The story begins with a way that is very similar to issue #1, yet very different. We learn how Ringo Chen feels about his work. In the meantime, Tommy finds Tiegel, and tells her he loves her. After he is humiliated by the zoo animals, Tiegel agrees to keep on going out with him. As he goes back, he bumps into Ringo and Wendy (Yes, Wendy, the one that dumped Tommy at issue#6). We see Ringo and Tommy at the bar having a heated talk about Wendy. Ringo was about to quit for Wendy, but when she realised he was a hitman as well, she dumped him. Tommy walks away after telling him it would be a pity if they ever "got into it". Ringo goes to pick up his blood money, only to find out that he is set-up by a villain named Waterman. He manages to escape, and goes to Sean's bar where they have a small talk about Tommy, and he confesses that he saw "Death" again. The issue closes as he and Sean have a drink for Tommy.

SEAN: "Ringo, I saw an entire battalion being cut down to one man, and the general sending him back into the line. I saw a man shoot down his daughter on her 21^st birthday, because he suddenly realized how much she looks like her uncle. I am over 50 years old and I spent most of that with blood up to my elbows. So, if you are saying that Death is a guy and he walks and talks and thinks like the rest of us.... well I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise."

We finally get that Ringo story we read about in all those interviews. I have to say...IT'S GREAT!!! Garth Ennis puts down the similarities, and the differences between Tommy and Ringo in a masterful way. Older readers will notice that the first page of "Hitman #39" is almost identical to the first page on the first page of Hitman #1. I suppose comic writers just love these sort of tricks, but seriously, I loved the intro. Ringo is a hired killer, he is polite, he clearly doesn't like what he does, he considers his work as "his life" not "as a living". Unlike Tommy he doesn't humour about it, and he does not discriminate who he shoots. He plans on quitting for Wendy, but it all gets ruined , when she finds out the truth. I could write more about this great character, but I think I will move on.

This is also a historical issue, since it is the very first time we see Tiegel ACTUALLY LAUGH! I guess being humiliated by zoo animal really does "work every time". I loved the action sequences, and the villain, Waterman. The only thing that dissapointed me a bit was that we didn't see more of Wendy. I was curious to find out what would happen, if she and Tommy ever met again, and I was looking forward to a big showdown between all of them. I felt a bit cheated by the fact that I didn't see the Wendy-Ringo seperation, but Ennis used the "Non-visual story telling technique" (Used in ancient Greek tragedies mostly) brilliantly, so it's not all that bad. In fact it is a pretty damn good one. Garth Ennis really heated things up in this issue.

I think I will stop doing the "Art" critic because I am ending up repeating myself every time. Again, the shoot outs were great, and the bit where we find a dismembered mafia boss is really stomach-turning. What I really liked about the art though, this time, was the fact that Tiegel never looked so great. No disrespect to John McCrea, I love his art, but I never really liked the way he drew the female characters very much. In THIS issue however, where we actually see Tiegel in a whole new way, she looks really attractive. Leach's pencils definetely have something to do with it, since they give John's pencils just the right debt. I seriously hope John is not reading this..... Oh, by the way...great cover. I always had a problem with the covers of the issues barely reflecting what goes on inside (something that happened a lot during the "Who Dare Wins" saga). But THIS cover, showing Ringo and Tommy reaching for their guns while eating pie and drinking coffee, was great, and it captured the spirit of the story completely...