DC’s Vertigo imprint continues its comeback with End of Life #1, which arrives courtesy of Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh. At first, the setup seems like your standard action movie: skilled hitman Eddie Stallion is forced to go on the run after a job he pulls off turns out to have disastrous consequences. With nowhere else to go, Eddie returns to his hometown. More importantly, he reunites with his estranged father (who is dying from cancer) and his childhood sweetheart (who is his dad’s hospice nurse). If Eddie thought he could lie low at home, he’s wrong, as he’s unwittingly incurred the wrath of a disgraced cartoonist turned crime lord.
End of Life #1 is completely different from Bleeding Hearts #1, and that’s a beautiful thing. The joy of having an imprint like Vertigo is that each title doesn’t just let a creator deliver all the profanity, bloodshed, and mature content they want – it lets them tell the story only they can tell. With End of Life, it’s a story about the regrets we carry, filtered through an action-movie lens. Eddie initially comes off as your typical wisecracking hitman, but as the issue progresses, the layers are peeled back to reveal someone carrying deep-seated anger and grief. Props to Starks for managing to balance the various tones throughout this issue: the funny parts are packed with enough profane, rapid-fire dialogue to rival Quentin Tarantino while the more emotional moments are laced with a deep anger.
Pugh’s artwork also makes each character feel distinct. Chief among them is Eddie: he’s sporting a sharp haircut, a red blazer, and matching red shades. Completing the look is a tattoo of a horse on his neck, which aligns with his surname and the secret society of assassins he joined. Pugh also has a gift for facial expressions, depending on the context. When Eddie’s at work, he’s constantly smirking or laughing. When he encounters his father, he’s yelling, his face almost frozen in a rictus of anger.
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I also have to give props to Chris O’Halloran and Becca Carey, whose colors and letters give End of Life #1 a unique flair. O’Halloran blends hot reds with cool blacks for Eddie’s ensemble, meaning that he’s the first thing that draws the eye – considering he’s the protagonist, that’s a good thing. Carey also includes cheeky captions, such as “What he did” to explain how Eddie got into his predicament, and “Somewhere nowhere will find him” to show how he got to his father’s house. Carey has a gift for comedic timing, as these captions are placed at the right moment to make you laugh.
End of Life #1 combines rapid-fire dialogue, bloody violence, and emotional catharsis for a hell of a debut issue. I’m genuinely surprised at how much I liked this comic, but it’s also proof that the new Vertigo is just as much of a hotbed for unique comics as the classic imprint was.
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