Look at the title.
Now take in the cover. It’s very
clear that this book is being sold on the merits (or lack thereof) of sexy
violence. That shouldn’t be surprising,
considering how it’s written by Jeffrey Kaufman, the guy who gave us TERMINAL
ALICE. Can we expect more of the same
from him?
Kind of. This time,
Kaufman fares much better. While he
leans on some of his old crutches, he has a better handle on the content, which
is actually a strong presence this time out.
The style is still there, but it’s closer to being balanced this time.
Jacob Mars is a CIA assassin, but the problem with working
for the government these days is that the good ol’ US of A is running low on
money. Budget cuts must be made. The next thing Mars knows is, he’s let go. What does a contract killer do when he’s out
of his cushy job?
For one, he’s really good at his occupation. So good that the competition wants him in
their organization, but even though the US no longer wants him, they make
sure that he doesn’t go to work for the opposition. That leaves freelance work, and Mars will do
just about anything to make money (hence the title). To quote his former handler, Mars is a
“selfish, self-indulgent, semi-homicidal narcissist,” and such people have high
costs of living. He doesn’t want to give
up his lifestyle, so it’s time to start killing people in the private sector.
Some of the jobs he takes on are downright surreal. In one job, he protects a Bieber-ish pop star
who wants to come out of the closet, but his studio knows that would lose them
a lot of money. There’s the former rival
who wants Mars to fuck the rival’s daughter until she’s pregnant, so the guy
can raise the kid to one day murder Mars.
(And Mars goes for it, because the money is good!) There’s the mobster who everyone thinks is a
snitch. There’s the rich couple who
wants to ensure that they win a prestigious dog show. Holy shit, that’s a lot.
That’s the only real flaw of this book. There is no overarching story. It’s a series of stories thrown together,
where the only two that connect are the first and last. Maybe that’s good for a series, but for a
graphic novel? Not so much.
But there’s so much good shit here! One of the best scenes shows Mars playing
basketball with Obama as they talk about Mars’s work for the government. Great stuff.
Artist Marco Turini is no slouch, either. The art satisfies every need of the story,
from sex to violence to humor and everything in between. You can see the coldness on Mars’s face, even
when he’s supposed to be at his most passionate. The book opens with him arguing over the
phone with first a banker and then his handler over why he wasn’t paid as per
usual. The whole time, he’s fucking the
shit out of this girl, and you can tell where his interest really lies.
Sadly, Kaufman couldn’t resist the urge to have the girls
from TERMINAL ALICE show up to help Mars near the end of the book. This time out, though, they don’t do so
badly. The only truly annoying thing in
this book is Kaufman’s inability to distinguish between “you’re” and “your.”
Despite these flaws, WHORE is an excellent read, and you
should pick it up immediately.
WHORE
Written by Jeffrey Kaufman
Illustrated by Marco Turini
Published by Zenescope
A shit-ton of pages
$10
