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Painkiller Jane (collected) #8
Painkiller Jane: Trust the Universe
This book features a superhero adventure of nearly-indestructible former cop Painkiller Jane, working alongside New York City golem, the Monolith, to stop a child trafficking ring. It also includes two earlier Painkiller Jane adventures.
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
75 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2019
11 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Conner
805 books311 followersAmanda Conner started out in comics working small projects for Marvel and Archie while working as an illustrator for New York ad agencies Kornhauser and Calene and Kidvertisers. working a number of launches and campaigns such as Arm & Hammer, PlaySchool and Nickelodeon.
However, loving comic books and cartooning the most, Amanda found herself working for Marvel on their Barbie line (much of Amanda’s covers inspired designs for the line of Barbie toys), Disney line which included the Gargoyles books. At the same time she was illustrating “Soul Searchers & Co.” for Claypool Comics and worked on other Marvel projects, such as Excalibur for the X-Men line and “Suburban Jersey Ninja She-Devils”.
During an assignment for Crusade (‘Tomoe’) she and Jimmy Palmiotti became a real team as penciller/inker.
Amanda then moved on to do what is probably one of her best known works. She did several years as penciller on the hit series “Vampirella” for Harris Comics and drafted 24 issues. While illustrating “Vampirella”, Amanda worked with the top writers in the field, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Warren Ellis.
Continuing to expand her horizons, Amanda illustrated the best-selling crossover “Painkiller Jane vs. the Darkness”, and went on to work on “Painkiller Jane” #0 (the origin book). She also wrote and illustrated a story for “Kid Death and Fluffy”.
Since then, Amanda has worked on many of the top titles in comics such as “Lois Lane”, “Codename: Knockout”, and “Birds of Prey” for D.C. Comics Vertigo line, “X-Men Unlimited” for Marvel, co-created “Gatecrasher” for Blackbull Comics, and “The Pro”, an Eisner nominated creator owned book for Image Comics with Jimmy Palmiotti and Garth Ennis. Recently she worked on the highly publicized Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre series with Eisner winning creator Darwyn Cooke.
Amanda’s work can also be seen outside the comic book community in such places as ABC’S Nightline, the New York Times, Mad Magazine, the new sci-fi Stan lee “So You Want to be a Superhero” series and the upcoming Disney Underdog movie character designs for film and television, character designs for the Los Angeles Avengers stadium football team and is featured in a Biography magazine commercial on A&E. Amanda does spot illustrations in “Revolver” magazine each month and has had a huge success with the JSA Powergirl miniseries in previous years, each issue going into 3rd printings.
She continuously produces cover work for Marvel Comics, DC Comics and an assortment of independent titles.
With PaperFilms co-founder Jimmy Palmiotti, they are currently working on the highly received Harley Quinn series and other Harley Quinn related titles for DC Comics, in addition to several upcoming DC related projects. Garnering national attention and sales results, the team continues to receive accolades for their work on these titles. The new relaunch of Harley Quinn for DC in the Rebirth line garnered an estimated 250,000 copies ordered.
However, loving comic books and cartooning the most, Amanda found herself working for Marvel on their Barbie line (much of Amanda’s covers inspired designs for the line of Barbie toys), Disney line which included the Gargoyles books. At the same time she was illustrating “Soul Searchers & Co.” for Claypool Comics and worked on other Marvel projects, such as Excalibur for the X-Men line and “Suburban Jersey Ninja She-Devils”.
During an assignment for Crusade (‘Tomoe’) she and Jimmy Palmiotti became a real team as penciller/inker.
Amanda then moved on to do what is probably one of her best known works. She did several years as penciller on the hit series “Vampirella” for Harris Comics and drafted 24 issues. While illustrating “Vampirella”, Amanda worked with the top writers in the field, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Warren Ellis.
