Kill or be Killed is an American comic book series created by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips. Elizabeth Breitweiser is the colorist. The series was announced in April 2016, and the first issue was published by Image Comics on August 3, 2016. The series received mostly positive reviews from critics until its conclusion with issue 20 in June 2018.
The story is about a suicidal college student who, working with a demon, becomes a vigilante. The comic examines the consequences of vigilante violence. Kill or be Killed debuted to mostly positive reviews, although some critics felt it was too similar to Brubaker and Phillips' previous collaborations.
Publication history
Production
Kill or Be Killed is the sixth collaboration between Brubaker and Phillips, who had previously created other crime comics like Criminal, Fatale, and The Fade Out together. They first announced this series in April 2016 at the Image Expo, which was held during the Emerald City Comic Con. They promoted the series being "unlike anything [they have] done before" because it will be set in the present day and is designed as an ongoing series instead of a limited one with a predetermined course. Image partner Robert Kirkman suggested Brubaker aim for at least 50 issues.
The concept stemmed from Brubaker's effort to channel his feelings about the state of the world and take them to the extreme. Recent news reports made him feel "that there is no justice. Everybody gets away with everything. The world being at the edge of falling apart is where the whole story sprang from." He hopes the story taps into the "generational anger" he has observed. He describes the story as Death Wish meets Breaking Bad with the adventure of The Amazing Spider-Man comics from the 1970s.
Phillips chooses to be kept in the dark about the future of the series, never knowing any farther ahead than his current working script. For Kill or Be Killed, he is using digital tools and the same panel layout he has used on previous works, but removed the frame from the outside edges because he felt the full bleed makes the images feel more claustrophobic. Breitweiser, an integral part of the team, is coloring Phillips' art in a moody palette with gritty textures and incorporating color psychology.
Publication
The first issue had an initial print run of about 30,000 and was released on August 3, 2016. It quickly sold out at the distributor level and a second printing was announced August 9. The issue remained in high demand, and two additional printings were issued by December. It was the 93rd best selling comic book issue the month it was released. The second issue was released in September with an initial print run of about 23,800 copies. The 20% drop in orders for issue two was less than the industry average of 30%, and far less than the Image average of 50%. This issue was also a sell out and received additional printings. Orders for the third issue were a little higher, estimated at 23,900 copies. The first four issues sold in higher numbers than any of Brubaker and Phillips' previous collaborations. As part of Image Comics' 25th anniversary, Kill or Be Killed participated in the "tribute variants" with an alternate cover drawn by Phillips that paid homage to the first issue of The Walking Dead. The series concluded at issue 20 in June 2018.
The comic book was collected in a series of trade paperback volumes. The first volume, released January 18, 2017, contains issues 1–4 and the second volume, released August 9, 2017, contains issues 5–10. The third volume was released on January 19, 2018, collecting issues 11–14. A fourth volume was also released in 2018. Each single issue includes articles and other content written by guest contributors that are not included in the collected editions.
Plot
Synopsis
Brubaker wanted to examine the reality of being a vigilante, and Kill or Be Killed focuses on the ramifications of violence and its effect on Dylan’s loved ones. Brubaker said he chose to make the character young because he wanted to include the optimism of youth. The demonic element to the story also allows Brubaker to play with the idea of "If you had to kill a bad person, who would you pick?" Although Dylan becomes a murderer at the beginning of the story, Brubaker hopes the character's plight is sympathetic enough that readers will root for him. Dylan's arrangement with the demon has been interpreted as commentary on the War on Terror and the racially motivated violence publicised in the US in the two years prior to the book's publication.