Recollection #1
Written by Rodney Roger
Art by Ferry Ickhwano
Color by Warnia Sahadewa
R-Comics
Release Date: April 10, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Eddie Lawrence is a former member of a spook organization called the Delta Pack that rained down some holy terror during the Iraq War. How does a hardened killer and adrenaline junkie make a living in the real world? By killing for profit, of course.

Recollection #1 quickly establishes the meaning behind its title, but it’s not what or from whom you might think. As a first issue, you figure that this book is all about Eddie Lawrence and his adventures in assassination, but it’s just as much about his latest customer, Skyler Jean. Her contract seems like easy money. She’s an exotic dancer who simply wants a pervert stalker to disappear. Eddie’s spider sense tingles on this Skyler Jean “” he feels like there’s much more to this story. However, he ignores his instincts and gets wrapped up in the Skyler’s delusional world.

Skyler Jean was sexually abused as a child; she mentally projects her attacker on the man she wants killed. He’s creepy. He’s obsessed. But he never approached her as she claimed. When Eddie goes in for the kill, he finds the forlorn man about to do the job for him and commit suicide. Eddie discovers that his instincts about Skyler were dead-on.

Eddie’s story is familiar territory for contract killer characters. The only thing he’s good at is killing people, so that’s how makes his living. Once the Delta Pack has no further use for him, he can’t stomach becoming a desk jockey, so he goes the mercenary route. He has made some enemies along the path–a yet to be revealed character is hunting him down by proxy. An unexpected turn in this aspect of the story further ties Eddie in with Skyler Jean and makes the plot curiouser and curiouser.

I feared an assassination-of-the-month type of comic with Recollection, but writer Rodney Roger launches a good foundation for a multiple issue story arc. Skyler Jean’s contract seems like an introductory story that’s supposed to establish Eddie some cold, badass killer. Surprisingly, she seems like she’s going to be sticking around and her contract is the actual story.

While I loved how Rodney Roger shows some faith in the readers by skipping the formalities and jumping right into the thick of things, a couple of his storytelling mechanics were clunky. He uses an awkward TV news report to dump some of Eddie’s background information. None of this information is necessary at this point and probably could’ve been delivered more tactfully in later issues. Roger also chooses to phonetically render Skyler Jean’s Texas accent. I was distracted her ah’s, mah’s , and yer’s, which made her lines sometimes difficult and tedious to read. Just establishing that she was born and raised in Texas is enough information to color her character.

Overall, Recollection #1 is a good read for fans of dark, gritty thrillers about assassins. The story throws a few unexpected curveballs that could separate it from the pack. Plus, any comic that mixes in lyrics from my favorite song of all time, “A Day in the Life,” by The Beatles, is a winner in my book.