Translated by Vanessa Liu — Rio is a Taiwanese writer and artist and this is the first in her very successful manga series, which has already won awards across Europe and Asia. Curiously, Rio says there is no support group culture in Taiwan, so the central theme here comes from Europe and the US and perhaps this is why it will strike a chord with readers in these regions. This is a darkly comic take on support groups and counselling, and a mild satire of Western culture in general.
This is a book-length graphic novel and the cutting between scenes is as sharp as a movie. Its monochrome panels are raw and immediate, pared back to the essentials. There is a sense of an urban California setting going by the streets and buildings, bolstered by references to Angel City. The scenes carry the action while the dialogue is clever and subversive and nuanced.
Take any ordinary job. The staff have employment rights, there’s equality legislation, mental health support and often access to groups of like minded people and counsellors to talk to when things go wrong personally. Sometimes it’s even paid for by the employer. Now imagine that all those rights apply to contract killers too, and that’s what we have here.
Locker is a successful assassin but he is being let go by his employer. He’s slowly going blind, which makes him little use as a hitman. The firm already has its quota of disabled staff, so he doesn’t even gain them any brownie points with the government. As he’s forced to leave, his boss wishes him well and hands him a pamphlet for the Unemployed Killers Support Group.
At a loose end, Locker heads to a session. It’s a small group consisting of the president, Jerry, Maze and Joe. Another member called Eisenstein has just left. To introduce the group, the president gets Maze to share her story, which she does grudgingly, disliking reliving the trauma for the newbie. Maze was hired to find and kill the lover of a councilman’s wife.
We flashback to this and Maze’s task is to be completed in front of the wife to teach her a lesson. She is shocked to find the offender is her own husband and things go awry. Her own jealousy drives her to kill the councilman’s wife. Now things have spiralled out for control.
Locker has his say on the story and it sets him thinking. We also have Joe’s story. Suffice to say this support group could become a whole new kind of ‘support’ group. Eventually, Locker’s full story comes out – old friends, betrayal, vengeful gangsters and some surprise connections to the others in the group emerge.
Some may dislike the targets of the satire but honestly that takes a back seat to an action-driven thrill ride most of the time. The past catches up with Locker and we find out out what a support group really can do, and where the solid and the weaker links lie. The tongue-in-cheek humour fades as the action takes over. It’s still there but not as obvious.
The juxtaposition of the normal world of work with this underground world may be edgy and wicked but it is so much fun. Like all good satire it hits home. This is not attacking the psychology of genuine support groups but the craze of having a group for everything, flipping the idea to apply to circumstances group therapy cannot possibly engage with in any sane environment. There is rambunctious action balanced with emotional richness, actually getting to the psyche of damaged and dangerous individuals. Maze’s story is more about her marriage and her betrayal by her partner than it is about her being a hired killer, or about the man who wants to punish his wife.
Once you buy into the original overarching concept – a killers support group – you will be hooked on this tale of a sniper, the little man employee, discarded by his boss only to find friends and a whole new heap of trouble. A little light Manga, surreal but not leaning into the fantastic or the mythical. I had fun, if you have a slightly warped sense of humour you will too.
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Titan Comics
Print/Kindle
£6.64
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
