KILL OR BE KILLED COMPENDIUM

Ed Brubaker's and Sean Phillips' bestselling series is finally collected under one cover. The twisted story of a young man forced to kill bad people, and how he struggles to keep his secret from destroying his life. Grad student Dylan must kill one person who deserves it every month, and the deeper he gets in, the more he realizes how many people there are that deserve it. Catcher in the Rye meets Death Wish in a dark take on the vigilante genre that became a cracked reflection of the world around us. Grit, violence, nudity -- and powerful storytelling that Brubaker excels at. Brubaker is one of my favorite contemporary comic writers. Far from the superhero genre, he writes about ordinary or near-ordinary people in extraordinary situations. His characters are compelling, you learn to really care for them. And the stories are realistic while at the same time gripping and edge-of-your-seat, since you never know who's going to get hurt or even die. And artist Sean Philips is perfectly matched with Brubaker, with good solid style. - Bud