is written by Ed Brubaker, drawn by Sean Phillips, and colored by Elizabeth Breitweiser (and the colors are a full partner in this series's greatness, trust me). It's a crime/horror comic in a different style than Fatale, but they are both crime/horror comics mashups. The story is mainly narrated by a schleppy guy, Dylan, a 29-year-old, half-assed grad student whose life is not going anywhere, who secretly loves his best friend, Kira, a woman who is dating his roommate. What can he do?! Nothing. Just life in anguish and despair. Not interested in this guy? I know what you mean: Loser. Peter Parker? Maybe not quite, but he's a kinda milquetoast everyman you know is not gonna finally get the girl, unless a miracle happens.
And then there is a history of mental illness in Dylan that led to a suicide attempt, and now he sees he is again stuck, not sure where to go, so decides again to kill himself, jumping off a building. But he survives, and he's suddenly happy to still be alive, and then a demon comes to him with a deal: Kill someone who deserves it every month and I will let you live. The popular manga Death Note territory right, demons--check and killing bad guys--check. Dylan's no killer, he's a wimp, but he buys a red mask (Spiderman) and a gun and starts killing people we might agree are bad people.
Or is it a demon? One self-reflective thread here that we get involved in: Is he just off his meds, or is there really a demon?! Then later he finds some old art work by his Dad, some porn paintings that actually also sometimes feature a demon like the one he sees everywhere. Family history of hallucinations?
Dylan is always of two minds, not sure how to proceed, with Kira, with his life, and his storytelling amusingly and meta-fictionally mirrors his ambivalence. He's all like: Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself, I probably should have told you that later, but will get back to it. Maybe I should have started by telling you about the Russians, or I forgot to tell you this, and so on. He breaks first-person storytelling rules, we get other people's perspectives occasionally, which he admits is kinda cheating. And so on. Then shows us he is in complete control of the narrative making up alternative endings, an unreliable narrator with mental health issues that we come sorta like. I loved it.
In the end as I said we have twists and surprises. It's very comically unlikely that Dylan can take on the Russian mob, but there we are. And he has a breakdown that gets him hospitalized and safe for a time. Which makes us lean toward the mental health explanation, but it is up to us to decide, finally. I like that. There is a Big Finish that is weird and somehow still satisfying. It's much darker and Dad-connected than he intended, as with The Fade Out, but it's really, really good. He takes time to reflect on vigilante culture that of course we are seeing from the right and left today, people that feel the need to eliminate Minnesota liberal Democrats or alt-right talk show pundits because they are perceived as bad people, needing to be killed. It was written some years ago but still seems both entertaining and relevant.
Brubaker says in an afterword that he and Sean had just finished a complex and deeply researched series, The Fade Out, which dug deeply into his own family history in Hollywood, so he was looking to next do something sorta light and pulpy, an homage to fifties/sixties horror comics, with a (very smart and fun) Brubakerish meta turn. As it turns out, the pulpy part got done, but the light part did not, though it still is fun to read for variopus reasons.
In an afterword after the fourth and last volume, Brubaker had said that he was inspired in the shaping of the story by Joni Mitchell's "The Last Time I Saw Richard" and seventies Spiderman superhero comics. I still say I never saw any of this in my first reading, but now think the refs are there and smart (Dylan, our mc, sings that song in a karaoke bar with bff Kira listening). Brubaker says he is disappointed that almost no one in any reviews ever seems to notice many of his sprinkled meta-references throughout, such as the mention of two cops named Stan (Lee) and Steve (Ditko).
So Kill or Be Killed is written by Ed Brubaker, drawn by Sean Phillips, and colored by Elizabeth Breitweiser (and the colors are a full partner in this series's greatness, trust me). It's a crime/horror comic in a different style than Fatale, but they are both crime/horror comics mashups. The story is mainly narrated by a schleppy guy, Dylan, a 29-year-old, half-assed grad student whose life is not going anywhere, who secretly loves his best friend, Kira, a woman who is dating his roommate. What can he do?! Nothing. Just life in anguish and despair. Not interested in this guy? I know what you mean: Loser. Peter Parker? Maybe not quite, but he's a kinda milquetoast everyman you know is not gonna finally get the girl, unless a miracle happens.
