Review by Frank Plowright

The material kicking off this collection was produced after Matz (Alexis Nolent) and Luc Jacamon had taken a break of several years from The Killer, and a shift in tone is evident from the start. Over the course of the story told in Volume One, the Killer’s first person narrative captions explained how he saw the ethics of his trade, his preparations and his methods of operation. The bigger picture rarely impacted on his killings, and he gave no thought to it.

Here from the start Matz has the narrative captions run through atrocities ignored for political expediency, and much of what follows references the real world attitudes and policies toward left wing states of Cuba and Venezuela as they were when the series picked up in 2007. Also addressed relatively early is why the Killer would go back to work when he’d resolved everything tidily. The short answer is that it’s in his blood.

That may be the case, but discarding his previous principles brings home to him how valuable they were as for the first time he becomes a target himself, then finds himself carrying out assassinations with political purpose, seemingly benefiting the USA. During this his friendship with gangster Mariano develops, and the series then takes a wild, although successful swerve as the Killer sets himself up as a businessman.

Anything Luc Jacamon is called on to illustrate is stylishly presented, yet with an emphasis on clarity. The only question mark hangs on the brief experiment of presenting the showed down movement of some action scenes as digitally fractured. Otherwise the primary locations of Venezuelan jungle, Havana and Paris are attractively seen, some long conversations are presented with the viewpoints strategically varied, and the Killer himself remains largely unknowable behind his distinctive shades. It’s something of significance when there’s an occasional glimpse behind them.

Perhaps there will be concerns about the sudden change of approach producing a different form of action thriller, one more dependent on a political background. Rest assured, the suspense abides, just transferred, although the requirement for a larger cast to facilitate the shift leads to more conversations and fewer monologues.

This may seem to be the final Omnibus volume, but Matz and Jacamon again picked up the series after a gap of a few years, so there may yet be another. However, for the time being it leaves the Killer’s story incomplete in this format. Your choices are to not to bother with this volume at all and head for the peculiarly titled The Complete The Killer, which compiles the entire series as published to 2014, or pick up the continuation in Flight or Flight.