Continuing to expand her horizons, Amanda illustrated the best-selling crossover “Painkiller Jane vs. the Darkness”, and went on to work on “Painkiller Jane” #0 (the origin book). She also wrote and illustrated a story for “Kid Death and Fluffy”.
Since then, Amanda has worked on many of the top titles in comics such as “Lois Lane”, “Codename: Knockout”, and “Birds of Prey” for D.C. Comics Vertigo line, “X-Men Unlimited” for Marvel, co-created “Gatecrasher” for Blackbull Comics, and “The Pro”, an Eisner nominated creator owned book for Image Comics with Jimmy Palmiotti and Garth Ennis. Recently she worked on the highly publicized Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre series with Eisner winning creator Darwyn Cooke.
Amanda’s work can also be seen outside the comic book community in such places as ABC’S Nightline, the New York Times, Mad Magazine, the new sci-fi Stan lee “So You Want to be a Superhero” series and the upcoming Disney Underdog movie character designs for film and television, character designs for the Los Angeles Avengers stadium football team and is featured in a Biography magazine commercial on A&E. Amanda does spot illustrations in “Revolver” magazine each month and has had a huge success with the JSA Powergirl miniseries in previous years, each issue going into 3rd printings.
She continuously produces cover work for Marvel Comics, DC Comics and an assortment of independent titles.
With PaperFilms co-founder Jimmy Palmiotti, they are currently working on the highly received Harley Quinn series and other Harley Quinn related titles for DC Comics, in addition to several upcoming DC related projects. Garnering national attention and sales results, the team continues to receive accolades for their work on these titles. The new relaunch of Harley Quinn for DC in the Rebirth line garnered an estimated 250,000 copies ordered.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2020
Painkiller Jane: Trust the Universe
by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Juan Santacruz (Illustrator)
Hardcover
Published 2019 by PaperFilms
I used to be a slave to comic book collecting (around mid 90s), but recently I have sold off the bulk of my collection and looking for trade paperbacks/graphic novels, where you get more than one issue in a book. But, back when I was collecting I was a huge fan of Witchblade, The Darkness, and Vampirella. I ran into a crossover with The Darkness and Painkiller Jane and later Vampirella and Painkiller Jane. I soon found myself a fan of Jane.
SyFy network had a movie and then a series based (somewhat loosely in the movie, more on point with the series) about this time I started to lose interest in collecting the comics.
Painkiller Jane is a former cop that while undercover gets injected with a cocktail of designer drugs and develops the super power of fast healing. Think of Wolverine without the claws, and instead just a few guns and some bad ass fighting skills. I never lost my interest in the character just in comics in general.
Jump ahead a few years and I find the authors Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner are doing a Kickstarter to create this book. I had to jump in. I am so glad I did.
This hardcover features a new story and a couple of earlier tales, one being Jane's origin story, so if your new to the character this book will catch you up. Being a Kickstarter there are lots of extras that I'm not sure whether or not they are included in the regular version. Some of the extras are pin-ups drawn by various artists, and some cosplayers dressed as Jane.
The main story in this book Jane finds herself teaming up with another Palmiotti created character called the Monolith. They work together to stop a child trafficking ring. Great adventures, great story....and to top it off, beautiful artwork.
Worth your while.
by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Juan Santacruz (Illustrator)
Hardcover
Published 2019 by PaperFilms
I used to be a slave to comic book collecting (around mid 90s), but recently I have sold off the bulk of my collection and looking for trade paperbacks/graphic novels, where you get more than one issue in a book. But, back when I was collecting I was a huge fan of Witchblade, The Darkness, and Vampirella. I ran into a crossover with The Darkness and Painkiller Jane and later Vampirella and Painkiller Jane. I soon found myself a fan of Jane.
SyFy network had a movie and then a series based (somewhat loosely in the movie, more on point with the series) about this time I started to lose interest in collecting the comics.
Painkiller Jane is a former cop that while undercover gets injected with a cocktail of designer drugs and develops the super power of fast healing. Think of Wolverine without the claws, and instead just a few guns and some bad ass fighting skills. I never lost my interest in the character just in comics in general.
