
IDW Publishing 2015
Written by Michael Benedetto
Penciled by Antonio Fuso
Inked by Emilio Lecce
Coloured by Jason Lewis
SITTING WITH HIS BACK AGAINST THE INSIDE WALL OF A MOTEL, WATCHING POOLS OF BLOOD LAP TOWARD HIM, HE WONDERS WHETHER HE’S MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. LATER OF COURSE, THERE’D BE NO DOUBT. BUT FOR NOW HE IS, AS THEY SAY, IN THE MOMENT…
Alright well this kind of reminds me of the Transporter movies. It is different enough so that it stands out on its own however and the lead character, the driver, with his own way of doing things as well as having a day job make the story more interesting. The story starts more at an end point and then moves backwards to when the job begins so we know where it’ll end up. Not the greatest position for him to be in but far from the end of his story if he’s lucky.
I like his attitude, the drivers, as he lays out what he does and doesn’t do on any job. He doesn’t want to be involved in the heist itself, the less he knows the better for everyone involved he just wants to know where to be and when. Deniability is key here he can keep his hands free of knowledge of what’s going down before hand and do the job he was hired to do. It’s smart really because who this way if something goes south all he knows is that he’s supposed to drive people from point A to B.
That he’s very adamant about his rules is very nice to see. It says a lot about his character that he’s willing to give up more jobs than he takes unless he getst to do it his way. Which also goes a long to showing why he’s still in the business. Oh and speaking of characterization there’s a moment when a little gang is at his car and how he deals with them well that’s telling more about him than mere words can.
There is a lot of information thrown at us this issue and it’s great for establishing who he is. The difference in his work life and his other curricular activities shows a nice contrast in how he works while keeping the work ethic the same. Even though he has this strict work ethic and policy things will inevitably go wrong. Sometimes it’s thanks to the people doing the job or those wanting to play hero or even a combination of it all. Here we’re not sure why it went wrong just that it has and it looks like this is the beginning of his troubles.
They say there is no honour among thieves but then i’m not sure they were talking about the driver.
I’m going out on a limb here and say this is based of of James Sallis’ work. It doesn’t credit Michael as adapting the work so if this is an original story he does a wonderful job introducing new readers to the driver and his world. He’s a complex and intriguing character with many more layers yet to be revealed. The world he lives in both honest and dishonest and how he manages both make him someone you want to know.
Antonio, Emilio and Jason do a very nice solid job on the interior artwork. The buildings, money and accessories have this great recognizable detail to them while their people have a unique style all their own. The combination of the two are quite effective at telling this story.
Overall a very entertaining read that I look forward to coming back to.