Wanted

Great! I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting. I actually saw the movie first and though I liked the movie a lot, didn't think it did this comic justice. The art was awesome, the story first rate, and the characters are likable. They developed well in the story and I felt if I had been offered what he had, I would have done the exact same things. I think that's the mark of good character development, where you almost want to put yourself in his place. This gets all A's in my book.

this is a terrible book. it's written for teenage boys with rape and murder fantasies. plus, it's not even clever. even the dialog is lame. so much of WANTED just makes no sense. parallel dimensions? villains who rule the world but only wear their costumes underground? lame. boring. forced. after watching the movie (which sucked too), i really give credit to the screen writers for cleaning up the mess of bad plot lines and rape/murder fantasies in the graphic novel. i understand what Mark Millar was going for with this book, but he didnt pull it off like alan moore did with Batman: Killing Joke. after reading a book as bad as WANTED, i love alan moore and frank miller even more. if you want to read a book about the difficult struggle between good vs evil and the areas of gray in between, do yourself a favor and read Watchmen, Batman: Killing Joke, Next Men, and V for Vendetta to name a few. WANTED sucks. but i will say one good thing... J.G. Jones did great artwork for the graphic book.

It's kind of amazing the type of reactions that Millar and Jones' "Wanted" evokes in people. Some people absolutely despise it. Other people absolutely adore it. I personally think it's wonderful, but I also understand why a bunch of people don't like it. Let me explain. Upfront, let's say this: This is a book about villains. They're going to do villainous things. They aren't going to hold hands. They aren't going to be nice people. They aren't going to have a change of heart. They aren't going to see the error of their ways. Not because they couldn't, but because they don't care. Many of the criticisms people have leveled at this book take that one thing for granted. They want the protagonist to be a nice guy (he isn't), they want him to do good things (he doesn't), they want the story to have a happy ending (the jury's sort of out on that one). Make no mistake, this is not intended to be mainstream fiction. And to me, that's part of the appeal. Wanted is the story of Wesley Gibbs, an office drone who's been walked on his entire life. He's been kicked by nearly everyone who could have a chance, and twice on Sundays. His girlfriend is sleeping around on him, his boss is abusive without cause, and Wesley takes it, because he can't envision any other way to live. Until someone comes along and tells him he's the son of the greatest killer who ever lived, and that he's just inherited his legacy. And while he fights it at first, he comes to embrace it, and that's where things start getting complicated. I don't want to walk you through the book. I don't want to tell you that you should like it, because, frankly, I understand why a lot of people wouldn't like this book. It's violent, it's unsympathetic to, well, everyone, it's remorseless, it's brutal, it's needless cruel... but that's sort of the point. While I see a lot of people in other reviews comparing "Wanted" to "Fight Club" (fair) and "The Matrix" (not really applicable), in many ways, "Wanted" is an extension of some of the ideas presented in a much older book, "The Lord of the Flies." What DOES happen in a society without rules? What would you do if there wasn't a law you had to follow? What would you do if there wasn't anyone to tell you no, or stop you from doing whatever you put your mind to? The easy answer is to say that you'd just go on living your life, but with some improvements, but at the cost of what? The world is about systems. Give yourself a ton of money, money goes down in value, suddenly you have less money than you intended. Don't want to pay a speeding ticket? Now you're breaking laws, just because you can. Millar takes that concept and runs with it about as far as he can, then keeps running past where it was before. If "Fight Club" wasn't your cup of tea, then steer clear from "Wanted." If you're looking for something with a positive message, steer clear of "Wanted." If you want a story where you agree with the actions of the protagonist, steer clear of "Wanted." It's n

Wanted shows us exactly what a villain should be: totally evil! The story begins with the death of Super-villain "Killer", who in his will left his massive ill-begotten fortune and place in "The Fraternity", a secret society of villains who in 1986 killed off or defeated all the world's superheroes, to his son, Wesley. Wesley is, for lack of a better word, a smuck. He has a dead end job, a girl friend that sleeps with his best friend, harassment as he even walks down the street, and is a pathetic hypochondriac. When a woman named Fox comes to deliver the news of his father's death and the role Wesley is to play, his life changes for the better (actually, much, much worse). In the weeks after, Wesley descends into a world of violence, money, and murder. The cast of characters are so well written it's scary, however, in my opinion; the dialogue alone is worth the price of this book. For example: in one scene, the main antagonist shoots a mother and father leaving there kid alive, his remark as to why he didn't shoot the kid also: "maybe when he grows up he will have spent his whole life training to avenge there death, and give an old man something interesting to deal with". The underlying tongue-in-cheek humor directed towards just about every superhero comic and movie is so right on. If you love the media, but agree that, yes, it is comics, and can be out-right corny, you will totally appreciate this book. This book is certainly not for the squeamish, or minors, or the collective of comic-fan who hold the mindset of comics being too gritty and violent in recent times. To those people, I say, get over yourselves. The world portrayed in this comic is far more believable then the "(insert hero name here) will save the day" universe, this time, no one is going to come and save us. If super-villains did exist, this is the closest I've seen to how they might actually be: decadent, hedonistic, sadistic, and at times just like anyone else. You revel in there victories and just appreciate just how bad they are, and they are so bad!.

but then again, I just got back into comics after about 13 years when it was last popular. You'll have to accept that there will be a lot of cursing, the fact that the main character looks so much like Eminem and Fox lookin like Halle Berry's Catwoman. I found it to be a sort of spoof of the typical comic heroes and such and the basic story line a bit cliche, but the characters were interesting enough and the action well sequenced. This makes for a good popcorn read if you don't mind all the violence.. after all, it's about villians instead of the super heroes this time.