Jump ahead a few years and I find the authors Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner are doing a Kickstarter to create this book. I had to jump in. I am so glad I did.
This hardcover features a new story and a couple of earlier tales, one being Jane's origin story, so if your new to the character this book will catch you up. Being a Kickstarter there are lots of extras that I'm not sure whether or not they are included in the regular version. Some of the extras are pin-ups drawn by various artists, and some cosplayers dressed as Jane.
The main story in this book Jane finds herself teaming up with another Palmiotti created character called the Monolith. They work together to stop a child trafficking ring. Great adventures, great story....and to top it off, beautiful artwork.
Worth your while.
November 9, 2019
In this latest adventure of the long-running Painkiller Jane series, creators Jimmy Palmiotti teams up with writer Amanda Conner and artist Juan SantaCruz to tell the tale of Jane teaming up with the Monolith (a New York City golem, another Palmiotti creation) to stop a child trafficking ring. The book also features two earlier Painkiller Jane stories, including one recapping her origin, illustrated by Conner.
I am a pretty big fan of Painkiller Jane, although I haven't read all the stories in her series. I am a bigger fan of the Monolith from that character's short-lived series; it did a great job mixing street-level crime with supernatural horror, alongside likable, entertaining characters. So I was excited to see those folks again.
The story is pretty straightforward, very much along the lines of a supernatural action movie. As with so many other Jimmy Palmiottti stories, it's the interesting characters that keep me engaged, and this is no exception. It's a fun story, but also pretty dark. (Also full of swearing, graphic violence, and some nudity, so probably not for kids.)
I am a pretty big fan of Painkiller Jane, although I haven't read all the stories in her series. I am a bigger fan of the Monolith from that character's short-lived series; it did a great job mixing street-level crime with supernatural horror, alongside likable, entertaining characters. So I was excited to see those folks again.
The story is pretty straightforward, very much along the lines of a supernatural action movie. As with so many other Jimmy Palmiottti stories, it's the interesting characters that keep me engaged, and this is no exception. It's a fun story, but also pretty dark. (Also full of swearing, graphic violence, and some nudity, so probably not for kids.)
August 13, 2025
Well, to begin with, this hardcover book has 136 pages, so the 75 pages it's described as having is just plain wrong. It contains three sections: Jane's Addiction, Trust the Universe, & Monsters.
That said, Painkiller Jane is an interesting character, with a superpower - she can't easily be killed. Her body heals quickly on its own. Which means she can be tortured, shot, knifed and take killing hits. But the only problem is that it hurts. There is incredible pain (like gut-shot pain), and she needs long periods of rest to fully recover. Then she goes right back out, seeking killers and sex slave-traffickers. It's a book of violence, with copious amounts of blood, skin-tight clothing, or no clothing at all. I haven't read any other volumes, although this series has been around a long time through various editions. It seems that each story tests Jane's ability to recover with ever-increasing violence visited on her, for which she has to seek the perps and fight them to the death, occasionally turning some over to the police. It is well-drawn and colored, overemphasizing artwork over nuanced storyline as is typical of this genre.
That said, Painkiller Jane is an interesting character, with a superpower - she can't easily be killed. Her body heals quickly on its own. Which means she can be tortured, shot, knifed and take killing hits. But the only problem is that it hurts. There is incredible pain (like gut-shot pain), and she needs long periods of rest to fully recover. Then she goes right back out, seeking killers and sex slave-traffickers. It's a book of violence, with copious amounts of blood, skin-tight clothing, or no clothing at all. I haven't read any other volumes, although this series has been around a long time through various editions. It seems that each story tests Jane's ability to recover with ever-increasing violence visited on her, for which she has to seek the perps and fight them to the death, occasionally turning some over to the police. It is well-drawn and colored, overemphasizing artwork over nuanced storyline as is typical of this genre.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews