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Review: The Complete Accident Man

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

Think James Bond crossed with Deadpool and you may be some way into understanding how anarchic Accident Man actually is.  Bottom line, Accident Man, or Mike Fallon to give you his alter ego, kills people, for money using his ill-gotten funds to buy nice cars, fast motor bikes and expensive wine, all the while making enemies of practically anyone who is left alive.  His particular skill is in making the murders look like accidents or suicides.  Already, you should realise that we are in the violent, satirical and often funny mind of Accident Man co-creator Pat Mills.

Pat Mills is like the unruly, never bowing down to the system British version of Stan Lee.  Mills’ finger prints can be seen on a plethora of UK books including, Misty, Lion, Valiant, Spanker and of course 2000AD.  This led to the creation of a book called Toxic!, another anthology book.  Here, Mills collaborated with Tony Skinner to create their anti-hero.  Between the two, they utilised the now familiar UK format to deliver short punchy stories, set across a larger arc, that helpfully explains a little about the character as he goes by gleefully people and dealing with the ensuing guilt by thinking of the things that money can buy for the cost of a life.  Fallon, doesn’t care to know who hires him or even who the mark is; all that matters is the fee.  As the stories progress, Mills and Skinner add a sense of bondage suave to the character, so be warned this book isn’t for the fainthearted.

The book features the work of a group of artists.  First up is the late Martin Emond, whose work carries the influence of Simon Bisley in part.  Emond  uses angles and pace to carry the eye through the violence.  His work is so pacey that you may miss certain fun elements to the demise of the mark.  Also, the  action is chaotic, yet rather than reduce the details, Emond’s work is full of it.  The challenge will be whether you catch it all in the first reading.  Duke Mighten stepped up to plate  and delivered a style that is quite different from Emonds, utilising references from the era circa 1991, meaning that there are shades of Liefeld and McFarlane on show.  Reading the book, I certainly don’t hold the former against him.  Moving onto the Dark Horse mini series, the art goes without the colors of John Erasmus, which is certainly a different way to go, as is the cacophony of bondage babes that seems to re-appear, which had been an almost trademark of the earlier series.  Often, I have spoken of my dislike of the British fascination with the anthology.  Looking at the complete work from the UK and the US, put side-by-side, I can see that for a character whose actions are fast paced, the need to then “fill-in” details for the US market takes away some of the edginess from the stories  A quick shout out to the great covers featuring the art of Howard Chaykin.

Accident Man seems to have been such a popular character, that this Tuesday 6th February, sees this debut on DVD/Blu Ray on sale wherever you purchase a movie about an ultra violent “accidental” assassin with a taste for bondage.  I am not quite sure which aisle you would find that at your local Blockbuster or Redbox!  Still, head out to your local comic book store on Wednesday to pick up the original.

Writing – 5 Stars
Art (Emond) – 4.5 Stars
Art (Mighten) – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars
Covers – 5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Co-Created & Written by; Pat Mills, Tony Skinner
Art by; Martin Emond, Duke Mighten
Colors by; John Erasmus
Cover by Howard Chaykin
Published by; Titan Comics

 

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes
I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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