One-Hit Wonder, the five-issue series published by Image Comics, is now available for licensing to publishers worldwide from Grand Design Communications. Created by French writer Fabrice Sapolsky and Argentine artist Ariel Olivetti, One-Hit Wonder (published in France as Hollywood Killer) tells the story of Richie Reese, a child actor turned hitman. Image’s official press release describes the book:
Richie Reese takes method acting to a deadly level. Richie shocks his fellow celebrities and industry schmoozers when he rises above his past as a child actor and becomes a hitman, and finds more success at knocking people dead than he ever did in front of a camera. ONE-HIT WONDER #1 is the opening salvo in a new crime comedy miniseries written by Fabrice Sapolsky (Spider-Man Noir) and drawn by Ariel Olivetti (Cable, Punisher War Journal, Conan). Sharp, funny, sexy, and violent like the best of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie’s work, ONE-HIT WONDER is what happens when one man crosses the line between fiction and reality.
Artist Stephen Thompson joined with issue #3. Sapolsky described the origins of the series to website SpicyToilet (yes – its really called SpicyToilet) for their article WHY FABRICE SAPOLSKY’S ONE-HIT WONDER IS EVERYTHING BUT:
I got multiple influences. First came the title. I loved the pun: One Hit Wonders are precisely people who only scored one hit, mainly in music but in movies too. And he’s… a hitman. Seeing how a kid that was pushed by his mother to be an actor, a star, but failed to be, for a variety of reasons, could turn into a killer interested me. There’s some “American Psycho” in Richie Reese. He doesn’t kill for money. He kills for the show. He’s the writer, director, producer AND audience of his own movie (and you’ll notice he sucks at writing dialogues). Now the question is : is the fact that he’s an actor made him a different kind of killer he was always meant to be? You’ll have to read the series until the end to know that.
It takes a long time to write, indeed. But not the first issue. That one was wrapped in a day. I actually wrote it, or most of it, in a plane from Paris to Los Angeles nearly two years ago. Other issues have been tougher to write. Issue four especially. But it’s the one I’m the most proud of. I really hope people like it.
Reviewing the third issue, Big Comic Page wrote “this is a fast paced, action packed emotional rollercoaster of an issue, jumping between hilarious and disgusting” and advised readers to “Sit back, suspend your disbelief and enjoy this title for what it is…highly enjoyable!” Unleash The Fanboy gave it a rating of 8.5 out of 10 writing that Thompson “steps in with the right charisma to take over the franchise as a barrage of compelling layouts and immensely detailed set pieces give this work a soft but consistent feel. The colors handed in by Lisa Jackson complete the package, ultimately yielding a visual component that fits the text and even elevates it.” In June, it was announced that Sapolksy would be returning to his co-creation (with writer David Hine) at Marvel, Spider-Man: Noir to create a chapter with Hine and artist Richard Isanove in the upcoming “Edge of Spider-Verse” event. That same month Sapolsky appeared as an exhibitor for the first time at a major American comic book convention, Reed Pop!’s Special Edition NYC. To mark the occasion, Sapolsky made available a special limited ashcan edition preview book of One-Hit Wonder and his other upcoming projects, about which he wrote on his website:
For a writer, it’s always a challenge to bring something like that to life. In independent comics, a writer is often also a conductor. Yet, putting together such a tool is incredibly rewarding, and I felt humble, designing every page. I feel honored to have artists such as Ariel Olivetti, Tom Lyle, Stephen Thompson, Lisa Jackson, Leila Leiz, Louis, Yishan Li, Jean-Marie Minguez or Little Ginkgo by my side. They’re all featured in the ashcan which includes some exclusive bonuses from my current series, One Hit Wonder, as well as projects I have.
Publishers interested in receiving a copies of the ashcan and the full One-Hit Wonder series should contact Grand Design Communications. Click here to visit our official One-Hit Wonder page for more information and sample pages.