The United States of Murder Inc. Vol. 1: Truth

Murder Inc. #1

by Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming (Illustrations)

Welcome to a world where the influence of organized crime has risen to a place where parts of the United States are actually fully controlled by the mafia! Newly made man Valentine Gallo carries a massive secret, one that could send the entire country into a civil war!

Today is the day that Valentine becomes a made man and it's also the day he learns the secrets behind the organization he has served since he was old enough to walk. But it is mysterious hitwoman Jagger Rose that will forever turn his life upside down. Be there when shocking secrets of this new world spill out onto the very first page in this new edition of this epic graphic novel from Jinxworld.

The Eisner Award-winning creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming bring you another instant classic with THE UNITED STATES OF MURDER INC BOOK ONE. Collects THE UNITED STATES OF MURDER INC. #1-5.

Brian Michael Bendis's critically acclaimed Jinxworld library now comes to DC! These classic, award-winning graphic novels, including JINX, TORSO, POWERS, GOLDFISH, BRILLIANT, TAKIO and SCARLET among others, will now be re-released under the DC banner alongside other seminal books such as BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and WATCHMEN. These beloved, hard-to-find Jinxworld titles will be accompanied by new stories from continuing series like POWERS, SCARLET and THE UNITED STATES OF MURDER INC., as well as new series such as PEARL and COVER. Catch up with the vast library of graphic novels from one of the greatest comics creators ever with Jinxworld!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Thriller, Alternate History, Graphic Novels Comics, Sequential Art

248 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2014

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024 Review

I liked this better the second go around. It seems like they aren't a country separate from the U.S. but more the mob is just operating in the open and there's a detente between them and the government. Even Oeming's art seems better now. Maybe Dark Horse cleaned it up or something. Or maybe my tastes have just changed. I don't know but I quite liked it this time. There's about 70 pages of extras too. Mostly covers and scripts.



2018 Review

I have to say I was disappointed in this. I'm a huge fan of Powers so I was ecstatic when I saw the same creators were involved in this. This felt slapdash. Oeming's art is sloppy and unfinished with so much use of black that I couldn't make out some of the panels. His panel construction often left me confused if I was supposed to read across both pages or just one.

Logistically, how would this even work? The five families run the East Coast, Chicago, and Vegas? Why not just have them take over the areas by installing puppets in official positions like the mob has actually done in the past? There's no way the U.S. government would just let these areas secede. It makes no sense. The world building is severely lacking. It's just, here's the scenario, just accept it without any justification.

Received a review copy from DC and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bendis' slightly over-the-top noir crime story "United States of Murder, Inc" was an interesting premise. In alternate reality, the Mafia took control of the East Coast and kicked out the US government. The Mafia families reign supreme. Valentine Gallo has been born into this life. Today is the day, the son of a famous deceased mafia member is turned into a Made Guy.

Valentino must survive the treacherous world of Mafia politics when on his first job, he is indicted for assassinating a US Senator. Then an interesting tale of Mafia in-fighting and government hijinks will lead to a secret being exposed to Valentine-his mother and father were deep-undercover FBI and he has a mission to take down the Mafia from the inside.

Like I said. It's an interesting premise. I liked the story and might look into the second volume. I did not care for the cartoonish art. It reminds me of the Samurai Jack style that doesn't seem to lend well to this kind of dark tale. Just like it would have been a bad art style for the GN "Sin City", it's a bit too cartoonish for such a dark tale. The shame is, that in the alternate art, there are some artists who could have done a great noir job with the art versus the chosen artist.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Time to go on a Bendis bender! (#7 of 8)

Bendis barely works to build the world of this alternative history where the mob governs major regions of the U.S. and has seceded from the union. The whole thing comes off as nearly nonsensical as he randomly mixes gritty and over-the-top elements. And Oeming's art, which I liked in the Powers series, seems out of place here. I think the script would have been served with something less cartoony. And perhaps a rewrite or two.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

That opening page.

Subverting expectations.

Those poorly-constructed panel layouts, and action scene layouts.

The twisty plot turns.

So much foul language out of the ladies.

The LSD colour arrangements.

Have you read more than one volume of Powers? Then you're going to read this. That's not in question.


HOWever...

I left this review unfinished for three months, and I can't say there's one shred of the story that I've retained since. In their defence, I'm the guy who can hardly remember the plot of an episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from one week to the next (and I'm a big enough fan that I actually took the time to spell it out with all the periods and everything, AND gave it the corporate branding prefix that they're so inexplicably in love with).

