10

by Keith Giffen, Andy Kuhn (Artist)

Ten innocent people become unwilling contestants in a game of death. Given 10 bullets and a gun, it's kill or be killed as they're forced to hunt the other 10 contestants! In the dark, horrific tradition of Battle Royale, this is a non-stop adrenaline-fueled tale of pain and terror.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Keith Ian Giffen was an American comic book illustrator and writer. He is possibly best-known for his long runs illustrating, and later writing the Legion of Super-Heroes title in the 1980s and 1990s. He also created the alien mercenary character Lobo (with Roger Slifer), and the irreverent "want-to-be" hero, Ambush Bug. Giffen is known for having an unorthodox writing style, often using characters in ways not seen before. His dialogue is usually characterized by a biting wit that is seen as much less zany than dialogue provided by longtime collaborators DeMatteis and Robert Loren Fleming. That approach has brought him both criticism and admiration, as perhaps best illustrated by the mixed (although commercially successful) response to his work in DC Comics' Justice League International (1987-1992). He also plotted and was breakdown artist for an Aquaman limited series and one-shot special in 1989 with writer Robert Loren Fleming and artist Curt Swan for DC Comics.

Giffen's first published work was "The Sword and The Star", a black-and-white series featured in Marvel Preview, with writer Bill Mantlo. He has worked on titles (owned by several different companies) including Woodgod, All Star Comics, Doctor Fate, Drax the Destroyer, Heckler, Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, Reign of the Zodiac, Suicide Squad, Trencher (to be re-released in a collected edition by Boom! Studios)., T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and Vext. He was also responsible for the English adaptation of the Battle Royale and Ikki Tousen manga, as well as creating "I Luv Halloween" for Tokyopop. He also worked for Dark Horse from 1994-95 on their Comics Greatest World/Dark Horse Heroes line, as the writer of two short lived series, Division 13 and co-author, with Lovern Kindzierski, of Agents of Law. For Valiant Comics, Giffen wrote XO-Manowar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Punx and the final issue of Solar, Man of the Atom.

He took a break from the comic industry for several years, working on storyboards for television and film, including shows such as The Real Ghostbusters and Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy.

He is also the lead writer for Marvel Comics's Annihilation event, having written the one-shot prologue, the lead-in stories in Thanos and Drax, the Silver Surfer as well as the main six issues mini-series. He also wrote the Star-Lord mini-series for the follow-up story Annihilation: Conquest. He currently writes Doom Patrol for DC, and is also completing an abandoned Grant Morrison plot in The Authority: the Lost Year for Wildstorm.

Reviews

[Václav · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, this feels like cheap 100 bullet knockoff. I didn't find anything good in it. The art is mediocre at best, the story is mess and the narration is boring.

[Radwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't have enough coherence, and it felt really messy even though the concept was pretty basic.
wasn't a very good battle royale, also the art wasn't that good.

[I DRM Free · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading the tag line above makes me want to read this comic book. But this short 12 page preview comic completely fails in making me want to read it.

The comic opens with a black man rummaging through a white woman’s home while she lays on the floor bleeding to death. All you know is he is an intruder and has shot her and is now looking for painkillers and other prescription meds to use or sell.

By the end of the comic he is leaving right after smothering her and putting her out of her misery. And then the preview ends.

It does absolutely NOTHING to get me hooked. All I saw and read was a murder with the sole purpose of looking for guns and meds. So I could easily come out of it thinking that is what this whole series is about.

Man I can’t believe how bad these preview issues have been lately that do nothing to entice you and get you hooked and wanting more.

I’m not a fan of the artistry either. It’s kinda ugly in my opinion, but I wouldn’t pass it up for the artistry alone if the writing was great.

It has DRM, so -1.

[Mhorg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trash. Goes nowhere and gives the reader nothing. Not a memorable character in this. Twenty minutes of my life, wasted. Like an asylum movie made into a comic.

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but short. There is not any time to explain any of the "game" these people are drawn into.

[Dmitry Yakovenko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Очень сумбурный комикс, на который я совершенно случайно наткнулся, он меня заинтересовал, ну и я решил не оттягивать знакомство с ним из-за его малого объема - всего 50 страниц. В итоге оказалось, что лучше бы я не натыкался на него в интернете и не тратил на свое время зря.

"10" рассказывает о ежегодном соревновании охотников - странном мероприятии, по правилам которого десять людей получают пистолет с десятью особыми пулями, после чего должны убить всех участников. При этом девять человек получают данные лишь одного охотника (хотя убить должны всех), а десятый участник получает список с адресами всех людей.

Интересная идея оказывается дурно реализованной из-за того, что в гущу событий читателя отправляют с первых страниц, оставив за кадром большую часть событий и ничего особо толком не разъясняют. То есть комикс только начинается, а часть людей уже была убита, ничего не объясняют, а только забрасывают событиями, и героями. Кто-то умирает, кто-то что-то вспоминает, пытаются какими-то флэшбеками навести драмы, но не выходит, ведь ты этих героев знаешь только секунд тридцать и тебе банально наплевать на них. Ты за саму историю только сел, а она уже заканчивается.

В этом ее основная проблема - в слишком маленьком объеме, в котором пытаются уместить огромное количество событий, экшена и персонажей (кстати, не особо интересных). Еще в проблемы стоит записать не лучшую концовку, а также далеко не самый красивый стиль рисунка.

Вот и выходит, что "10" оказался комиксом, который в принципе интересно читать, из-за любопытного сюжета с хорошей идей, из которой можно было много выжать, но он оказывается погребен под слабым рисунком и малой продолжительностью, за которой не успевает толком раскрыться.