And then there is a history of mental illness in Dylan that led to a suicide attempt, and now he sees he is again stuck, not sure where to go, so decides again to kill himself, jumping off a building. But he survives, and he's suddenly happy to still be alive, and then a demon comes to him with a deal: Kill someone who deserves it every month and I will let you live. The popular manga Death Note territory right, demons--check and killing bad guys--check. Dylan's no killer, he's a wimp, but he buys a red mask (Spiderman) and a gun and starts killing people we might agree are bad people.
Or is it a demon? One self-reflective thread here that we get involved in: Is he just off his meds, or is there really a demon?! Then later he finds some old art work by his Dad, some porn paintings that actually also sometimes feature a demon like the one he sees everywhere. Family history of hallucinations?
Dylan is always of two minds, not sure how to proceed, with Kira, with his life, and his storytelling amusingly and meta-fictionally mirrors his ambivalence. He's all like: Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself, I probably should have told you that later, but will get back to it. Maybe I should have started by telling you about the Russians, or I forgot to tell you this, and so on. He breaks first-person storytelling rules, we get other people's perspectives occasionally, which he admits is kinda cheating. And so on. Then shows us he is in complete control of the narrative making up alternative endings, an unreliable narrator with mental health issues that we come sorta like. I loved it.
In the end as I said we have twists and surprises. It's very comically unlikely that Dylan can take on the Russian mob, but there we are. And he has a breakdown that gets him hospitalized and safe for a time. Which makes us lean toward the mental health explanation, but it is up to us to decide, finally. I like that. There is a Big Finish that is weird and somehow still satisfying. It's much darker and Dad-connected than he intended, as with The Fade Out, but it's really, really good. He takes time to reflect on vigilante culture that of course we are seeing from the right and left today, people that feel the need to eliminate Minnesota liberal Democrats or alt-right talk show pundits because they are perceived as bad people, needing to be killed. It was written some years ago but still seems both entertaining and relevant.
August 18, 2020
This is a comic about a young white male named Dylan with brown hair who shoots and kills many people. Also it was written after the massacre I'm referencing so uh. That's weird. And I don't like that.
As weird as that is, I really can't feel too much like it's intentional because of the contents of this great story. It was something that always hung over my head and made me feel really weird lmao.
ANYWAY! Kill or Be Killed is about a young man named Dylan who's really had enough of life. One day, he decides he's not going to put up with this shit anymore, and goes to the roof of his building to jump off and kill himself. He makes the leap, but a split-second after doing so he has a sudden change of heart, and doesn't want to go through with it anymore. By some miracle he is caught on a clothesline on the way down which slows his fall enough to make it so the rest doesn't kill him.
And then he starts seeing a demon around. A demon that kindly informs him that he's the reason Dylan didn't die. A demon that wants payment in exchange for sparing Dylan's life. Every 30 days Dylan must take a life. If he fails to do so, he will die himself. And that's the setup and honestly that's a great setup.
But what it does with that is really great too. Dylan has no interest in just being a psycho serial killer. If he's going to be forced to kill then he's going to make sure he does it to people who deserve it. And as the months go on he starts to come to a big realization.
A LOT of people deserve to die. And while it would be incredibly easy for this comic to delve into reactionary garbage with its politics it's specifically because it didn't that I loved this to death. At one point there's even a copycat killer who goes around killing low level drug dealers or homeless people, targets that Dylan specifically chose to avoid as someone who was addicted to drugs himself. He knows that the vast majority of dealers are harmless and they do it because they don't have many other options, and turns his murderous feelers towards the corporate. The wealthy. The politicians who benefit from the death and subjugation of so many, and who could do with a little bit of terror in their lives. And to that end, I get the feeling his outfit choice of a red hood with a black hoodie was probably intentional.
That's about as much as I can say without getting overly spoilery but this also has a great ending. and is easily one of my all time favorites. I feel like I don't read enough grim and mature adult series but I do still like them! And this is absolutely worth reading if you're an adult for whom this sort of thing sounds interesting.
As weird as that is, I really can't feel too much like it's intentional because of the contents of this great story. It was something that always hung over my head and made me feel really weird lmao.
ANYWAY! Kill or Be Killed is about a young man named Dylan who's really had enough of life. One day, he decides he's not going to put up with this shit anymore, and goes to the roof of his building to jump off and kill himself. He makes the leap, but a split-second after doing so he has a sudden change of heart, and doesn't want to go through with it anymore. By some miracle he is caught on a clothesline on the way down which slows his fall enough to make it so the rest doesn't kill him.
