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Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: Nov. 19, 2014
Writer: Frank Barbiere
Artist: Toby Cypress, Luke Radl, Giovanni Valletta
Cover: Toby Cypress
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Dark Horse collects the entire White Suits story, penned by Frank Barbiere, which appeared in a couple of different books over the last few years. Most of the book reprints the four-issue series of the same name, and the balance, prequel material to the series, is reprinted from stories featured in Volume Two of Dark Horse Presents. This post-Cold War tale about a Russian hit squad largely takes place in the U.S., but the prequel material occurs in Russia. It's great to have all the published material in one spot.
A man with a past, a very violent past, can only recall bits and pieces of who or what he is, and this is of course troublesome to him. His name is Prizrak and he is troubled by the fact that a woman keeps following him and watching him, and that doesn't sit well with the confused soul. Before too long, she'll need to be answering some questions for him. Although he can't recall who he is, he's quite confident has more skills in the game than she does, so he's not worried about confronting her. He should be. She's an FBI agent named Sarah Anderson. Once she confronts him and explains her intentions, they pair up and look for answers together.
Meanwhile, the headquarters for some gang of thugs gets a visit from a certain gun-toting urban legend group named The White Suits. Things don't end up pretty for the gang, unless the color of their own insides is a color they relish. And meanwhile to that, a man in a red shirt holds a meeting with crime bosses in the area to discuss the problem of the White Suits, as the massacre at JJ's was captured on video surveillance and they all just got to watch the action. Like any smart scumbag who makes a living at the pain and suffering of others, he sees the Suits as a major threat and suggests all the crime outfits work together to handle the problem. And he shows them just how serious he is in the way he handles one of the bosses when said boss doesn't buy into Red Shirt's idea of unity.
The man in a red shirt, identified as Darabont, brings in a team of mercenaries to do battle with the pesky Suits, much to the chagrin of his cohorts, and they start to work protecting his interests. When Sarah and her soldier-man Prizrak storm the warehouse to get some info out of Darabont, they are met by some serious opposition they weren't counting on. It seems their little mission for information turns out a little differently than they planned, and as a result they get captured and questioned by Mr. Darabont himself. It turns out the three all want the same thing and they hatch a plan to get those annoying White Suits. With the help of the mercenaries Darabont has in his employ they set a trap for the Russian assassins in New York City's Chinatown.
With guns blazing and motorcycles racing, The White Suits take the bait, which is Prizrak. They want him dead just as badly as he wants them all killed for leaving him, one of their own, for dead. Both sides suffer major casualties, but it's not over yet. There's one person unaccounted for from the Suits' ranks, and that's the boss. It's on to the end game.
Darabont and his dicks are dead and gone; Prizrak and Anderson have been taken by the White Suits. He behind bars on the plane; she in the cockpit talking to the head cheese of the assassin group. Prizrak's origin story comes out as well as the forming of the Suits, with a host of information in the form of an explanation to Anderson. At the same time, Prizrak gets the info he's been after and he doesn't take it well.
The unavoidable fight at the story's climax pits Prizrak against one of his former teammates, one with something to prove it would seem. A fight to the death seems so much more certain when it happens in an airplane thousands of feet in the up. You just know that open door is going to have some fun. Anderson waits for her chance to fight her way out of her predicament, with or without Prizrak, and just may prove to be someone more than a rogue FBI agent out for blood. All gets tidied up pretty well, with things left open for another series, but as to who survives to make it to the next tale is not to be revealed here.
The creative team on this book has managed to do two things with success: 1) create and effectively tell a multi-layered story containing espionage, revenge, and redemption that is wildly entertaining, and 2) create a visually fascinating book with a unique looks that gives the story a seedy and almost dirty feel to it. Toby Cypress' black, white, and red artwork at first may seem a bit chaotic feeling, but very quickly proves itself to be absolutely perfect for Frank Barbiere's script. He brings an energy and intensity to nearly every page that a more “polished†art style might not be able to convey. The end of the book contains some extras like conceptual art and the like for those into that sort of thing.
The book cooks along at a fast pace (maybe a little too fast, to be honest), but it sure is a satisfying read and once you get into it there's no telling where it will go. If you skipped picking these up as individual issues, then snatch up this trade paperback. If you dig a solid crime/action/revenge yarn that delivers plenty of violence and a good helping of mystery, told with style and in an atypically drawn fashion, then you shouldn't be disappointed with this tale. This is great stuff, and is recommended whole-heartedly.
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