The Killer: Modus Vivendi #2

Written by Matz
Art by Luc Jacamon

This second Killer series seems more meditative than the first, which is perhaps the product of the Killer's having taken a few years off, and having returned to his profession with a more philosophical mindset.  I don't know many jobs more given to introspection than that of the hired assassin, and there were elements of that in the first series, but I feel this time around that Matz has the Killer questioning his motivations a little more.

As this issue opens, the Killer is still hesitating to kill a famous Venezuelan nun for his mysterious employers.  He knows that his actions don't matter in the long run.  If he refuses to do the job, someone else will.  Death in this case becomes inevitable for this nun.  These scenes are later balanced by a long scene where the Killer takes his four-year-old son hunting in the jungle with his grandfather, a traditional Guayapaqui.  In this part, the Killer meditates on living in balance with nature, something he recognizes that he does not do.

The jungle scenes are incredibly lush, as Jacamon layers shadows on the character's faces.  His art always reminds me a little of Tim Sale anyway, but these pages evoked the recently reprinted Amazon series that Sale did back in the day with Steven T. Seagle.

Anyway, I find that I am enjoying this Killer mini-series even more than I did the first one; of course, the apparently reliable printing schedule is helping immensely in this.