A Train Called Love

by Garth Ennis, Mark Dos Santos (Illustrator), Russ Braun (Cover Artist)

Acclaimed graphic novelist Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys) explores the highs and lows of love! Thrill-seeking Valerie's been getting dirty phone calls, but when she goes to take revenge on the pervert responsible, she meets Myles, the man of her dreams. Of course, Myles is a gentlemanly hitman who just executed said pervert, and while that's a turn-on for Valerie, she unwittingly becomes a target for several unsavory types... including the gangster Mister Monsta. Meanwhile, Valerie's sister has her hands full with her boyfriend Marv, whose kinky fixations have just become painfully apparent. Meanwhile, Marv's friends launch a dubious scheme to get rich... leading the gang on a collision course with Myles' employer. Love blossoms while bullets fly, in a wildly irreverent romantic farce that only Garth Ennis could tell!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Ebooks

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2016

About the author

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

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This kind of reminds me of what would happen if the dingbats from American Pie got another movie. Four dipshits get ahold of some cocaine and try to sell it to a drug dealer. Plus there's an English hitman and the girl he just met involved too. There's a lot of terrible relationship stuff, wacky hijinks, horse porn, and racist stereotypical characters. None of which really adds up to a great story. None of the characters are at all likable either. Dos Santos has a cartoony and exaggerated expression art style. I'd only recommend this only if you're a Garth Ennis completist.

[Ryan Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fucking mess this thing is: four numbnut dipshits fall backwards into 50 kilos of blow and try to sell it to a crime lord with FBI immunity while that crime lord is being targeted by an English spy who accidentally meets and falls in love with the sister of one of the four dudes' who have the blow. That's about 40% of what's going on here.

The rest involves getting ass-fucked for stardom, sexual identity, horse-wanking, the Klan, and a fair amount of general hijinks. I think at this point in my life Garth Ennis has to go full gonzo for me to appreciate his charms. (For the uninitiated, I know it could sound like the things I've described so far are well beyond full gonzo, and while this one is definitely absurd, it's nothing compared to the absolute height of his insanity, The Boys.) When he doesn't go all-out and way-too-far, the problems of his ridiculousness get a bit too much room to breathe, mostly some racist caricatures and a bit of a demeaning attitude towards women.

Over-reaching, overly-complicated stories with some action and some comedy are amongst my favorite kinds of stories--stuff along the lines of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Big Lebowski, Seven Psychopaths, etc--and this is a fun addition to that kind of work. I don't think I'd go out of my way to read it or recommend it, but I had a good time seeing everything magically work out for everyone after some sketchy pacing and a fuckpile of nonsense.

The art is very cartoony, which is kind of perfect for the pulp feeling of the book. However, after reading Ennis's work as drawn by Darick Robertson (The Boys), Steve Dillon (Preacher), and Goran Parlov (Punisher: MAX), I feel like Mark Dos Santos doesn't really do Ennis justice. Then again, the story is kind of dumb and definitely not Ennis's best work, so, in a way, Dos Santos did pretty dang good for what he had to work with. It's an appropriate match, for better or worse.

Fun book, but don't track it down and overpay like I unknowingly did. (I almost always check online prices when buying used in stores, and of course I didn't this time, like a chump.)

[Alex Sarll]

Originally described as Ennis doing a romance comic, for much of the run this felt like Ennis in his standard violent comedy mode, all albino Nazis, man-mountain crime bosses, bestiality vids and malign bunnies. But by the end, amid all the blood and filth, he does indeed manage to pull off a finale worthy of a Shakespeare comedy (some would say a problem play, given all the violent death, but they were generally people with whose deaths I had no problem) - most everyone paired off aptly, and most of them happily. And while dos Santos is a new name to me, he was a perfect choice for the art, with just the right level of cartoonishness.

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buying a bundle from anywhere is nice to find the works that you have no idea about. This 10-issue run by one of my favorite artists, Garth Ennis, tells us a story involving a hitman and a girl, and they fall in love and lust. This is a mature comic series for adults. There is also a group of four bumbling idiots of childhood friends who finds themselves soon in over their heads. It was hilarious and absurd, and I enjoyed it, so let's go and explore the Humble Bundle and read more graphic novels from the list. So let's go on and Keep on Reading.

