7 Psychopaths #1 (Boom! – Vehlmann / Phillips)
From Criminal co-conspirator Sean Phillips! 7 men, 1 impossible mission – assassinate Hitler! With World War II in full swing, there’s only one-way to draw the war to a quick end: kill Hitler. But who would be insane enough to try? Joshua Goldschmidt knows just the men to do it. Insane? Psychotic? Mad? Call them what you will, but the seven psychopaths are now the only hope the world has! In the vein of Inglorious Basterds, with art by the critically acclaimed Sean Phillips.
Intriguing, engaging and long-winded is how I would describe this book. Fabien Vehlmann writes a story with with a solid, detailed backdrop with such unique and atypical characters that the above mentioned comparison to Tarintino is certainly warranted.
Issue #1 starts a slow burn yarn of how a team masterminded by a mad military genius plans to infiltrate Nazi Germany and take out Hitler. His plan? to walk right in… “The mostly tightly locked door in the world is the one we don’t even try to open”. We meet about half the team in this issue and the chemistry is very promising. Sean Phillip’s dark and grainy style works very well with this fatalistic pressure cooker of a tale. I mean, we know they fail to assassinate Hitler, right?
If you are looking for the quick action story with clean-cut heroes in white hats, then this might not be for you. But, if you are into a gritty war story where the story is character-driven and morality lives in the gray-zone, then 7 Psychopaths should be your pick of the week!
Issue Grade: B