Murder Inc. vol. 3: Jagger Rose

Hitwoman Jagger Rose and Made Man Valentine Gallo have been through some stuff over the previous volumes.  From being on the run from the Bonavese Family – the Family they were originally a part of – to Valentine finding out he was born to be a snitch for the FBI, to Jagger taking out the President of the United States… the list goes on.  When vol. 3 opens, however, things are actually going kind of well for them.  So well that Don Bonavese invites them along when he has to make a trip to the Vatican to speak with The Pope.  The Pope, however, doesn’t want to just talk, and she doesn’t want to just talk with the Don.  No, she also wants to talk with Jagger, because the hitwoman may have a bigger role to play in God’s Plan going forward.

Considering that Bendis has been on something of a cold streak around here lately, this was actually pretty good in a style-over-substance kind of way.  It’s got an exciting plane rescue by a shotgun-wielding bishop to kick things off with, the aforementioned trip to the Vatican, another invasion of mob territories, and enough betrayal and treachery to fill another volume of this series.  I’m appreciative of the writer’s efforts to cram it all in here, and of Michael Avon Oeming’s effortlessly stylish art.  He may not go as hard as he did in the previous volume, but he’s down to make every plot twist and conversation look as cool as he possibly can.

This all works so long as you don’t think about it too much.  While the text on the back cover calls this series a “fully fleshed out, all-new alternative crime history” that’s really not true.  Three volumes in and I’m still not sure how a mob-run country is really supposed to work.  Rather than a fully-fleshed out alternative history, “Murder Inc.” comes off as an excuse for its creators to play with the tropes of organized crime stories.  Which they do quite well here in terms of presentation, with characters who are smarter than you think, and some genuine surprises.  This series may not be exactly what’s advertised, but it’s still good fun.