The Killer (vol. 6): Affairs of the State

I thought that we had seen the last of the title character in “Fight or Flight,” but it turns out you can’t keep a good assassin down for long.  We find out in short order that the Killer, going by “Denis” now, is now working for the French government – the Department of Surveillance, specifically.  He’s still doing what he does best and this time it involves taking aim at the corrupt mayor of the coastal city he’s living in right now.  While this mayor is making lots of talk about keeping the city secure from undesirables, his underlings are secretly moving weapons through the city to unknown parties under the cover of night.  He needs to go, but how do you take out someone that prominent without getting caught in the undertow?

This sixth volume of “The Killer” changes things up substantially as the title character is no longer an independent agent or working with friends for a greater cause.  He’s under the French government’s thumb and adapting pretty well to it, all things considered.  The series’ most radical idea is that this killer can actually enjoy a normal life and relationships and remains true here in his interactions with his co-workers.  That’s only part of the fun as the twisty crime plot and Luc Jacamon’s always stylish art entertain as well.

The problem is that a good portion of the volume is given over to the Killer’s cynical musings about society in general.  He goes on for too often and for too long nearly every time that you’ll likely find yourself bored by his inner monologues even if you agree with what he’s saying.  Given how long this has been going on in the series it really does feel that it’s just Matz the writer venting his spleen about all the issues he sees with the world rather than the character he created.  This is too bad because it drags down what could’ve been a welcome return for this series and makes you feel like the creators should’ve stopped while they were ahead.