Assassin Nation #1 Review

Creator/Writer: Kyle Starks

Creator/Artist: Erica Henderson

Letterer: Deron Bennett

Publisher: Image

Assassin Nation is a pretty cool concept from creator’s Erica Henderson and Kyle Starks that sees a former top-ranked assassin hiring the new top 20 to be his bodyguards after three attempts on his life in quick succession. One of the attempts and the pitch from the former top ranked Hitman (nicknamed Chekhov's Gun, whom I’ll call CG for this review) is the premise of the first issue and boy, was this issue full of action.

After getting a glimpse at what is after him, you can start getting a sense of who CG is as a person. He’s the former top ranked hitman who transitioned into the boss of the second-best crime family in an unnamed city - which I’m guessing will become important as it is mentioned a few times - he comes off as overconfident in his ability to pay off people - shown simply by the gall that he has to hire the top 20 ranked assassins in the world to be his bodyguards - he’s incredibly sexist and is, for all intents and purposes, an awful human being. But this all works within the context of the story being presented by Starks and Henderson.

Throughout the issue they showcase a few of the assassins and who they are, what kind of skills they have, and more importantly, that this book will be ultra-violent but equally funny. The violence is almost a gimme due to the premise, but the humour depicted throughout is shown both in the dialogue, CG’s worldview on marriage is a perfect example of incredibly cringy, but also in the various sight gags that Henderson peppers throughout the issue. My favourite of these by far is the painting at the entrance of the penthouse (I’m assuming) that states “Not a trap” above a table asking the assassins to leave their guns/weapons “For the safety of yourself and other”. It’s little touches like this that made me enjoy the issue that much more.

In all, this was a really strong first issue that set the tone for the rest of the series. It’s a lot of fun and has just the right amount of all its components to be a great thrillride.