I have always loved comics, and I can and I have. I love comics to bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more. You should also read what you love, and I hope you will always love it. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I just want to Keep on Reading.

[cloverina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I... liked it??? Who am I?

This is actually my very first foray into Ennis, and although I don't think it's a good representation of his skill as a writer or his typical genre, I actually enjoyed it. Before this, I've been silently critical of Ennis just from hearing things about Crossed, Baracuda, and The Boys. He just comes across as an edgy teen (still does), and no white man needs to be writing the n-word THAT much.

Despite my pre-concieved opinion of Ennis, I thought this was a fun read. It's not something I would reccomend to anybody else, but it has some really sweet and fun romance that I was surprised to see from Ennis. I would read Marcy and whatsherhead's story in a long-form romance series on its own. It's my favorite part of this.

It's also funny, naturally. There are a lot of jokes that are too edgy or flat out dumb for me to laugh at but others actually did get a little laugh out of me (even some jokes that I would never reveal I found funny).

I refuse to give it 4 stars though, because even though all the sweet makes it easy to look over, there's a lot of stuff that I hate.

For example, any time Marv is on the page. I know he's supposed to be horrible, but GOD, did he have to be THAT unbearable? He's gross and annoying and deserves every bad thing he got. It was a relief to see his friends ditch him and be far better off without him.

I also hate (Call-Me-)Dave's whole unnecessary story. It... maayyybe could work as its own story with a different tone? But it's not material deserving of its own story. I think it was supposed to be funny? Instead, it's just really depressing. He's not a likeable character but his whole life was ruined and it served zero story purpose.

The worst part is the horsewanking plot or anything that references it. It's not even a little bit funny to me and it takes up half the story for no reason. Could've done without it.

The parts that are actually about love and the jokes that aren't too far really won me over. Marv set it back, and he's really half the reason I couldn't call this GREAT. I would've never even thought to pick this up, so thanks for the reccomendation Dave! Can't say I reccomend this but it's a fun little story and I'm glad I read it.

[Terry Murphy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hey folks! Do you know what's funny? Horse porn. German accents. Sexual identity crises.

What's hot? Lesbianism. Hyper-sexuality in women.

Was this written by an 11-year-old in 2003?

The fact that this is as tone deaf and God awful is either a sign that Ennis is a man whose work was rooted in a (hopefully) forgotten time, or he wrote this under duress.

Stay away.

[David Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wacky, disgusting fun. Not Ennis's best work, but still very enjoyable, and the man simply sneezes out character after character--fully formed in their globular farce of authenticity--with no signs of slowing.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

made me think of one of those 80's movies were it was a comedy adventure. Garth Ennis at his finest with writing a story. made me laugh, a lot.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is at odds with the story, and the story itself doesn't gel till more than a third of the way in, but it all comes together in an enjoyable fashion

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rude, crude and fantastically funny.

[Soteralzobooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.1

[RND · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kind of pains me to give one star to a writer who I think is one of the medium's best, but this is a rare misfire. My least favorite of Ennis' material tends to be the lowbrow/crude humor stuff, but this was a mess. Part Tarantino-inspired pastiche/homage?, with some pretty broad characters, some old-fashioned perspectives, and perhaps worst of all, it's never actually funny, mostly just "shocking." I can only hope this was a really old bunch of scripts that only recently got drawn.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love and friendship win out on all fronts in the end. This comic feels like a sitcom with some action and explosions thrown in. All in all, it's a light-hearted story about several friends who get into a nasty scrape, fall in and out of love, and ultimately meet their soulmates. And it's a laugh-a-minute all the way.

Valerie wants some excitement in her life. She gets it when she stumbles onto an assassin called Myles who just killed the guy who was stalking her from across the street. They hit it off, but are on the run from Emil and Gustav, men working for Mister Monsta. Myles was forced to work off a debt incurred by a dead friend by doing hits for Mister Monsta. Valerie gets it in her head to kill the gangster.

Mike's friends want to use him for a deal with Mister Monsta because of his 'old-school ghetto credibility'. So it's really because Mike is black. The guys stumbled upon a couple of FBI agents in a bar a while back. The agents had just confiscated a car with 50 kg of cocaine, so the guys took it and now they want to sell it to Mister Monsta. The trade-off goes badly and ends with Myles and Gustav shooting and blowing stuff up. Then they are captured by Gustav for the end fight where Varelie and Myles save them.

