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Hitman #34

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Writer Garth Ennis took home the 1999 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue with this standalone tale featuring a rooftop conversation between Tommy Monaghan and the guardian of Metropolis, Superman!

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 23, 1998

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About the author

Garth Ennis

2,648 books3,211 followers
Ennis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.

Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.

Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics'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 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Mark Plaid.
302 reviews7 followers
March 22, 2022
Tommy "Hitman" Monaghan shares a deeply honest moment with Superman in one of the best issues of the series.
Profile Image for Nicolo.
3,661 reviews213 followers
August 1, 2024
For someone who doesn't like superheroes, Garth Ennis wrote a pretty good Superman story during his run in Hitman with artist John McCrea.

In one of the best issues of the series, Superman and Tommy shared a conversation during a chance meeting in the rooftops. It has a shocking ending, of sorts. But it really captured Superman's humanity in a way that could only be done by a writer who understood the character.

This was really great comics.
Profile Image for M Zhou.
36 reviews
January 13, 2025
“that’s what i’m scared everyone believes. the one truth they hold above all else. ‘no, he can’t be everywhere at once, but if he’s there for me i’ll be safe.’ but when the moment came for colonel james m. kennedy, commander of the yeager— superman let him down.”
“you can’t help what people are gonna believe about you.”
“no. but i have to live with it.”
Profile Image for Pochodnia  fandomu.
114 reviews12 followers
March 24, 2019
Ten zeszyt zawiera jedno z najlepszych przedstawień tego, kim jest Superman, jak na Supermana patrzą inni, a jak patrzy on sam. Ennis nie lubi innych superbohaterów, oprócz Supermana, którego naprawdę rozumie.
Profile Image for Machiavelli.
1,016 reviews27 followers
July 6, 2025
Just read Hitman #34 — Ennis writes maybe my favorite Superman cameo ever. Quiet, sincere, and somehow perfectly fitting for Tommy Monaghan’s world. A street-level gem with a big heart.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews