4 out of 5

Hitman’s final arc, the expansive Closing Time, like much of this series, works in fits and spurts.  It’s another “serious” arc – which thus suffers from the same tonal rollercoaster as the other such arcs, Ennis unsure if he wanted his title to be a contemplation on violence and morality or dinosaur / zombie / mutated mobster hijinx and so while you’re considering Natt and Tommy’s talks on good and bad, there’s Baytor in the background somewhat confusing things.

It also doesn’t help that the abrupt, sobering ending of the previous Old Dog gets a Six Pack / Section Eight followup before flip-flopping back to the heavy titular arc.  In this preceding bit, Ennis does his best to give his most ridiculous hero crew a send off and I’d say he mostly succeeds, but the S8 joke wears way thin over two issues and the deus ex machina is definitely a stretch…

But that’s fine; we should applaud Garth for wrapping everything up, ridiculous or otherwise, and then we’re on to the eight part Closing Time.  Which is okay.  The government is back, fussing with bloodlines dna – a smart way to make this whole series a round trip – and Maggie (from some issues back) saw something she wasn’t supposed to and runs to Tommy for help.  The escalation – Tommy versus the CIA!  Evil, heartless government guys! – feels a tad forced, and Garth gives Tiegel the same lazy treatment he’d given her in every previous arc and then subs in another romance; in other words, we’re too clearly heading into the endgame, and so you can expect a lot of summary moralizing as a result.

As I said: It’s okay.

But lets take a step back and once more acknowledge that this strip happened within DC canon.  In that context, the subject matter – and especially this arc’s ending – are a shocking accomplishment.  That consideration sincerely gives this final story an extra glow; that the trade also collects the hilarious Lobo crossover (god damn I would’ve loved Mahnke on this title…), which allows Garth to go full gonzo with his character, and also also collects the perhaps much more definitive conclusion, and love note, to Hitman – the JLA crossover twofer that came some years after the series – well, with these inclusions, the glow increases.

Hitman itself is an up and down experience, but a worthwhile one.  The final arc, Closing Time, encapsulates that experience, with the extra stories collected in the trade similarly bumping that worthiness.