So I'm just gonna take my first impression and assume that it held up, give this sucker four stars. What's the worst that could happen? Will I be dragged into Guantanamo as a suspected gangster (hey! I remembered a detail from this story, so I guess the four stars *are* deserved, even if this isn't quite the "he remembered his whole life after suffering amnesia and thought that stray chinchilla was his long-lost dog"). Unlikely.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the Powers-esqueness of it but the premise is decidedly goofy. I just feel like BMB watched the Godfather films one too many times before tackling this one.


He better never go against the family now, knowwhaddimean?

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alternate history: the five families have seized de facto control of the east coast, as well as Chicago and Las Vegas. In alternate today, a young man gets "made", discovers that his mother birthed him twenty years before specifically to become the ultimate mob-infiltrating sleeper agent, and then accidentally blows up a U.S. Senator on his first job for the Bonavese family. Along with a mob assassin, he's now on the run from pretty much every significant power.

Great concept, reasonably well executed. Except for the exposition dump toward the end, which comes from a very stupid, unjustifiable source. But I'm eager to see where this goes.

It's amazing how such a simple, texture-free look can also be so cinematic. Interesting camera angles. But man, the panel layouts...I shouldn't have to routinely skip ahead in order to be able to tell whether I should be reading across the gutter or not. And guys, if you're going to put all your characters in dark suits, avoid long-distance camera-reversals in commuter trains. It's headache-inducing.

[Trike · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s not true that every Italian is in the mafia. They all *work* for the mafia, though.” — Richard Pryor

“If you really want to eliminate the mafia, then you got to go into every Catholic church, every pizza joint, every casino, every teamster office. Until you’re willing to shoot priests, you ain’t gonna make a dent.” — former mob enforcer, turned FBI informant

This is alt-history playing with the idea that the CIA and Mafia were in cahoots in the 1960s and had JFK killed. The natural outgrowth of that is the Balkanization of America, with the five families taking over various cities like NYC, LA, Chicago and Vegas, while the rest of the country goes on as usual.

As with all good alt-history, it’s not too far from the truth. I could see this happening very easily. It took decades of dedicated work by US law enforcement to break the stranglehold organized crime had on the country. Once that happened, other ethnic gangs moved in, smaller and more chaotic, and often more violent, leading to more than one FBI agent to say out loud they wished for the good old days when the Italians ran things.

This story zips right along and it feels authentically gritty. I’m in for the next volume.

[Frédéric · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uchronia: nowadays the Mob (as in Mafia) controls the US eastern seabord, Chicago and Vegas. These are actually off-limits for the government and law agencies.
Ok, this sounds cool, I'm all for it.

Valentine Gallo has just been "made" and gets involved in a snafu including the death of a US senator. And learns that his mother has literally bred him into the world to be an insider for the FBI.

...

WTF? Did I really just write that?

Do I really need to go further? Ok, let's do it.
Valentine has the personality of a clam. His partner Jagger Rose is an improbable overkill hitman with a goddess body -like I haven't seen it a billion times already. The final twist is hardly a surprise.

Too bad. A good idea turned down into a corny would-be pulp crime story.
Some good stuff here and there (the WTC still stands and we happen to know why) but that can't make a good story from such a lousy pitch.

Avon Oeming's art is slicker (and better) than usual with lots of solid blacks but the color chart gave me a headache.

To top it all I'm just tired of Bendis using "penis" and "vagina" in his books for no other reason than their shock value.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great blend of action/crime story and world-building.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure the "Inc." in the title of this series is superfluous. That's not the first thing you'll notice, though. The first thing you'll notice is Michael Avon Oeming's art, which is tolerable at best and atrocious at worst. I got used to it over the course of these 190 pages, but I'm not happy I got used to it. The black borders, neon colors, and oddly stretched characters all seem like such poor, cartoony choices for what is otherwise a pretty bloodthirsty noir.

In an alternate USA where criminal mafias control certain cities, Valentine Gallo has been proclaimed a made man in the NYC mob. He proceeds to take on a task, which goes poorly, and is soon on the run from his mob, other mobs, and the CIA. The narrative moves quickly and efficiently, even with Brian Michael Bendis's propensity to overdo the dialogue. There aren't a ton of surprises, though. World-building is also extremely lackluster. It's a fine read, typical for Bendis, but only if you can get past the art.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

With mob rats, mob war and President Kennedy’s killer, the United States of Murder Inc Vol 1 starts a new mafia graphic novel series off strong.

