 Fucking Comics: Image Isn't Everything
Exhibit B: Pitt #1
Who/What/Where/When?: The first issue of Pitt was published by Image Comics back in 1993, it was drawn and inked by Dale Keown, and written by Brian Hotton. Where can you get it? Well you can probably find this issue in a bargain bin at your local comic shop, or maybe one of the trade paperbacks in a used bookstore somewhere.
So For This To Make Some Sense, What the Fuck Do I Have to Know About This?: Not a whole hell of a lot considering that this is the first issue of the series, the first Pitt story however was originally published in Youngblood (volume 1) #4, which featured Pitt coming to the rescue of a bunch of people about to be robbed in a subway car. He violently kills all the thieves in front of a little boy and his grandpa.
So What Happens?: The issue starts off with a bunch of bikers driving through New York, who happen upon Pitt who's just strolling around New York butt naked. They decide to rough him up, however Pitt is not seriously harmed, and so he goes on a rampage killing all the bikers. This is (I guess) seen in the dreams a little boy who wakes up screaming from his nightmare. His grandpa comes in to check on them and he recounts that they saw the monster on the subway. While in New York, the NYPD has hired Bobbie Harras to the task force looking into the vicious subway slaying that night, much to the dismay of Detective Smithers.
Meanwhile, Pitt is now all decked out in biker gear and is being contacted by something telepathically. We get a bit of a snippet about his past that involves highly intelligent aliens and Pitt coming to kill them all. The story ends with the two detectives going to check out the subway car murder scene, and find that they are being visited by giant alien creatures (or something...)
 Critique Time!: Yeah, that's about it, not much of a story here, I take more time trying to explain a Transformers comic than it takes trying to explain the plot to the first issue of Pitt, wonders ever cease? Anyway here we go!
Look Familiar?: Well let's see here, a big huge hulking monster with a very bad temper problem with a perchance to violence.... Where have I seen that before? Extendable claws and rapid healing... That does seem a tad familiar? Walking naked in front of a bunch of bikers, beating the crap out of them and then stealing their clothes and a motorcycle..... I think they made a movie where something like that happened, but I can't quite put my finger on it.... So yes, upon close inspection, Pitt is hardly the most original character on the planet.
What the !@#$?: It's kind of interesting to note that, there is constant swearing in this comic book, and as most comics where there is swearing the swear is "bleeped" out by using a number of different characters, such as @, #, and &. Not uncommon, but the constant swearing in this comic, and the fact that they use characters that make it look like the word they're actually saying. Shit for example is represented by $#!* and asshole with @$$#*!#. When you're going to put that much thought into what character to use, you might as well just say fuck it and put the swears in. I mean, is Pitt really a title that's supposed to be marketed to children, what with it's hulking nude monster character and tons of gore? I don't think so. And that's something that always ired me about Image, was the fact that they were too big of pussies to push that envelope a little further. But on the other hand, these guys aren't exactly doing work for Heavy Metal, so maybe it's for the best, who knows how much more worse their sophomoric crap would have been if they didn't censor themselves.
Even More Filler!: Just like Spawn, Pitt seemed to fall have the same (pardon the pun) pitfalls, that being lots of flashy graphical filler and little plot. What little plot there was, was overpowered with all the mindless action sequences. You get a snippet of Pitt's origins, you meet some detectives, and somehow you're supposed to tie a little blond haired boy and his grandpa into the whole mess. It's funny, because the kid becomes the central focus of the series (I think Pitt has to protect him from something or other... doesn't really matter because I don't really give a fuck to be honest.) and yet in this issue you give him one page of story time and you don't even establish anything important, like the kid's name. We find out that his parents are dead and that he lives with his grandfather, but that's about it.
 Character Development? Who Needs It When I've Got Clichés?: Speaking of character development, instead of actually developing characters you have these one dimensional clichés running around. The mysterious, hugely muscled power house with the perchance to violence, the orphan boy living with grandpa who you know is going to be protected by the monster from something, the typical sexist cop who doesn't like a female partner, and the pro-active "I'm my own woman" big titted female detective. Not exactly memorable characters.
Where Is Pitt Today?: Pitt was published by Image Comics from 1993 to 1995, when creator Dale Keown decided "Fuck it, I'm going to go totally independent" and published his works separate from Image through his Full Bleed Studios. Pitt, as a series, only lasted 20 issues and had a spin-off series that lasted 5 issues. Not even crossing over with every other Image Comics related character, or a company cross-over with the Hulk (which strikes me as hilariously funny since Pitt is nothing but a blatant Hulk rip-off) could save Pitt from the all might axe. It was a stupid premise and not very entertaining to begin with. Dale Keown still has his own website for Full Bleed Studios which still tries to promote Pitt, but Dale has gone back to drawing for the mainstream, doing pencils once again for Marvel Comics.
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