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wyrmdog's review against another edition
3.0
Hunter-Killer is the (mostly) self-contained story of a universe of superhumans. It's a different origin than many others, and the basic conceit of the plot is engaging, though you don't catch it for a while.
When it does reveal itself, it's a bit interestingly delivered. While a great many books force feed you the knowing wink along the way, Hunter-Killer does a pretty good job of assuming you'll figure out why things seem wrong once their reasons are revealed.
When we are let in on Morningstar's agenda, the driver quickly seems unnecessarily obtuse, but we learn later why. When Ellis falls for a strange girl he meets and they become instant soul-mates, again the cause is shown later and suddenly the bizarre turn of events is less bizarre and even believable.
Sam is one of my favorite characters in superhero comics. She's not particularly mind-blowing conceptually, but the execution was well-done and I enjoyed the details about her pistols a lot. It's something I'd have done.
I would have loved to see more concerning the history of the world as presented, but it was a limited run so we didn't get enough space for us to understand how such flashy and over the top elements could realistically remain 'hidden.'
The art is fantastic. I have long been a fan of Silvestri, Basaldua and Rocafort. Luckily Basaldua is on his best behavior here, too. So the art is a big booster for this production.
Ultimately what broke the book for me was the end. The final decision made by Ellis made no sense to me. Only on later reflection does it make any at all, but even then, it seems a bit of a stretch. Then again, given that the book thinks we're smart enough to figure things out, maybe this is a failing on my part and not the book. I still have a hard time really understanding *why* he made the decision he did. I have my guesses, but that's really all they are.
Then it's also a cliffhanger. The only other place I know if where HK shows up is in a Hunter-Killer/Cyberforce crossover. Their universes are very different, though, so I can't recall how they come into contact.
But it gives a little bit of insight to the ending of this book, as I recall, and shows a bit of the fallout from Ellis' decision. I remember it ending on an okay note as well, but seemed to exist mostly to kill a few tertiary characters and once again not resolve anything. I don't know if that's because they were trying to spin it off into an ongoing or not, but if it was intended as self-contained (like this book) then it was a big mistake.
When it does reveal itself, it's a bit interestingly delivered. While a great many books force feed you the knowing wink along the way, Hunter-Killer does a pretty good job of assuming you'll figure out why things seem wrong once their reasons are revealed.
When we are let in on Morningstar's agenda, the driver quickly seems unnecessarily obtuse, but we learn later why. When Ellis falls for a strange girl he meets and they become instant soul-mates, again the cause is shown later and suddenly the bizarre turn of events is less bizarre and even believable.
Sam is one of my favorite characters in superhero comics. She's not particularly mind-blowing conceptually, but the execution was well-done and I enjoyed the details about her pistols a lot. It's something I'd have done.
I would have loved to see more concerning the history of the world as presented, but it was a limited run so we didn't get enough space for us to understand how such flashy and over the top elements could realistically remain 'hidden.'
The art is fantastic. I have long been a fan of Silvestri, Basaldua and Rocafort. Luckily Basaldua is on his best behavior here, too. So the art is a big booster for this production.
Ultimately what broke the book for me was the end. The final decision made by Ellis made no sense to me. Only on later reflection does it make any at all, but even then, it seems a bit of a stretch. Then again, given that the book thinks we're smart enough to figure things out, maybe this is a failing on my part and not the book. I still have a hard time really understanding *why* he made the decision he did. I have my guesses, but that's really all they are.
Then it's also a cliffhanger. The only other place I know if where HK shows up is in a Hunter-Killer/Cyberforce crossover. Their universes are very different, though, so I can't recall how they come into contact.
But it gives a little bit of insight to the ending of this book, as I recall, and shows a bit of the fallout from Ellis' decision. I remember it ending on an okay note as well, but seemed to exist mostly to kill a few tertiary characters and once again not resolve anything. I don't know if that's because they were trying to spin it off into an ongoing or not, but if it was intended as self-contained (like this book) then it was a big mistake.
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