Valentine becomes a made man in the mafia like his father and grandfather before him. With his cousin Dino, he is sent to D.C. to deliver a package to a Senator. Valentine meets a beautiful redhead, Jagger Rose, on the train. She says she was a childhood friend of his sister. She states that the mob has sent her to keep an eye on him during his first task, but she is actually a mob hitman sent to protect him. After delivering the package, the Senator’s building explodes, killing Dino. Valentino’s mob bosses swear it wasn’t his case that detonated.

Valentine goes home to his mother. She tells him his great-grandfather shot Kennedy for the mob. When his mother tells him she birthed him to be a mob spy for her bosses in the FBI, Valentino is understandably upset.

Switching between present day and mid-20th century, the story has plenty of plot. The use of sepia tones in the flashbacks makes it easy to tell what time period is being described. The plot is reminiscent of The Godfather series. The mob families are fighting. The CIA is trying to get revenge on the senator’s behalf. Valentine and Jagger are ultimately alone and fighting for their lives.

While the United States of Murder Inc Vol 1 has an interesting story, it isn’t very unique. I hope that it will be developed more in future volumes. If you like mobster stories, this is a good read. 3 stars.

Thanks to the publisher, Jinxworld, and NetGalley for an advance copy.

[Jamie Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Not that great. Not very memorable. 3 stars I guess.

[Al Capwned · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a page-turner alright but I think Bendis lost it while getting close to the ending.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I'd become so tired of Brian Michael Bendis's tediously predictable conversation cadence and lack of distinct character voices that I'd stopped reading his books for years. I only ended up reading this because it still sat unread on my tablet, and I'm trying to go through and cycle everything off of it to put new things on there.

This story wasn't plagued by the same dialog problems that have annoyed me about most of his other work. Sure, the world building is pretty light and some of the set up doesn't really make sense (though more extensive world-building could alleviate that problem), but in the end this was a fast-paced, entertaining mob story. I found it refreshing how it paired up a male and female protagonist, and despite them being forced to work together through a series of tense and unfortunate circumstances, somehow the story did NOT shoehorn a contrived romance into the plot. It's a fairly low bar to clear but not nearly enough stories actually do it.

I'm a big fan of Michael Avon Oeming's artwork, and though I didn't have the same difficulties with the art that some reviewers here seem to have had (being fairly used to his extensive use of black inks from Powers), I do agree with the complaints that some of the characters (particularly the heads of the other crime families) are difficult to tell apart. If they'd not mostly appeared on video monitors with their names displayed under them, I would not have been able to differentiate them from one another. They don't even look identical, but they are all so generic looking that it's hard to recall which face goes to which name. The simple, limited color palette is part of Oeming's style, and sometimes the simple color cues work quite nicely ("oh, we're in a green environment now so we're back in Madonna's safe room")--other times, however, I can certainly see where it might lead to some confusion.

Bendis wraps things up a little too quickly and neatly for my taste, but I still quite enjoyed this story, and the ending directly sets up the next story arc that I understand he actually did get around to writing after four or five years (though it took me a bit of searching to actually find it). I realize that some of my rating here comes from the low expectations I had for this, but hey, it was fun. I'm interested in reading the next volume, when I can get it on sale.

3.5 STARS

[Scott Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powers while it is unique among superhero books is still a superhero book. This is the book by Bendis and Oeming that is not Superhero noir, but just noir. It posits an alternate United States in which the mob is behind the Kennedy Assassination and openly claims the act as a warning to the rest of the United States of their reach and power. Hence the contemporary "United States" is primarily divided between the five families with a small left over section around DC for the actual US government to administer.

The story opens on the eve of Gallo Valentine becoming a made man and moves from there. The blunt no holds barred violence of Powers with an added portion of intrigue, politics, and crime make this a fascinating book indeed. One worth following for many, many reasons.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oyyy... The United States of Murder Inc is a rehash of old tropes that might have been interesting had the art not been a terrible mess of incomprehensibility. While I like bold colours and lots of blacks, I couldn't even parse what was happening in most panels. Anatomy was only a faint idea, left somewhere on the editing floor. The dark colours made me think of how messy so many modern action films are, where everything is blurry and hard to see. Well this certainly isn't the worst graphic novel I have ever read, it really didn't deserve more than 1.5 stars.

