To celebrate John Wick Chapter 3 – Parabellum‘s recent release we’re going to be diving into Wicks’ earlier action-filled adventures before he became Baba Yaga in the 5 issue long 2017 John Wick Comic run. The series debut issue encapsulates the action seen on screen, with some familiar faces and callbacks thrown in to make fans feel welcome. The plot is virtually all set up, leading to some fairly intriguing mysteries but may leave more casual readers a little underwhelmed.
This Review Will Contain Spoilers
Plot
John Wick issue #1 is written by “Planet Hulk” writer Greg Pak with artwork from Giovanni Valletta, David Curiel and, Tom Napolitano. Issue #1 starts off in a pretty standard way. John isn’t in the game yet, he hasn’t been introduced to the continental properly. He’s on a vendetta mission, tracking down someone from his past, Pecos is your run of the mill scumbag, who John knew in his youth. Wick stole from him when he was a young boy in Mexico, Pecos decided to mow down an entire village trying to kill John and now 12 years later Wicks back to set the records straight. Wick just so happens to run into an old friend Charon, a character fans of the movies will instantly recognize who Pecos is trying to rob. The ensuing action is pretty spectacular, as is to be expected, and I really enjoyed Wick and Charon’s interactions together. The issue ends with a really nice call back to the first film after a cop, decides to look the other way when he comes across a hotel room full of bodies before revealing Wick interrupted a heist, organized by the Russians. Which just put a target on his back. I really enjoyed the flashbacks to Wicks youth in this issue, I got a some slight Nathen Drake vibes from him then, and I think Greg Pak did an excellent job of capturing the characters cold and calculated personality as an adult. The plot was in large part simply set up for issue #2 with Pecos being a one and done villain, which was a shame because they could have done more with him but I am very interested in seeing Wick properly become a part of the continental in the future.
Characters
We’re seeing a younger John here, someone who hasn’t even been introduced to the continental yet, but that doesn’t mean he can’t kick some serious ass. He hasn’t met his wife yet, hasn’t even joined the game yet but his core character still shines through. He likes to keep himself to himself, likes it quite, up to a point and he has a soft spot for animals. We get very small glimpses at Wicks childhood something I really want to be explored more in future issues, hopefully adding a little more weight to his vendetta and his want for revenge on Pecos’ surviving companions Buffalo and Billy.
Speaking of Pecos he was an enjoyable enough villain but I can’t help but feel his potential was wasted. Watching him laugh as he kills an entire village without mercy was a nice way to get me to get hate him but they could’ve built up his character and his history with John so much more. It looks like the series will build on Johns history with the Russians, something I would love to see way more than Pecos, a character we only meet in this issue but I just wished they’d done more with him.
Charon is the only other character who gets some TLC in this issue, and I really enjoyed what we see of him here. I appreciated them building up his and Johns friendship, It was cool to see him actually get a bit of action, something I hope there’s more of. Plus, seeing a familiar face helped flesh out the wider John Wick universe which I appreciated.
Artwork
I really dig John Wicks art-style. It has this gritty graphic novel look to it, which not only suits the story but really helps sell the action. Speaking of, this issue is full to the brim with action, most of which looks fantastic. John’s an absolute powerhouse, obviously which leads to the action feeling like a pretty damn accurate representation of what we see on screen.
There’s plenty to enjoy about John Wick issue #1. The action hits throughout, John Wicks characters is captured really well, and there’s plenty of callbacks and nods to make fans smile. I would’ve liked to see more from the issue’s villain Pecos, and the plot was virtually all set up for issue #2 which could leave some readers underwhelmed but it has got me pretty excited to see the origin of John Wick explored in the future.
