Review: The Complete Accident Man
Anarchy, over-the-top-brutal mayhem, retarded characters and homophobic remarks, making everything 2000AD found too racy, is now finding a home at Titan Books!
Pat Mills and Tony Skinner created the character of Mike Fallon a.k.a the Accident Man, a hitman specialised in making sure his hits look like roadkill, gasexplosions, carcrashes and other accidents. Fallon takes great pride of his work but other then that he is as shallow as a yuppie in the 90’s with his only care in the world, having designer clothing, a trophy girlfriend and fancy gadgets. Money is the most important thing to Fallon and other then that he is just mainly a shallow bastard who is a homophobic, sexist, selfish asshole.
Then why does Titan find it worthy to put it in this massive and stunning collection? I gather the satire in the stories and the dark edgy humor marks this character as much as the violence does. And since the creators does not seem to take the character overly seriously, the readers will not either!
The collection brings together some four mayor stories.
The first tale is a reprinting of Toxic Magazine, being Accident Man from #1–6 with some crazy punky artwork by Martin Emond, truly sets the tone. With his angular lines, the odd dynamics and the crazy backgrounds this reprint is showing just WHY this character needs a collection like this. The story introduces Fallon, his line of work, his need for revenge on the murder of his girlfriend as well as the hitman-underground-scene that is his playing field as well.
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The second story, The Death Touch, from #10–16 in the Toxic countdown is illustrated by Duke Mighten which is a tad sharper and less experimental style of art. Still good, but you want Emond back really. The story is also more straightforward and less erratic, about Fallon on his quest to learn the ‘death touch’ from an ancient martial art master. Of course there is plenty of killing but the stylish artwork and the abundance of British humour make this second story one darn fine read.
The Messiah Sting from Toxic #17–24 is done by John Erasmus and is more loose and not as strict artwise, making this the lesser of the stories, although Amsterdam plays a part and that is always a good thing, since we all know Dutch folks RULE!
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The reprint of the three-issue black and white mini-series formerly published by Dark Horse is in stunning black and white and marks Fallon’s trip to the United States both literally and figuratively as the artwork feels like a Rob Liefeld/Erik Larsen infused romp, although more then anything the covers by Howard Chaykin capture the tone of the complete collection most, although used for the Dark Horse miniseries.
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This last story has a lot going on with extra sex, violence and ridicule piled up on an already mindfart pile of prior mayhem, where Fallon is needed by the CIA to infiltrate a mafia family to kill the godfather.
All in all this collection is a MUST-HAVE if you want to undergo the anarchy and mayhem that is British comics added with that special sauce of British self-reflection and humor!
The Complete Accident Man
On Sale:
March 11, 2014
Writers
Pat Mills
Tony Skinner
Artists
Duke Mighten
Howard Chaykin
John Erasmus
Martin Emond
Extent
232pp
Format
Hardcover
Isbn
9781782760559
Age:
M
About the Author
Richard Boom Richard is the driving force behind Comics for Sinners. His love and admiration for female comic book characters is virtually unparalleled, which immediately explains his biggest 'sin': his Hot Mummy fetish. This sketchbook theme is philogynistic in nature and even the source of his WIP comic book series "The Sisterhood".
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