Off! the Shelf - 'The Pro'

Writer: Garth Ennis (Preacher)

Artist: Amanda Conner (Gate Crasher)

Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti (Daredevil)

Reviewed by Just Colburn and Keayn Dunya

When a cosmic watcher gives super powers to a "working girl" on a bet to see if anyone can become a hero, we see how a gritty real worldview clashes with the idealistic views of how a real hero should be.

Justin: The Pro is a short and crudely disturbing graphic novel. In the past I've always said that Transmetropolitian is the most disgusting thing I've ever read, now I stand corrected. Ennis focuses the story on a young mother living in an urban hell. A woman who sells her body nightly to try to raise a child she never even wanted. Now when she feels like her life could never get any worse, she's given super powers and expected to defend the world that's made her life the living hell that it is. Teamed with a stereotypical group of superheroes who sold out their personalities and their everyday lives in order to be the pillars of moral strength they thought the world needed. Things get tense when their new member refuses to conform to their overly optimistic way of life and some of their repressed urges begin to surface. The Pro is exactly what we've come to expect from Ennis' morbidly twisted sense of humor, but looking beneath it's external layer of potty humor and curse words there's a message to be found. There comes a point when we need to leave the things from our childhood behind us. As a child you may have read Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh, but as an adult you're moved on to Tom Clancy and Stephen King. So maybe for the medium of comics it's time now too, to leave the stories of our childhood behind and move on to what comes next.

Keayn: Garth Ennis is best known for his work on Preacher where he tackled difficult subject matter, The Pro is no different. The Pro takes a classic super hero story and places it somewhat in the real world. By somewhat I mean that it is brass, crude and more than a little over the top. Some would say the realm of comics and superhero's has gotten passé. There has been very little innovation, as well as being very unfriendly to newcomers. Ennis takes view and build his story around it. The main characters are clichés of the most popular heroes with all the flaws and ideals turned way up past 10. Take that and add someone from the lower rungs of society's ladder and mix well. The redeeming factor in this novel is that it's more of a study in society. It takes the common man's, politically incorrect views and vulgarity and places them in plain site for all to see. It may be a trend in comic books to ignore the gritty reality of life and have everything turn into happy ending. That's not always the way of the real world. Of course comics are supposed to have a happy ending right? Then why are the most popular one's the ones in which the heroes are antiheroes? Why are the best stories the ones in which the guy doesn't quite get the girl? Why are soap operas so popular? In these times of political correctness to the point of insanity it's nice to see someone tell the world to grow up. Most people go from sugar to substance. The problem is that very few mediums grow with us. It's gratifying to find writers who feel the same. The bottom line, we all grow up, and that's not a bad thing.