JOHN WICK #5

“Untitled”

Writer: Greg Pak

Artist: Matt Gaudio

John Wick confronts Calamity and the Bills in downtown El Paso. Wick manages to take one of the Bills hostage but Calamity takes three innocent civilians hostage. One of the Bills tells how crazy Calamity is and that she was found as a baby in a box. She kills for the fun of it. Wick tries to convince her it would be fun to kill the Bills but she decides not to. So Wick to get out of this standoff calls Maria on the phone and agrees to work for her. Immediately the police come and take away the hostages. This leaves Wick alone with the Bills and Calamity. Needless to say he comes out on top. Now he works for Maria.

The conclusion to how John Wick became an assassin. It had a conclusion that just felt like what you would see in a John Wick movie. The corrupt police and Machiavellian dealings that go on with the criminal underworld. Not to mention the wall to wall over the top action. This was a fun series and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the movie franchise.

JOHN WICK#4

“Untitled”

Writer: Greg Pak

Artist: Matt Gaudio

The two Bills have managed to check out Calamity from the secret underground mental facility. Only her time there was a complete waste for the first thing she does is kill her doctor and the orderlies. She then finds out that she was released to kill John Wick. John meanwhile is in his room digging bullets out of himself. Charon arrives with a doctor and news that Calamity is out the get him. She has put out the word that she is hiring. Charon offers to get Wick out or get him more weapons. John looks out and sees that there are several assassins already waiting outside. He then goes and kills them and takes their guns and ammo. He sends a message for Calamity to meet him outside of the city at a quarry. Calamity notices that it is far away from where innocent civilians could get hurt. So she takes a rocket launcher and puts one into an office building downtown.

So this issue does a very good job of establishing Calamity as a very psychotic woman but also very dangerous. She has problems at first understanding that someone would care about all the people that she killed for fun. This was just pure Wick that he casually takes what he needs from the assassins. This establishes the world we know from the movies. That assassins lurk everywhere dressed as normal people. We also see the beginnings of the friendship between Charon and himself. A great series that builds up to a big final.

JOHN WICK #3

“Untitled”

Writer: Greg Pak

Artist: Matt Gaudio

Billy and Buffalo have managed to escape Wick. They meet up with their hired help as a car comes racing toward them. They manage to shoot at it and it crashes. Only it was a diversion for Wick set the car to race at the group as he gets into position. He manages to shoot the armed thugs. The two Bills try to negotiate with Wick. They tell him the real one responsible for the destruction is Calamity. That they took care of her. Wick has a flashback and remembers these two having fun shooting people and continues to try and kill them. The Bills escape and Wick is offered an invitation to meet Maria at the Continental. So he goes there and Maria wants to hire him. Wick refuses and leaves so Maria then goes to the two Bills and collects their markers for sheltering them. They are required to get Calamity and so go to the mental hospital where Calamity is locked in a cell. They are to kill John Wick.

The third issues gives us some more badass Wick doing what he does best, which is shooting people left and right. This Calamity sounds like a very interesting character. From the flashbacks she seems to be a total nutjob which should make things interesting. The book tells the story with mostly images which I love. The art is beautiful and the character of Wick is just like he was established in the movies.

JOHN WICK #2

“Untitled”

Writer: Greg Pak

Artist: Giovanni Valletta

John is taken to the El Paso Continental and shown around by Charon. He meets a beautiful woman named Maria who rewards him for killing Pecos. Appears he went rogue when he tried to kill Charon. Later Wick gets a text on Peco’s phone from Buffalo. Wick pretends to be Pecos and tells him that Wick tried to kill him and he was sent by Billy. Then he texts Billy and says that Buffalo hired Wick to kill him. So the two groups meet at an abandoned building. Wick tosses a can of cat food at them which starts the two groups shooting each other. Then Wick comes in setting off an explosion and killing the survivors. Billy and Pecos flee with Wick on their trail.

This story shows us Wick’s introduction to the Continental and its rules. Wick is very young and just starting out but already getting a reputation. I loved the way he sets up the two groups and then just goes all John Wick on their asses. The story is told with very minimal dialogue and exposition. The images tell the story which is just as in the movies. Wick is a man of few words and this is accurately portrayed. The last page with it’s full page image of Wick in his suit with a pistol in one hand and a tire iron in the other with a burning building in the background just perfectly captures the spirit of this character. Interesting that Maria gives him advice not to make anything personal in this business. Foreshadows that Wick is a guy who takes stuff very personally and gets payback.

JOHN WICK #1

“Untitled”

Writer: Greg Pak

Artist: Giovanni Valletta

El Paso, Texas and a young John Wick stops for some pie at a local diner. There are some loudmouths there that get on his nerves but they eventually leave. John then goes to a rented room. We then get a flashback to twelve years ago in Baja, California when John was a boy. He is being chased by three guys. These guys decide to pull a rocket launcher and try to stop John. They set off some cars and decide to shoot some witnesses. Back to the present and across from his room there is something going on. A guy is being surrounded by armed men. John goes over a beam that connects the buildings and crashes through the window. He kills most of the armed men. His goal is one Pecos who was one of the three men from the flashback. John gets some revenge and the guy he rescued named Charon offers to take him to the local Continental.

I really love these movies. They remind me of the old action movies I loved in the eighties and nineties. Keanu Reeves is such a badass that takes on overwhelming odds and comes out a winner. So this series is giving us a young Wick before he became the renowned Baba Yaga. So far it has an intriguing origin for Wick and the story has the right feel to a John Wick movie. Looks like we will get to see how he started to establish his reputation and association with the Continental. I think I am going to like this series.