[Aildiin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis creator owned stuff is so much better than his super hero stuff I don't get why he doesn't focus more time on it.
This is a some amazing comic that I highly recommend.

[Joe Kraus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This aims to be a high-concept .45 caliber blow-you-away story. It delivers, but more like a .22.

Like a lot of people, I admired Bendis and Oeming’s Powers. That was high-concept, too, but it also seemed in step with a lot of the best comics coming out at the same time. In fact, while it struck me as less good than Astro City (to take my favorite of the time), it seemed a perfect summation of what I think of as third-wave superhero stories. The first was the “golden age” stuff of hey, cool, it’s Superman and Batman. The second was the Marvel innovation; Spiderman (or insert your favorite here) may be a superhero, but he also has problems. The third got started with The Watchmen; what’s it like to be an ordinary human in a world where there are superheroes.

No one handled that question more directly than Bendis in Powers, and Oeming’s art was the perfect, blunt complement. Here, though, the concept seems less urgent, less a question that others are asking with different effect. Courtesy of an alternate history that we get in dribs and drabs, the organized crime families of the United States have established a separate government. They control “the territories,” which seems to be much of the Midwest. Cool, but, why? It’s less clear what the concept is supposed to help us explore.

Still, as a guy who studies organized crime, I’m always game to see a clever take on that sort of premise. Beyond that original concept, though, there isn’t too much that impresses at a conceptual level. [SPOILER] So the government sets our protagonists up; the CIA frames them for the murder of a United States Senator with the hope that the gangs will turn on each other and the government will be able to pick them apart one by one. Why then would one agent more or less spill the beans and blow up the plan?

More broadly, the characters here are largely flat and predictable. Valentine gets ‘made’ in the opening panels, and Jagger is a bad-ass hit-woman who has no trouble taking out whole squads of adversaries even when they get the jump on her. And she looks a little like Scarlett Johansson, though everything in Oeming’s line work gets thickened and bruised.

All that said, there is a nice energy to the story. Bendis may not bring the same insight into the zeitgeist as he did in Powers, but he may have an even sharper sense of narrative. There’s no condescension. He gives you enough of the story to figure things out if you’re paying attention. If you aren’t, goes the implication, then you ought to go find something easier to read. It’s not Ed Brubaker, but it’s not bad at all. I found myself admiring it more and more as I read, even to the point of starting a search for volume two.

Oeming’s drawings work a little less well, though. Instead of the usual color on white, this is more neon on black. I guess that makes sense as the unofficial colors of Las Vegas, but it’s wearing. Too much of the art seems to be over-caffeinated, and that makes it all the harder to distinguish climax from set-up.

So, this one may not come with full Dirty Harry firepower, but it still gets off a good shot. I found myself enjoying it more and more the longer I read, and that’s always a good sign. And, since I really am looking for volume two, I guess I’m already reloading.

[Ezma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot is kinda interesting, as a mobster and a hitwoman are framed for the murder of a US senator. The twist on it is the fact that this is a world wherein the mafia controls a good portion of the US. How much we don't really know, there's only references to "the territories" and certain cities are shown. Maybe the problem with the book is this vague handwave over the worldbuilding. At the same time, Bendis does a lot of flashback scenes showing how this AU played out, but these scenes don't actually help put the pieces together in any real way. Instead it's just stuff like "who killed JFK" and the mafia preventing 9/11--kinda funny, not helpful for getting the reader hooked.

Bendis' trademark dialogue is here and regularly snappy, but we had trouble really caring about the characters. Valentine gets hit the worst with this as he's pretty flat throughout. It also felt like information just gets tossed around easily at times, with characters finding things out too easily, although that might be because this is clearly setup for the second arc. Can't really drag out the mystery too much, but as a result, the solution isn't that interesting. Oeming's art is fantastic as usual, especially the way he plays with panel space and the use of spreads. That said, we were sometimes confused as to whether some pages were 2 separate pages or a big two-page spread.

Big Bendis fans will probably enjoy this more, and we probably would've read the rest like 10 years ago. Even remember liking the first issue when we read it in the past but it just didn't catch our interest this time around.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

'The United States of Murder Inc. Volume 1: Truth' by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Avon Oeming is a story of alternate history where the mafia is thriving and in charge of parts of the US.

Our protagonist is Valentine Gallo. He is charged with delivering a package outside the mafia zone to a senator. Accompanying him is a beautiful killer named Jagger Rose who will protect Valentine, but that's all. When the senator dies in an explosion, Valentine is suspected in the murder. He also learns a big secret from his mother. She has been grooming him his entire life to be a double agent for the FBI and inform on his mafia family.

