Review: 'Agent 47: Birth of the Hitman' vol. 1 issue 1

Variant covers of "Agent 47: Birth of the Hitman" vol. 1 issue 1.

"Agent 47: Birth of the Hitman" is a comic series dedicated to fleshing out the origin story of Agent 47 and his handler Diana Burnwood from the "Hitman" video game series.

I received a digital copy of volume 1 issue 1 as a bonus reward when I bought one of the more recent games. Today happens to be the anniversary of this issue's release in 2017, and looking back, there's plenty to like and plenty to critique.

For one thing, I enjoy the art style and character development.

One issue I have though is that Agent 47 and Subject 6 look a little too similar. I know that's part of the point since they're both cloned from the same DNA samples, but in some panels, I wouldn't be able to tell which was which if I hadn't gotten story context from playing the games.

And that leads into another point. While I enjoy the idea of fleshing out the characters' origin stories, much of what's in this issue is a rehash of flashbacks from the games. Or perhaps the games' flashbacks are a rehash of this issue, but still.

Likewise, while the jumps back and forth between Diana and Agent 47's stories would work in a more cinematic medium like a movie or a video game, I think those jumps are a bit disorienting in the written medium, even one that's as visual as a comic book.

I also have the original version of the comic where the year 1985 is mistakenly used instead of 1989, but I actually enjoy the idea of having that minor mistake in my copy since I'm sure copies with the mistake have become increasingly rare as revised copies have been printed.

All in all, the comic is interesting and I'm glad to have it, but there could be some improvements here and there.