Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in. The world of noir is not so easy to escape and Ed Brisson, Lisanro Estherren and Niko Guardia are about to illustrate just how hard it is with “The Last Contract” #1.
Read on below for our full spoiler free review of the issue to find out why you should not skip this one.
Written by Ed Brisson
Illustrated by Lisandro Estherren
What’s to Love: Last year, John Wick reminded everyone why hitmen make for awesome stories. Of course, we’ve known that for years as evidenced by The Killer and Hit. Ed Brisson’s (Batman & Robin Eternal, Sheltered) take on a retired hit man who finds himself as the target is a calculated thriller that kept us guessing until the end, and newcomer Lisandro Estherren’s (Tall Tales from the Badlands) noirish art perfectly sets the mood.
What It Is: A retired hit man, known only as “The Man,” is forced back into the game when a list of his kills is leaked by a mysterious blackmailer. The list makes targets out of anyone associated with one of the The Man’s previous jobs, not to mention The Man himself. As he fights to protect those the list exposes, The Man sets off to uncover the identity of the blackmailer so he can move on with his new life once and for all, but will the truth ruin those chances forever?
There’s just something about noir crime stories that feel perfectly fitted to comics. The slow burn, character-focused pacing that lets a writer really explore the emotional depth of the world, the dark and brutal artwork, the violence, it all adds up to a riveting experience within comics and, more and more, creators are beginning to see that. Ed Brisson has made quite a name for himself in writing noir comics with series like “Sheltered”, “Comeback” and recently “The Violent” and here he teams up with Lisandro Estherren and Niko Guardia for a spin on noir comics that feels like a fresh take on a familiar tale.
One of the quickest ways I could describe “The Last Contract” is like John Wick by way of “Southern Bastards”, but that wouldn’t quite grasp the quiet dread or the stark look at flawed and fractured humanity that Brisson and Estherren bring to the story. Sure, it’s a story about a hitman being brought back out of retirement, but there’s something about “The Last Contract” that makes it feel fresh and new. Perhaps it’s the lonely, broken old man that Brisson and Estherren hang their story on and the almost pity you feel for him as he’s dragged back into a world that has clearly taken its toll on him.
It’s interesting to see Brisson and Estherren infuse such pathos and empathy into the character right from the off before dragging him back into a world where he has to do incredibly violent things to survive. This isn’t the same feeling of catharsis that John Wick had, that exhilaration of seeing him take on waves of bad guys and get his own back. Instead, there’s a feeling of apprehension that washes over the book as Brisson and Estherren slowly, piece by piece, reveal just how deep this man must be willing to go to truly get himself out of this world. It’s what makes “The Last Contract” #1 so compelling as a first issue as it wastes no time introducing the man and the world he tried to leave behind and then grips you and holds you tight as you see just how dark and violent that world is.
Speaking of dark and violent, let’s talk about the artwork in this issue because holy shit. Lisandro Estherren and colourist Niko Guardia pulled out all the stops in this issue to create a brutal and gritty impression of this world steeped in noir and and violence. The pencil work is rough and sketchy, but in a way that creates an impression of a run down and worn out world. Estherren’s style creates a very loose and rough view of the world, but the storytelling is simply immaculate. For much of the opening of the issue, Brisson knows to step back and allow a lot of the scene’s tension and dread come solely from Estherren’s storytelling and Guardia’s colours.
Continued belowThis is a startlingly dark book and I don’t just mean in terms of subject matter. The inkwork and Guardia’s colours mean that much of the book’s nighttime setting is represented in panels that are awash in deep blacks and blues that really helps bring out the atmosphere of dread in Estherren’s artwork. That embracing of the noir and darkness in this comic is really evident in the colour work by Guardia. Even when the scene moves away from the nighttime, everything is tinged in a haze of neon pink and pastel blues. This isn’t a comic that’s trying to be pretty, but damn is it gorgeous when it embraces the noir.
Overall, if you’re a fan of noir stories, you can’t do much better than “The Last Contract” #1. Well, that being said, if you’re a fan of noir stories you should have already bought this as soon as you saw Ed Brisson’s name on the cover. He continues to do what he does best here and that’s creating an engaging story with fully realised characters from concepts that seem startlingly simple at first, but open up into a world of possibilities here. Much like with “Sheltered”, Brisson’s writing is elevated to new heights by the artwork and here Lisandro Estherren impresses on all levels. The storytelling is well paced and perfectly suited to the slow, creeping dread of the noir. All this is wrapped in the bow that is Niko Guardia’s colours that bring a rich, deep darkness to the art. It shouldn’t be surprising given the talent on show here, but this is one of the best noir comics to come out in a long time.
Final Verdict: 8.6 – Seriously, don’t skip this one if it’s the last thing you do.