And then he starts seeing a demon around. A demon that kindly informs him that he's the reason Dylan didn't die. A demon that wants payment in exchange for sparing Dylan's life. Every 30 days Dylan must take a life. If he fails to do so, he will die himself. And that's the setup and honestly that's a great setup.
But what it does with that is really great too. Dylan has no interest in just being a psycho serial killer. If he's going to be forced to kill then he's going to make sure he does it to people who deserve it. And as the months go on he starts to come to a big realization.
A LOT of people deserve to die. And while it would be incredibly easy for this comic to delve into reactionary garbage with its politics it's specifically because it didn't that I loved this to death. At one point there's even a copycat killer who goes around killing low level drug dealers or homeless people, targets that Dylan specifically chose to avoid as someone who was addicted to drugs himself. He knows that the vast majority of dealers are harmless and they do it because they don't have many other options, and turns his murderous feelers towards the corporate. The wealthy. The politicians who benefit from the death and subjugation of so many, and who could do with a little bit of terror in their lives. And to that end, I get the feeling his outfit choice of a red hood with a black hoodie was probably intentional.
That's about as much as I can say without getting overly spoilery but this also has a great ending. and is easily one of my all time favorites. I feel like I don't read enough grim and mature adult series but I do still like them! And this is absolutely worth reading if you're an adult for whom this sort of thing sounds interesting.
July 29, 2021
As someone who hasn't read many comics, I'm not sure how much weight my opinion holds, but I really enjoyed this series! I love the overall premise (story of vigilantism that pokes fun at the genre), as well as the characters and the grittiness of the world they inhabit. The art and coloring were consistently gorgeous as well. Really, as a Russian person, my only persistent pet peeve was the Russian mafia as the main villain (seems a bit trite), as well as the poor choice of Russian names. (Sabina? Nico -- from "Nikolai" maybe? Karl? Tino?? Janos?! Come on!) Same energy as these 'American' names from that one Japanese baseball game lmao:
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I (sadly?) really enjoy discussions of family trauma, generational curses, hereditary illnesses, etc.; arguably, most of the conflict in both Dylan and Kira's lives is a result of unresolved childhood trauma or hereditary curses. The issue in vol. 2 that's devoted to Kira's familial past was one of my favorites for this reason. The writing and imagery in that section is one of the most memorable moments in this series for me, though, looking back, it is pretty much plot-irrelevant filler lol (or background set-up for a sequel?? idkidk).
I haven't read/watched/otherwise experienced many vigilante stories, so some of the subversive elements of the writing may have been lost on me, but I still loved all of the meta-commentary about narrative structure and whatnot. Even where he did get a bit political and made me wince a few times, I found that it generally suited Dylan's extreme Twitter-era Doomer-ism. At its "edgy-overly-profane-nice-guy" worst, Dylan's monologue did get slightly on my nerves (possibly by association with Ready Player One, god I hate that book), and I thoroughly enjoyed the literary references that Dylan drops (despite a good portion of them soaring over my head at high altitude). From other reviews, all of the rambling seems to be one of the more contentious parts of the whole book, which I personally loved as a fan of novels and essays, and introspective writing in general.
Overall, great read, I definitely recommend! :D
image:
I (sadly?) really enjoy discussions of family trauma, generational curses, hereditary illnesses, etc.; arguably, most of the conflict in both Dylan and Kira's lives is a result of unresolved childhood trauma or hereditary curses. The issue in vol. 2 that's devoted to Kira's familial past was one of my favorites for this reason. The writing and imagery in that section is one of the most memorable moments in this series for me, though, looking back, it is pretty much plot-irrelevant filler lol (or background set-up for a sequel?? idkidk).
I haven't read/watched/otherwise experienced many vigilante stories, so some of the subversive elements of the writing may have been lost on me, but I still loved all of the meta-commentary about narrative structure and whatnot. Even where he did get a bit political and made me wince a few times, I found that it generally suited Dylan's extreme Twitter-era Doomer-ism. At its "edgy-overly-profane-nice-guy" worst, Dylan's monologue did get slightly on my nerves (possibly by association with Ready Player One, god I hate that book), and I thoroughly enjoyed the literary references that Dylan drops (despite a good portion of them soaring over my head at high altitude). From other reviews, all of the rambling seems to be one of the more contentious parts of the whole book, which I personally loved as a fan of novels and essays, and introspective writing in general.
Overall, great read, I definitely recommend! :D
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