Other characters include Dave, a shallow actor everybody envies who gets his big break by getting intimate with a Hollywood star he idolizes, but loses his confidence as he gains the boy toy status, Penny who walks in on her boyfriend Marv touching himself while viewing zoo porn with an actress that their friend Jev is dating, Marcy the bar singer who has a secret crush on Penny. Everything is just so varied and colorful.

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, who told Garth Ennis to write a romance comic?
..Because it actually kinda works.

This is a blend of "Love, Actually" and a Guy Ritchie film, to be more accurate. There is a lot of romance, including lesbian and gay relationships, but it's also a Garth Ennis comic, which means horse porn plays a prominent part, and there's a lot of over-the-top violence (and nudity, male and female). The main plot involves a drug score, a kingpin, a british assassin, and an unrepentant Nazi, but also a lot of action, some surprisingly insightful relationship conversations, and some vaguely related B plots about a KKK barbeque and action movie stars. Most of the characters have more depth than you would expect, and the different threads mostly pay off. If you're a fan of Ennis' other works, this is definitely in line with them, even accounting for the focus on relationships. Equal parts absurd and grounded, it has just about everything you could want.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read much Garth Ennis. Some Hellblazer, which I thought was meh. I'm not much into the violent boy's club bullshit that seems to be his stock in trade, so I just figured that he wasn't a writer for me. Which is fine.

The title of A Train Called Love caught my eye at the library, and then my train of thought went something like this: "WTF that cover's a disaster. What is this? Garth Ennis, prolly not going to like this. I'll read a few pages because that cover's so weird."

And... turns out, I kind of liked it? I mean, I think it's a mess. The pacing is a disaster, it's all over the place, and the whole thing just basically fizzles out at the end. But it's weird and mostly fun, and I didn't really know what to expect from one page to the next.

[Nate]

Part love story, part crime saga, all one giant trigger warning. It starts out as one of Ennis’ violent comedies before becoming a legitimate romance for all involved. Ennis has written love stories before - see Hellblazer, Preacher, and The Boys - but I don’t think he’s written one quite like this, i.e. a straight comedy. Nearly every page has something that will offend people, so obviously it’s not for everyone. I admit that I laughed out loud a few times and was mildly entertained reading this. And I have a certain level of respect for Ennis for not caring at all what people think. But yeah, I probably won’t pick it up again. Ennis is one of my favorite writers, though I don’t love everything he writes. His comedies like this are almost always in the lower tier.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got this in a humble bundle and finally got around to reading this. It is weird. I dig the whole crazy story of four idiot guys trying to sell drugs they stole from feds. But boy there was way to much of a random sub plot of some actor turning sex slave that has no other baring on the plot. Also was expecting the bunny to actually do anything. Not recommended go read SAGA if you want a good adult comic story.

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did love the whole human relationship stuff in this one. It was really interesting and twisted.
But the whole drug thing with Mister Monsta.... that was just stupid and pointless.
But then again, I loved the violent bits. It was intense and funny.
Still, much better than some stuff I have read.

[Enzo Nicolini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarante, con ese humor burlesco de Ennis que tanto disfrutamos. Y los personajes muy bien logrados, a pesar del obvio tono de sátira. El arte es adecuado al tipo de historia. Muy recomendable para reírse un rato leyendo.

[Daftfader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit weird but a happy ending

[A.J. O. Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

[Chalupa Batman · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the weaker efforts by Ennis

[Mhorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Garth Ennis zaniness. Hit man meets girl after incidentally whacking her stalker. Story runs a bit too long, arts a little cartoonish. Worth a read.

[Ruz El · Rating 2 out of 5]

The immortal question: "Could Garth Ennis write a romance comic?" has finally been answered. Nope, no he can't. I mean, there is romanace in here, but it's definitely the lesser part of the action, satire rampage he's typically known for letting loose in his books. It's not terrible, but not great either and the art was too cartoon-y and generic to really stand out.

[Spidey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buen comienzo, habrá que ver cómo termina