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Kill or be Killed (Single Issues)
Kill or be Killed #4
The shocking end to the first arc, as Dylan's secret collides with his home life. BRUBAKER & PHILLIPS's new series keeps the hits coming, and remember, each issue includes fantastic back page extras and articles.
39 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 16, 2016
2 people are currently reading
20 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.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 22, 2016
The mesmerizing noir antics continue of Dylan the sad sack vigilante killer, and Kira, his roommate and the woman he is having an affair with behind the back of Mason. His first kill was a bad guy, a pedophile, so he and we can. . . maybe. . . be okay with that. Or can we? How are we implicated in these crimes as we listen to Dylan tell his story? In this issue he roams the streets at night trying to find another Bad Guy to kill so he can justify these acts he seems to be required to do in some way.
And so, lucky him, Dylan finds a sex trafficker at a strip club. But this is noir, can any of it go smoothly? And will Dylan finally let his BFF Kira in on his violent murderous secret? Trust Master storyteller Brubaker to lead you on to the Paths of Wickedness. The first arc is finished after issue #4,
but it's a cliffhanger ending for a couple reasons I will be coy about. It would appear that the deal-with-the-devil Dylan has made, to kill a person a month in order to stay alive, may have something to do with the illustrations his father used to make clandestinely. Or: Can we really trust Dylan as our narrator? What is it that drives him, really? I'll leave this pretty spoiler free, as does Brubaker, basically, in the end. Oh, but first, lest we forget, Dylan's got to get his late paper on Cervantes done! That's right, he's taking some classes to get his life together. How's that working out for you, Dylan?
The art by Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser (colors) is just stunning. The colors seem to be changing, deepening, as we go down the Dark Tunnel, and Phillips's panel format is shifting, opening up to more full pages. Masters at work.
And so, lucky him, Dylan finds a sex trafficker at a strip club. But this is noir, can any of it go smoothly? And will Dylan finally let his BFF Kira in on his violent murderous secret? Trust Master storyteller Brubaker to lead you on to the Paths of Wickedness. The first arc is finished after issue #4,
but it's a cliffhanger ending for a couple reasons I will be coy about. It would appear that the deal-with-the-devil Dylan has made, to kill a person a month in order to stay alive, may have something to do with the illustrations his father used to make clandestinely. Or: Can we really trust Dylan as our narrator? What is it that drives him, really? I'll leave this pretty spoiler free, as does Brubaker, basically, in the end. Oh, but first, lest we forget, Dylan's got to get his late paper on Cervantes done! That's right, he's taking some classes to get his life together. How's that working out for you, Dylan?
The art by Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser (colors) is just stunning. The colors seem to be changing, deepening, as we go down the Dark Tunnel, and Phillips's panel format is shifting, opening up to more full pages. Masters at work.
December 22, 2016
You Talking to Me?
Well, another month down, so another corpse is due. Simple as that. “Research is the key,” our friend Dylan informs us. If you want to make sure you really kill a BAD guy, that is. Admittedly, the bits and pieces of information Dylan gathers from newspapers and the police blotter are hardly conclusive, but hey, a tough-looking fella with a Russian accent who drives foreign-sounding, suspiciously healthy-looking strippers home at 4 AM? Duh. I mean, that guy is evil, right? …Right?! “This guy’s death would free these women at least… And make life difficult for the people he worked for, right? Hell, maybe I’d get lucky and the cops would use this as a way to blow their whole operation up… But even as I’m thinking that, I’m laughing at myself.” Anyway, a corpse is due, there is no time to waste...
In this issue, Dylan started to remind me of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver: similar moral delusions, similar self pep talk, same deadly results. Taxi Driver is one of my all-time favorite movies, by the way, so I ain’t complaining. In fact, I have really been enjoying Kill or Be Killed. It may not be the most original story in the world, but here and there it explores familiar themes from new perspectives, finding fascinating new angles—and I’m a sucker for this kind of geeky genre reflexivity.
The plot may sound generic when summarized, but it is so carefully and beautifully realized that I never really cared—which won’t surprise fans of crime comics’ dynamic duo: HOORAY for Brubaker & Phillips! I highly recommend Kill or Be Killed to anybody with an interest in slightly self-aware genre mash-ups at the boundary of superhero and crime/horror comics. To those, and to *YOU* as well… that’s right, I’m talking straight to you through this screen now, dear reader, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, is there? He, nice try... See what I mean? I'm still here. I’m still talkin' to you. You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah?