It's an interesting idea, but it feels unfinished. The art also felt a bit unfinished at times. Sometimes I liked the art and story, and sometimes, it felt rough and rushed.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Jinxworld, DC Entertainment, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Zac · Rating 1 out of 5]

A typical mob story exposition with an interesting but fatally underutilized twist of incorporating alternate history. The cha characters and dialogue are as cliche of mafia trope as it gets, under-developed and deafeningly bland. The plot has its twists but everything that happens is inconsequential in the end. The artwork is really the most interesting aspect, however it does a very poor job of making the danger feel real at any point as opposed to what the dialogue is conveying, and the gunfights have no tension.
Several of the kills are depicted confusingly by the art. Random people are killed around them who are established for in 1 or 2 panels before they're killed by assassins, seemingly for no reason, and immediate cease to be a part of the dialogue or story. The several scenes with the mob bosses meeting up feature variations of the exact same dialogue each time, which never comes to any tension, action, or resolution.
All these criticisms being said, I'll still read the new 2019 follow-up series, which already seems to be a huge step up in the first 3 pages.

[Matt Shelton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to agree with some of the viewers on here in the sense that the artwork feels very out of place.

It works with Powers but it felt really off here. I'm a MASSIVE fan of the mafia and most things related (when done properly, unlike the movie Gotti) and I had no problem diving in to the story. Some critics mentioned the world building not being enough or believable, while I can understand that take...it wasn't an issue I had with the overall story. I'm usually never a judge of the art but this story would have been much better if they had used the art of, say a Tim Sale who was absolutely amazing in the Batman: Long Halloween series. I thought his portrayal of the time period and mafia characters was spot on and would've done great here.

While I didn't love the story, I'm intrigued enough

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an alternate USA where part of the East Coast and Vegas belong to the Crime bosses since the 1960's, Valentine Gallo becomes a made man and is sent to deliver a box to a US Senator in Washington, DC, accompanied by a friend and a hitwoman - Jagger Rose. The box of cash explodes killing the Senator and his friend. Valentine then learns a devastating secret from his mom right before he and Jagger Rose are targeted by CIA hit squads and made men from other crime families. After Jagger and Valentine manage to clear their names and get a measure of peace between the crime families, Valentine has to decide where he will stand. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

[Lord English SSBM · Rating 1 out of 5]

It feels surreal to read something like this in the year of our lord 2023: An alternate history book about the Kennedy assassination that plays the conspiracy theories completely straight not for the purposes of telling an engaging conspiracy thriller but for the purposes of social critique. It doesn't even work because the setup is so absurd that it's impossible to take it seriously, which doesn't prevent Bendis from trying to play it for drama. It's not smart, and it's not fun, and while the art has an appealing aesthetic it just feels awkward and inconsistent in motion.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick impressions: Overall, I liked it, but I felt it could've been better. The art certainly needed more clarity. Still, it is an interesting action story in an alternate history setting. For libraries, I would say this is an optional selection. I would order it for our library if a patron requested it. It does end in a cliffhanger, so I may or not seek out the next volume.

(Full review on my blog.)

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a few years older, but it was new to me. You will never see prettier, more cinematic noir violence than that perpetuated by Oeming, but he has to be on top of his game to keep up with Bendis in this, his element: big things driven by small conversations. Now I have to find the 2nd volume of this.

[Oli Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first volume of #theunitedstatesofmurderinc by bendis and oeming is really cool. great set up, plot and world building. Plenty of twists and turns. Bendis’ dialogue is a lot of fun.I really enjoyed this and want to find out more about the world and what Valentine does next and how Rose reacts when she finds out where his loyalty lies.

[K. G. Whitehurst · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Gangster noir. It's a good opening to a longer project. We know more about Valentine Gallo than Jaegger Rose (besides she's a stone-cold killer), but that will change. The art in bold, with strong, dark lines. I'm not always sure it works, but it very striking. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[Paul Griggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read volume 2 first I had to go back and check this out. Now I want a big budget Godfather style movie adaptation. It’s got everything. Intrigue, sex and oodles of bloody violence. Highly recommended.

[Emme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I only really got into it at the end. Jagger Rose was cool but the most interesting thing about Valentine was his mother. I would have liked to see how the territories operated by themselves before pitting them against the US.