Wanted

This is easily one of the best books that I have ever read. It is on par with Watchmen (which is easily one of my all time favorites). The story that is weaved here is incredible! It has a few incredible twists in it and the pace never slacks, it just continues to gain speed until the end. The artwork is simply amazing, each cell on each page is beautifully drawn and colored. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a deeper story than you normally get in this particular genre. But I do give one warning, this novel is NOT for little kids or the faint of heart (or the easily offended).

I knew this series was going to be different when I found out where the idea came from--a younger brother asked what happened to the superheroes and the creator told him "They all got killed by the bad guys."

Then I got to read it and couldn't look away--much like a train wreck.

The protagonist ("hero" doesn't fit) is a guy working away at a dead-end job, mistreated by a bad girlfriend he doesn't seem to have the guts to break away from, a lousy boss and a dreary life. In other words, the lonely, destitute world that (apparently) we ALL live in. He doesn't seem to want to do anything ABOUT his lot in life, just bemoans the fact it stinks.

Then a girl named Fox drops into his life and tells him he's the son of a notorious assassin, and that he has the skills to follow in his footsteps. Oh, by the way, supervillains run the world because they all got together and decided to make the world FORGET about them, even having the heroes forget that they are heroes. (Sounds James Bondian in its apparent simplicity.) Now, due to a near-death experience, he also gets the morality issue out of the way by deciding there's no God.

There is, of course, a plot afoot (apparently by some of the same villains who got along well enough together to make The Big Plan work) and the hero has to train himself in order to be the professional murderer his father was. In the meantime, he gets to satisfy every teenage-boy impulse by shagging the same woman who was shagging his father, raping the women just to prove how powerful he is, and basically murdering everyone who gets in his way.

The last page is the kicker--a big shot of his face as he laughs at everyone who isn't as "fortunate" as he was. It's almost as if the writer wants to pull the same stunt he played back then. "All the good guys got killed off and now the world is run by punks like me."

Normally I'm not expecting a happy ending by this time, but being mocked by the main character for being a sucker is perilously close to being mocked by the writer for buying this.

There's a serious amount of belief suspension you have to do, even for a comic book about superheroes and supervillains. But Killer here expects you to think that just because he has money and power and a girl who'll part her legs for him at any time (loyalty not required), that that is the New American Dream, and he found it, and we can't.

Wesley doesn't become more mature, he does the opposite--he regresses into teenage wants and desires (nailing who I want, getting what I want). As far as ideals, his aren't much different than those boys at Columbine who wanted to get back at everyone, or Tim McVeigh who felt blowing up women and children were justifiable, or the 9/11 terrorists who wanted to make the world over in their own polluted image, and felt it was possible if ONLY they can kill as many people as they can to get it. The Killer is someone to add to the list of heroes of revenge fantasies and immature wants.

In the end, when the Killer laughs at us, I just want to laugh back at him. He has become a cartoon, a caricature villain who isn't old enough to grow a moustache to twist between his fingers.

For better or worse, the book has very little in common with the film based on it. Don't expect a similar story to the movie.

I was excited to dig in to Wanted after glancing at some of the elaborate artwork, but was disappointed to find a lack of depth or anything actually interesting. When a book primarily aimed at exploring every carnal desire you could think of can actually be called boring, it's pretty clear that this is a book that misses the mark completely. No lesson is learned, no characters are developed, no point is made at all - Wanted feels more like a chore than a fun read.

Great artwork wasted on a weak story and boring characters.

A lot of people who've reviewed this work seem to be sickened by the pointless violence and the depravity performed by the main character, all of the characters in fact. That is the point. These villians aren't noble, they're fascists, psychopaths, thrill-seekers, rapists, robbers and murderers without restraint. Some are more of a direct threat to humanity than others. It is an interesting view into the premise of villians actually winning and would happen.

I thought the characterization was great. I found Wesley's transformation from a weak, mudane nobody into a remorselss violent criminal without restraint to be entirely believable. When someone has been kicked around and hated for so long, and then given the training, the encouragement, tools and free license to unleash themselves-Guess what is going to happen. He or she isn't going to hold hands and be nice. Why should he? He doesn't have to.

I was really intrigued by the fate of that world's fallen heroes and how Millar modeled them on their counterparts from our world. It gives an overall theme of hopelessness that adds almost "What if?" real-world feel. Something he is also accomplishing with his current 1985 series from Marvel. I found the image of that world's Superman-analogue debilitated and Mr. Rictus' speech during the "dynamic double-act" to be especially chilling.

The only thing that I felt wasn't strong was the framing story of The Killers father and his role in the last issue. I didn't feel that containing a secret that big was believable. Also, Wesley might have been just a little too unstoppable in the end. I can forgive that though.

This is a very entertaining book and great read.

I encourage anybody to at least give it a shot. Especially if you like super-hero comic book fiction.

Oh. My. Gosh. This is NASTY! It's messed up on so many levels! There's so much profanity I wanted to wash not just MY mouth out with soap, but my eyes and my brain too! It's VIOLENT, GORY, TWISTED, SHOCKING-you get the point.
So why 5 stars? Because it's possibly, in my 7 short months of introducing graphic novels to my reading menu, the best one I've read so far. It's an NC-17 (rated by me) masterpiece. It's a cross between Fight Club (the novel; I've heard the movie is way too violent) and the brilliant (1st) Matrix movie.
So what's a nice, fluffy, Disney movie watching, cookie baking girl like me reading a book like this? Because I sometimes fantasize about doing this kind of stuff (not that I would. Ever. I've seen CSI. And I'll always be one of the good guys.) Also, my eyeballs got sucked out of my head, stuck on the book and insisted on rolling all over it (despite occasional nausea)-page by page-it's THAT compelling.
So the brilliant story, told in six excellent chapters is about this guy Wesley Gibson (who looks not unlike Eminem), with whom I think a lot of folks can identify. His life SUCKS: The lousy job, the joke of a relationship, that Groundhog Day feeling and the fact that he's spineless. And then his estranged dad gets his brains blown out and Wes gets forcibly taken into the fold of this secret super-villain society by a Halle Berry lookalike called The Fox: To inherit the $10 mill and find out who killed him, Wes must take pop's place as 'The Killer'.

I went into this without any preconceived notions (i.e. no clue) which kept things nice and simple, so that's all the plot detail you're getting from me: You will be floored by the stings in the tail! I will throw in a few more adjectives though-it's SMART, SARDONIC (a word I came across while looking up-) SATIRICAL.
I liked the device of the protagonist bonding instantly to the reader with his 'This is me...' captions, reminiscent of the opening to American Beauty.
With all the other characters, the reader is a fly on the wall.
Not only are we talking a about a strong original story here, it's delivery is flawless throughout. The artwork is excellent-clear, uncluttered and real looking, like any moment the ink will melt away to reveal a live-action image, you know?

Is it 'own-worthy'? Hell YEAH! If a) you don't have or can keep it locked away from impressionable, warp-able kids and b) you don't mind blood, guts, 'waste' and more swearing than all the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard movies combined, and c) it's THAT time of the month (seriously, this is really good for PMS-you'll feel so much better.)

I so have to see the movie now...