Well, another month down, so another corpse is due. Simple as that. “Research is the key,” our friend Dylan informs us. If you want to make sure you really kill a BAD guy, that is. Admittedly, the bits and pieces of information Dylan gathers from newspapers and the police blotter are hardly conclusive, but hey, a tough-looking fella with a Russian accent who drives foreign-sounding, suspiciously healthy-looking strippers home at 4 AM? Duh. I mean, that guy is evil, right? …Right?! “This guy’s death would free these women at least… And make life difficult for the people he worked for, right? Hell, maybe I’d get lucky and the cops would use this as a way to blow their whole operation up… But even as I’m thinking that, I’m laughing at myself.” Anyway, a corpse is due, there is no time to waste...
In this issue, Dylan started to remind me of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver: similar moral delusions, similar self pep talk, same deadly results. Taxi Driver is one of my all-time favorite movies, by the way, so I ain’t complaining. In fact, I have really been enjoying Kill or Be Killed. It may not be the most original story in the world, but here and there it explores familiar themes from new perspectives, finding fascinating new angles—and I’m a sucker for this kind of geeky genre reflexivity.
The plot may sound generic when summarized, but it is so carefully and beautifully realized that I never really cared—which won’t surprise fans of crime comics’ dynamic duo: HOORAY for Brubaker & Phillips! I highly recommend Kill or Be Killed to anybody with an interest in slightly self-aware genre mash-ups at the boundary of superhero and crime/horror comics. To those, and to *YOU* as well… that’s right, I’m talking straight to you through this screen now, dear reader, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, is there? He, nice try... See what I mean? I'm still here. I’m still talkin' to you. You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah?
September 16, 2018
"You can see around and see awfullness on every corner, but how can you be sure which awful people need to die?"
Başlamak için geciktiğim bir seri olmuş. Git gide Punisher'a olan benzerliği beni kendine daha fazla çekiyor.
Başlamak için geciktiğim bir seri olmuş. Git gide Punisher'a olan benzerliği beni kendine daha fazla çekiyor.
November 18, 2016
UGGG CLIFFHANGER.
October 30, 2018
No estoy segura si me gustó del todo... el asunto de Teddy sí que me gustó, pero ahora con los rusos ... ehh... no lo sé, además que es la típica historia donde "si me hubiera quedado un minuto más ahí me hubieran atrapado los polis", esperaba más tensión en esta historia, además ya me harté con Kira, es un personaje que no me convence del todo (y el estilo de dibujo tampoco ayuda a que simpatice con ella).
August 14, 2017
There is some great character writing here. I'd like to see more of the main plot developed, but I trust Brubaker to handle the story masterfully.
July 14, 2018
This wraps the first story arc. 4 issues, all 5 star goodreads rated in my books!
December 15, 2016
Still hoping this series picks up and goes somewhere, but it's only getting slower. This issue brought a lot of moral ambiguity to the plot, and rushed through it in as few frames as possible to drag out the love triangle and ensure no angle of female nudity went unexplored. If the artwork is going to be this unimaginative and just plain mediocre throughout, the plot had better pull it together soon.
November 26, 2016
This series is progressing brilliantly with deeper crime and a growing imperfect vigilante, whose character is so horridly close to reality that it is hard not to shudder at the coldness of it all as we ride inside his mind and observe his actions and their subsequent reactions. One issue after another, the wait for the next gets harder to contemplate.
November 18, 2016
Another good issue! This series is really dark and really violent, but it also kinda is a social commentary so there is depth to it. Really interesting.
December 3, 2016
These are so goddamned good.
April 8, 2017
Por fin puedo continuar con el cómic que me dejo deslumbrado desde que lo descubrí. Kill or be killed (Tomo 4)
La trama, si bien lenta, no pierde en lo absoluto su calidad. Es el ritmo que ha venido marcando y con el cual uno rápido se acostumbra. Hay una mínima evolución del personaje, y un halo de misterio en cuanto a la parte "sobrenatural" que hace su aparición de tanto en tanto.
Ciertamente me recuerda a Death note, pero con Dylan, es mas fácil empatizar.
Voy por el tomo 5 y a seguir esperando por muchos más.
La trama, si bien lenta, no pierde en lo absoluto su calidad. Es el ritmo que ha venido marcando y con el cual uno rápido se acostumbra. Hay una mínima evolución del personaje, y un halo de misterio en cuanto a la parte "sobrenatural" que hace su aparición de tanto en tanto.
Ciertamente me recuerda a Death note, pero con Dylan, es mas fácil empatizar.
Voy por el tomo 5 y a seguir esperando por muchos más.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews