Shotgun Wedding Volume 1

by William Harms, Edward Pun (Illustrations)

Mike Stone wants nothing more than to marry the woman of his dreams. Denise is smart, sexy, teaches the second grade, and loves Mike more than anything in the world. What she doesn't know is that Mike is one of the world's top assassins and was once engaged to a fellow assassin named Chloe. And when Mike abandoned Chloe on their wedding day, she vowed revenge...

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2014

About the author

William Harms has written for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, Top Cow, Sony Computer Entertainment, and 2K. He was the lead writer on Mafia III, which was widely acclaimed for its narrative and was nominated for several writing awards, including a British Academy Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Games Award.

His graphic novel series Impaler was nominated for an International Horror Guild Award.

He resides in Northern California.

Reviews

[Sabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love those spy-type reads and hence found the book intriguing. It's just it was more dark than adventures.

Liked the last pages of the artist explaining his process as well.

[47Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

The current-day story alternates with flashbacks that reveal the main characters' relationship and falling out. It ends on a psycho note with kidnapping, revenge and a pathetic jump in front of shotgun blast that ruin the whole damn story. It was going well until that point.

Four years before, Chloe was supposed to be married to Mike on the best day of her life. When he stood her up at the altar she decided to hunt him down. In the present Mike is engaged to Denise. Chloe has been secretly tracking him. While she gets an opportunity for a clean shot at Mike and prevent a ridiculously bad ending, the clearly psycho Chloe wants him to know she destroyed his life. She and a team of four hitmen crash the wedding and kidnap Denise.

Mike kills Chloe's hitmen one by one and faces her in the most pathetic scene in the story. Somehow he manages to jump in front of the shotgun blast that Chloe intended for Denise. The whole professional assassin thing is thrown out the window at that point. He grabs Chloe and jumps with her through a window which, as far as I know, should be security glass. Fantasy-land also rears its ugly head when his leg gets tangled on a rope that conveniently stops his fall. Chloe lets go and falls to her death while Mike and Denise have a lover's moment that brought a fresh batch of bile in my throat.

Of course Mike gives up his job as a hitman to live happily with Denise, like that's a job you can ever quit.