read Ten Grand #1, and loved it!!!

When I picked up my stash this week, as I dropped the pile on the counter with Ten Grand #1 at the top, the guy behind the counter tapped on its cover and told me what an excellent book this was. Well, after reading it twice I think that it's not an excellent book....it's so much better than that!!!

Nice cover, but doesn't do the interiors justice

The premise this story is of Joe Fitzgerald, a former Mob hitman who, after being sent on a job to kill the wrong guy, is killed along with the love of his life, Laura. However, given his past, he isn't going to end up in the same place as her after death , so an angel offers him a deal; be resurrected after death time and again to kill monsters and after every death he will get five minutes to spend with his girl. And so, this issue opens to find that this is his life but, after taking on a job for his standard fee of Ten Grand (hence the title), he discovers the monster he is after is the same one that killed him that first time.

Now, when a book is created by J. Michael Straczynski and Ben Templesmith you expect it to be good but, for me, this was something truly special to read. Built from what seems like such a simple idea, the character of Joe Fitzgerald is so engrossing and feels almost realistic in how he's portrayed while the story feels like the perfect splicing of a crime thriller and a supernatural horror in its execution. What makes this book truly special is Templesmith's art, which has a dirty, disturbing, very sleepy hollow-esque look to it that makes as much sense here as it did with Fell (oh, how I miss that book), Templesmith is top of my list of favourite writers and this book shows just why that is.

I have a rule that I will pick up a book on a regular basis only after I've read the first issue. I think it's a good rule because you never know whether a book will worth the time or not. However, with Ten Grand #1 I think I should have ignored my rule and put it on my pull list straight from the get go. This is by far the best first issue of a new book that I've read and feel guilty that I hadn't shown it more faith. Hopefully, my getting issues 2, 3 and beyond will make up for that.