Comics Review: “Showman Killer: Heartless Hero"

- by Ninja Ross, 26 November 2015

What are you reading? American comics? Sure, they're nice. But how about some good old European comics?!? Thanks to Titan, several classic European titles (and some recent ones!) are being made available to a wider audience over the next couple of weeks and one of those is "Showman Killer: Heartless Hero", by Alejandro Jodorowsky & Nicolas Fructus.

The cover. Click to enlarge.

“Showman Killer” has a very simple premise, one that's been done several times: an emotionless assassin born in a lab and raised by mad scientists.
 
But it's not quite as simple as that. For example, I don't remember anyone in the Hitman games extracting semen from the severed penis of an executed assassin on a prison planet called Halkatrass. That only happens in Showman Killer.
 
The semen is then inserted into... Well, I don't need to tell you this. If you're reading Trash Mutant, you're old enough to know how that process works.

The resulting bundle of joy, Showman Killer himself, is cut off from human contact, being raised by his “creator,” Doctor Courcolain and the doctor's assistant Orlanda. 

The closest he has to toys is money, to teach him that money brings happiness. He is taught to murder everyone from the old and sick to the very young. He is also given the ability to transform into a MOUNTAIN among other things. As you can tell, this isn't as straight forward as you'd think. While the idea is very familiar, the execution is much different. A lot more style and imagination.
 
Courcolain enters Showman into a competition to become a Endoguard for the head of state on planet Gold, with the aim to keep the prize money to himself. This works out terribly for Courcolain, who really should have known that emotionless assassins really like cash.
​

Handling dildos.

Refusing to become a guard on Gold, Showman takes his money and relocates to his own asteroid and hires himself out to the highest bidder.
 
From here on out, we see the story get more complex when everything gets more challenging for Showman. The development of the character is handled spectacularly, with as much crude violence and humour as seen in the start of the book, but without overdoing it.
 
Jodorowsky's script is sharp and full of imagination. Nearly every word seems to be a made up space thing: “Kublar”, “Ornitopter” and “laser” are just a few of the best ones.
​

You can count on Showman Killer if you got the cash.

But while Jodorowsky is busy crafting a whole universe full of lizards, cat women and giants, Fructus is tasked with bringing it all to life.
 
Fructus's work is incredibly detailed, which really helps Showman's world breathe and seem believable. The characters really stand out from each other and have their own presence. It's even hard to miss the background characters, with each one looking unique and sometimes absurd.
 
Everything about Fructus' art is nice to look out. It's not very often you find something like this in an average comic book. When was the last time you saw a sea lion this attractive in a Batman book?
​

Not a usual sight, you have to admit!

"Showman Killer" is full of gore, humour and action. It's so much fun, you'll need a little sit down after reading it. While the content might not be to everyone's taste, it's well worth picking up and trying out. Even if you're not a fan of the over the top violence and occasional silliness, it's still full of creativity and incredible artwork.


"Showman Killer: Heartless Hero" has been released in Europe between 2010 and 2012. The English version comes out on December 2nd, on Titan Comics. Are you planning to check it out? Let us know in the comments!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Loading

---

Follow @TrashMutant