REQUIRED READING: WANTED

I don't know when this movie will be showing here in the Philippines, but I'm very excited about this film. The trailer looks action-packed and Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy... sexy!!!

If you must know, this movie actually is based on a comic book written by Mark Millar (Civil War) and with art by the amazing JG Jones (Final Crisis). Now looking again at the trailer it's quite obvious that the story is not going to be really faithful to the comic, but if you're just like me who's looking forward to watching this film, but is pretty much clueless as to what it's about... read on.

Before I go on with the comic's story, let me first point out the big difference between the movie and the comic book. Again, watching the trailer it's obvious that this film is about a brotherhood of assassins, the comics is actually about a fraternity of supervillains in a time after they have disposed of all of the superheroes in the world. I think Hollywood is just being smart about this film, because it would really be difficult putting into film, characters like Shithead or Fuckwit.

Anyway, Wanted the comic book is actually about Wesley Gibson, your typical loser with an unfaithful girlfriend, an ass for a boss and a life of quiet desperation. Mostly, a little bit like me... the only difference is that, he is actually the son of the world's most powerful assassin. Now this assassin died, and for Wesley to inherit the millions of dollars his father worked for, he has to become a villain.

Enter the Fraternity led by Professor Solomon Seltzer. This is a brotherhood of supervillains who is currently running the world after they effectively destroyed all of earth's superheroes and turned them into a memory only remembered through comic books. Apparently, there's some sort of a power struggle between two of the five leaders Seltzer and Mr. Rictus.

This is where things turn for the worse for Wesley Gibson and his mentor/partner The Fox. And if that wasn't enough, there's a huge twist at the end that will change how you'll look at our lovable loser.

I am a huge fan of Mr. Millar's work ever since I grabbed a copy of his Ultimate X-Men a few years ago. That title actually brought me back to reading comic books. He's the Michael Bay of the comics industry with his knack for action, and this mini-series is chock full of it. This is a mature readers title, so it's full of sex, violence and a lot of the f-bombs, so I think only wusses would not like this title.

The art by JG Jones is perfect. The action looks so real, I love the violence depicted by his pencils, and the way Wesley changed from the loser that he was to the killer he turned out to be is so believable. While it's obvious that he actually based some of the characters from celebrities, it's not distracting and made me think what if Eminem and Halle Berry were the ones who played Wesley and the Fox in the film. That would've been cool.

The only criticism I have is the sort of anticlimactic ending. Millar actually made it work, but I really do prefer that the twist in the end not happen. I think they'll do this in the film as well, as it's actually central to the story, but it really came out of the left field, that while interesting, wasn't really necessary... at least for me. But like I said, somehow the writer made it work, and gave a reason for Wesley's existence.

Final word: The comic book is cool. Makes me hope that while it's obvious that over-all it won't be like the series, I do hope that they at least will be loyal to the story. I can actually see how they could turn characters like Shit-head, Dollmaster, and the Council of Five be more realistic. And the curbing of the bullet is actually way cooler than what's in the comics (Wesley actually shot the wings of flies in the book).

SCORE: 8.9 out of 10.