Hitman: 10,000 Bullets — Garth Ennis

A run-of-the-mill assassin gets bitten by some kind of demon, and instead of being dead, the attack left him with telepathy and x-ray vision, making him an even better hit man. That's Tommy Monaghan's story, and from there it gets better and better. The second collection of Hitman comic books is much stronger and much more consistent than the original volume. 10,000 Bullets is a tale of vengeance and honor. Writer Garth Ennis has a kind of magic in which he takes characters who live firmly outside of the conventional and then infuses them with a heightened morality. In Tommy Monaghan you'll find a character you can both cheer for and feel sorry for, because he's not a stereotyped killer--he's a three-dimensional human being. This book's only real limitation is that some of the characters, specifically Monaghan's new girlfriend, are introduced in the previous collection. Nevertheless, 10,000 Bullets is an exciting read even for newcomers to Ennis's work. --Jim Pascoe