Kill or be Killed, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker

Not seven years ago, and not even now…Not really.”ĭylan clarifies through narration that that wasn’t really the start of things either, it was just a small stupid moment in a long line of small moments that he can’t let go of. And maybe I wished I was that kind of guy too. Dylan tells readers that he and Daisy ended up arguing the rest of the night, “ Because I thought maybe she wished I was the kind of guy who could beat up three assholes on a city bus. When he tried staring at the offenders to make them back off, they only sneered at him, daring him to make a move. He surmises that in some way, the story started that New Year’s Eve where he took the bus home with his friend Daisy, feeling powerless to stop a few assholes from catcalling her. This isn’t the beginning…No, this is way after the beginning.” As Dylan leaves the scene of the crime, he struggles to remember how the story started from the beginning.

“ We cling to fantasy…to hope…we sit at our screens and fill our heads with noise and scream at each other…As if that’s going to change anything. Bad people get away with everything…And greed is destroying the entire fucking planet.”ĭylan is then confronted by a pimp and ends up engaging in a fight, one he nearly loses, before beating the pimp to death with his shotgun. Oh, and the Middle East is one nuke away from turning us all into dust. “Big business controls your government…Assholes go on shooting rampages almost daily…Terrorists blow up airports and train stations…Cops kill innocent black kids and get away with it…Psychopaths run for President. Because the world is shit right now, and we all know it.” During this narration, we see Dylan move down the hall way and wait for his next two targets coming out of the elevator before shooting them to death as well. And yeah, you can sit there and ask what gives me the right to make judgement…But that’s just your defense. But you don’t always have a choice, do you? And let’s face it…I’ve become pretty good at this. “ This isn’t how I imagined my life would be.

As he shoots both men dead and walks out of the apartment, he narrates some of his motivation for killing. We’re dropped directly into the action where we see Dylan confront two of his targets. It’s a comic book that has a moral to the story: if you don’t appreciate what you have, someone will take it away. Not just a straight forward take on vigilantism, it’s the story of how one young man struggles with the decision to take a life in order to protect his own, which is slowly falling apart. Because Dylan tried to take his own life, now he must repay that debt by taking the lives of bad people. When he miraculously survives, however, it comes with a price.

*Spoilers Ahead* Despondent about where his life is heading and feeling powerless to do anything to change the growing relationship with his best friend Kira for the better, Dylan makes the decision to commit suicide. Art by: Sean Phillips & Elizabeth Breitweiser

Kill or be Killed, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker