The Hitman Cometh

Editorial By Sherin Nicole

Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble
The bard has always been spot on. The Cauldron is exactly as he described, a bubbling pit on the seamier side of Gotham—so tricky Hell’s Kitchen calls it Momma. And then there’s Noonan’s bar, smack dab in the Cauldron’s middle and, home to the double trouble duo of Natt the Hatt and our good friend Tommy Monaghan. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen these guys but there are stories left to tell and, biographer, Garth Ennis plans to do just that in the upcoming Hitman/JLA mini-series.

I didn’t understand what ‘dregs of society’ meant until I ran up against Ennis and John McCrea’s mangled opus HITMAN. Good times. Tommy Monaghan made his premiere during the Bloodlines crossover in The Demon Annual #2. He was such a lovable rogue. Even after the Demon’s demise Ennis and McCrea continued to revisit Tommy until it just made sense to give him his own series.

With over 70 comics, lackluster sales and storylines that made you embarrass yourself in public you’d be laughing so hard, HITMAN is one my favorite reads of all time. Ennis agrees, his affection for ‘that book and those people: including Sean, Ringo and Tiegel outstrips almost everything else he’ ever worked on.’ His words. With zombie baby seals, 5 evil Nazis glued together to create one villain, a visit from Superman, romance to make you blush and high-speed action that gives way to slapstick perversion, who could doubt the love?

HITMAN is Bueno. Excellente.

Tommy Monaghan? Is great. He knows he’s done dirt and he accepts it when it bites him in the ass. In between, he does the best he can to make things the best they could be. Wow, novel concept… This coming August we’ll get to see him alongside Bats, Supes and Wonder Woman. Yeah Tommy, it’s good to have you back.

Image #1: cover Hitman #21, first published December, 1997. Image #2: Hitman/JLA cover art.
Both by John McCrea.