Who is Jake Ellis? #1

Written by Nathan Edmondson
Art by Tonci Zonjic

This new mini-series has me pretty excited.  It opens in Barcelona, where a man named Jon is involved in some kind of deal that has gone badly.  He fires on the people he's supposed to be dealing with, and jumps off a yacht.  The scene is weird, because the dialogue seems really stilted and unnatural.

Then, we see the same scene again, except that there is a shadowy figure standing in the background, who is speaking directly to Jon.  Now, the dialogue makes perfect sense, but we don't know who this guy is.  But then, that's the point of the comic, as the shadowy guy is Jake Ellis, and comic is called Who is Jake Ellis?

As the issue unfolds, we follow Jon to France, where he is hiding out from the Spaniards, and discussing his options with Jake.  It quickly becomes clear that no one else can see Jake, but he can see a lot.  While Jon is having a liaison with a French waitress, Jake warns him that there are people coming to kill him, and guides him out of the room.

The book establishes itself nicely, while playing things very close to the vest.  There's talk of some Americans that are looking for Jon, but we can't tell yet if he's a good guy or a bad guy.  And, of course, we have no idea what the deal is with Jake, but I want to find out.

As interesting as the story is, this comic is worth buying for Tonci Zonjic's art alone.  His look is a mix of David Aja, Year One-era David Mazzuchelli, Michael Lark, and maybe a bit of Javier Pulido.  It's very nice, and while I know I've seen him do something for Marvel, I'm sure it won't be long before he becomes a higher profile artist there.  This is definitely worth checking out.