Reviewer Matt Lowder Looks At KILL A MAN Graphic Novel

Guest review by RUN THE COMICS 5K's MATT LOWDER . . . . .

KILL A MAN original graphic novel (Aftershock, December 3 release date) Trade paperback. Matt Lowder's rating = FOUR OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE STARS.  

Summary on the Aftershock Comics website . . . . .

The Truth is Worth Fighting For

As a child, James Bellyi watched his father die in the ring as payback for slurs he threw at his opponent. Today, James is a Mixed Martial Arts star at the top of his game, and one of the most popular fighters in the world…until he’s outed as gay in his title shot press conference.

Abandoned overnight by his training camp, his endorsements, his fans and his sport, to regain his title shot, Bellyi is forced to turn to the last person he ever wanted to see again: Xavier Mayne, a gay, once-fighter in his own right…and the man James watched kill his father.

A singular achievement from writers STEVE ORLANDO (Martian Manhunter, DEAD KINGS) and PHILLIP KENNEDY JOHNSON (Aquaman, Adventure Time, The Last Time), and artist AL MORGAN (Midnighter, Daredevil, Battlestar Galactica).

“…an exceptionally gripping read from the very first page…If you have any interest in comic book storytelling you should be reading this.” – Darryll Robson, Monkeys Fighting Robots

Matt's Four Star Review at RUN THE COMICS 5K (Facebook) . . . . .

This was my most anticipated book for the past four months. Admittedly I knew not much about it, beyond the basic plot of mixed martial arts and an accidental death. I also admire Aftershock. I didn’t know it was so focused on the gay experience. 

Overall, the book did not let me down. I was a little confused by dividing the story arbitrarily into “Part 1” and “Part 2” in this trade paperback. This graphic novel was never multiple issues before this publishing, so I don’t know why the arbitrary pause in the middle of the book. It didn’t serve a distinguishable purpose. 

Mostly this is a Rocky Balboa book, about glory and retribution and ego and redemption, but it was quite heavily about the gay experience of shame, uncertainty, secrets, and adversity. I feel that this is authentic in some ways to the queer experience and some readers are going to appreciate the pull-no-punches approach to deconstructing this subject matter. 

I didn’t love Steve Orlando’s “The Pull” (sci-fi graphic novel at TKO Studios). After reading this, I did some research on Orlando and was not surprised to discover he is bisexual and has aimed to bring more voices to LGBTQ+ characters in comics for years. 

I didn’t care for the flat, wash-over-everything-in-one-tone coloring here, though it served its emotional purpose. The art style fit the bill and felt organic.

While I think this is an important and diverse story to have in the landscape of comics, I wish the depth of characters or MMA fighting information were given as much attention as the painful lived experience of bigotry. It was a bit of a missed opportunity to not get into the characters more… or the fighting-world any deeper than a cursory level. 

This book is really about its subject matter as much as its character. I wish the story was longer and had more surprises. I like it, and would have wanted more content here. Once the characters and plot are set up one-third through, the rest of the book plays itself out plot-wise exactly as you’d imagine. 

That’s not to discount the emotional truth and contemplation that the author grapples with here – and likely the empathizing that will occur with many, many readers who relate. This is not often examined in comics, and I think people are going to have good discussions around this one. I’d love to hear from readers of all types about what they took away from this one.