Kill or be Killed, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker

I had read the first three trades a few times before I read through the entire series on Friday. However I loved Kill or Be Killed from start to finish.

I haven’t read anything else by them yet but from what I’ve read I consider that to be the case.

And Incognito’s ending was just boring and ended on a cliffhanger. The last two volumes were poorly written and so many things were glossed over and left unanswered. And Kill or Be Killed struck me as a grounded story devoid of fantasies such as life after death.Īdditionally, I do believe Ed Brubaker/Philips have trouble with endings (although I LOVED KOBK’s ending).

That’s a lot of conjecture but I think it’s too out of left field to acknowledge the afterlife in the very last issue. While I do agree that it was an odd choice to reveal that Dylan was a posthumous narrator, I chose to interpret it as he “told” his story as he was dying and had an out of body experience while doing so and got confused on what was reality. This wasn’t going to be a story with a happy ending. The demonic element to the story also allows Brubaker to play with the idea of 'If you had to kill a bad person, who would you pick?' Although Dylan becomes a murderer at the beginning of the story, Brubaker hopes the character's plight is sympathetic enough that readers will root for him. Dylan's arrangement with the demon has been interpreted as commentary on the War on Terror and the racially motivated violence publicised in the US in the two years prior to the book's publication.I agree that the “what if” version of the ending didn’t fit, but that’s the point. The comic will examine the consequences of vigilante violence and its effects on Dylan’s loved ones.īrubaker wanted to examine the reality of being a vigilante, and Kill or Be Killed focuses on the ramifications of violence and its effect on the Dylan’s loved ones. In exchange, Dylan will be allowed to live one more month for every person he kills.īrubaker said he chose to make the character young because he wanted to include the optimism of youth. He survives due to unlikely events, but is soon visited by a demon who explains he spared Dylan's life. The story is about Dylan, a depressed college student who attempts suicide. It's dark and nasty but also vulnerable and human, containing enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and sleeping poorly. Kill or Be Killed is Brubaker and Phillips simultaneously turning out a comic in the style they're known for while also breaking new ground for the pair. The series has received mostly positive reviews from critics since then. The series was announced at Image Expo in April 2016, and published by Image Comics beginning on August 3, 2016. Kill or be Killed is an American comic book series created by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips with Elizabeth Breitweiser as the series colorist and is published by Image Comics.

Kill or be Killed, Vol. 1 by Ed Brubaker