Hitman Vol. 2: Ten Thousand Bullets

Ex-military operative Tommy Monaghan's adventures as a Gotham City-based Hitman for hire continues. In HITMAN: 10,000 BULLETS, Monaghan uses his powers of telepathy and x-ray vision to survive an all-out attack on him and his friends. Then, a vindictive mob boss from Tommy's past puts a contract out on him. With his friends caught in the crossfire, Tommy must find a way to take out the hired assassin and exact retribution against the mafia head. But even with his extrodinary powers, the Hitman may find that a trained killer and a mob army is just too much for one man.

In the second collection of the 1990s comic about a killer for hire with second-tier superpowers, the tables are turned on title character Tommy Monaghan when a gang boss puts a price on his head; the subsequent bloodbath costs him his best friend’s life and his girlfriend’s love. A second story takes Monaghan to a small Texas town where he finds himself caught between a corrupt sheriff and a Mexican gang in a modern-day spaghetti western. Not as ambitious as Ennis’ other major series of the time, the equally violent Preacher, Hitman yet has its own rude charms. McCrea’s blunt, effective artwork is as straightforward as Monaghan’s badass, unnuanced worldview. --Gordon Flagg