Review: Kill Me
Mar 7, 2014 by     Comments Off on Review: Kill Me    Posted In: Reviews

Dark Horse LogoOriginally appearing in issues 31-33 of Dark Horse Presents, Kill Me comes from writer Chad Lambert and artist Christine Larsen. Centering on a forty-something man named Jack, Kill Me tells the story of a man who has deep regrets and is ready to end it all before an odd occurrence gives him the chance to do things a bit differently, but not before he has to conquer a few personal problems.

When Jack was a teenager, he had a summer job at an amusement park, met a wonderful girl named Alexis, and had a great summer. 22 year later, Jack is alone, Alexis is dead, and Jack is ready to end it all. Returning to his Kill Me pt. 1 Title Pageold workplace, Jack visits the familiar sites before ending it, only to be flung into the past and have to deal with some more life-threatening issues before he can correct his relationship woes.

Lambert and Larsen come together to create a story that while being pretty serious in tone, what with dealing with attempted suicide as a central motivator, somehow remains remarkably hopeful. Lambert provides a rounded history of Jack in just 22 pages, taking the reader from their first meeting to their more intimate moments, all in a few pages and without it feeling rushed or forced. The concept is also something interesting, a bit of an inspired spin on a well-worn concept of “man going back in time to change his present”. Giving Jack a very real and dire threat in the past to his present gives the story an extra something. Larsen’s art, at first, reminds me of a sort and darker version of Tintin. In the perceived simplicity, there’s plenty of detail though. The added touch of having the present/future scenes at the park look run-down and ramshackle, versus the new and shiny past scenes was nice. The three-part, broken up original run didn’t do the story any favors, actually working a bit better as a consecutive read. And while there are some elements of the story that might be a bit vague, it’s overall a pretty solid read.

Kill Me takes a somewhat predictable concept and gives it a nice twist. Lambert and Larsen work well together to deliver a story that bounces between sentimentality, action, despair, and hope all without being too mired in any of it. Though it appears that the Dark Horse Presents version of the story is all that exists now, the creative team is certainly one to be looking out for.

Script: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Parental Concern: Mild. Language, violence.

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