Daniel Way’s Hit Monkey is a curious and awesome comic. It’s curious because Way uses all seriousness when he’s telling the story and it’s awesome because it’s a monkey assassin. 

The limited series picks up after the monkeys origin tale, which was told in the original one-shot. The limited series deals with Hit Monkeys quest for vengeance against those who killed his kind but it also deals with how Hit Monkey is capable of doing what he does.  

Basically a crazy ghost guy, who was an assassin himself, has transported himself into the mind of Hit Monkey. He whispers in his ear about vengeance, justice and innocence and drives Hit Monkey to complete the last job he was on. That sees Hit Monkey facing off against General Kato who has enlisted the help of a highly skilled assassin of his own, Bullseye.  

It’s funny, I didn’t think I could be disappointed by a comic about a monkey assassin who wears a suit, especially one that dukes it out with Bullseye but I was. After reading the first issue I was really looking forward to a showdown between Bullseye and Hit Monkey this issue and Way looked like he was going to indulge readers with that but then he snatched away the fight with a well executed feces joke (it’s a story about a monkey, it was bound to pop up at some stage). Hit Monkey was a lot more restrained this issue, only focused on killing General Kato, and it was left to Bullseye to do most of the killing. As a result Bullseye was a real standout in the issue. He was funny, in his own morbid way, and his extremely cold-blooded ways give the issue some real weight, especially the shocking ending. He actually stole a bit of the limelight away from Hit Monkey in the end.  

There’s something about the ghost guy that just doesn’t work. I understand he’s a necessary inclusion as Hit Monkey doesn’t talk and a silent main character probably wouldn’t work so well but the guy talks like some wannabe, twisted Jedi Master as he discusses revenge and responsibility while Hit Monkey can’t talk back to him, apart from a few grunts that he can understand but we can’t, so there’s no real rapport or relationship between the two. The ghost character may have worked better if Way had decided to go the more comedic route for the story as the easily distracted Hit Monkey and easily irritated mentor would have worked well.  

Dalibor Talajic’s artwork is solid throughout. Once again Bullseye is a standout as Talajic gives the character a range of emotions throughout the comic by using a variety of facial expressions. They really compliment what he’s doing or saying at that time. Talajic also handles the violence really well; in particular one scene where a knife is coming right through the forehead of a goon is really detailed and well executed.  Every page is also very bright and exploding with color so it instantly catches your eye. Speaking of catching your eye, the front cover is brilliant and probably attributed to my expectations for the issue.  

Hit Monkey was a disappointment but I think that’s because of my own expectations for the issue. I expected a lot more to happen and it didn’t. Luckily Bullseye was a revelation, a surprisingly funny yet classically sadistic and cold blooded revelation. He really took over the issue, although that’s probably not what should happen in Hit Monkey’s comic. Still there’s one final issue of this limited series to tie things up and once again my expectations have risen due to the shock ending of this issue. Hopefully the third issue will deliver.