Sam and Twitch, Book One: Udaku
By Michael Brian Bendis
I haven't read any Spawn comics, so this will be intriguing solely for the fact it's related; this not being superhero, but crime fiction. I'm a little sad and glad I'm reading the b&w version: sad, due to preferring color, glad, since b&w is author's preferred, and suits the nature of the story. Twitch is sitting at a bar with a hat next to him, a lady complimenting it, but he denying ownership, and she attempting to keep the chat going by asking about his day, which he reluctantly shares of not being great, and a bit of a doozy, it having started last week with his cop partner, Sam. Twitch describes Sam as an unhealthy overweight fella, who he cherishes as a partner.
They try to make a living as P.I.'s, but it doesn't take off, the 2 shocked when they're old boss offers their jobs back. The Lieutenant can't trust his own team for being bad apples, and Twitch and Sam's 1st case is 1 bitch of a crime scene. As Sam snacks, Twitch admits to not recognizing the dead head Sam points out, but 1 thing was certain, Deniro would get an award for his recreation of the story. Sam notices a row of thumbs, the victims on the floor NOT missing any, and when the doc tests them, the genetic structure ceases being human and only visually looked like a thumb.
What's more, all 4 thumbs seemed to belong to 1 fella, which they were to keep to themselves for now, they then getting a call to another homicide, and 4 ears are left behind. When they're back at the station, the interim-cap has them stick to their next case, since the old leutenant'd been 1 of the murdered, so new boss expected shit to get cleaned up before the press took hold. They then get a call for another appendage addition homicide, the lady neighbor giving a statement, and then seeing the guy outside, the story getting stranger from there. Twitch continues about Barnes secretary not knowing where he was, and after they returned from checking his house, his secretary tells them he'd be vacaying for a couple wks, and when Sam keep q'ing her, she gets cross, and shares why, then they being interrupted with news to check in with the doc.
When they meet up with her, she shares the baffling results of all the severed parts being from 1 guy, and the cells were still living and generating, so she'd have to report it to the feds, but would wait til morning. Sam next comes up with the idea of Twitch staying and dealing with research whilst he took care of shaking some cages. It leads to a bar, where another cop is playing pool, Sam getting in the middle of it so he could chat with the fella outside. The cop leads Sam to a difference cage as Twitch tappity taps on his computer.
When Sam picks up Twitch, the latter shares his research on the mob fam murdered, 2 of the fam being listed with each of the duo's names as having arrested them. Neither of them recognizes the collar which made it obvious they were being set up. Sam takes them to a spot the mob fam had ties with, which has them chasing a masked man having beheaded Barnes in an apt, a screaming lady running out of it. Sam keeps after the guy, til Twitch catches up to them on the roof, Twitch shooting as Sam is locked with the killer, the shot barely missing Sam's face, and the killer falling over the side, and disappearing through a grate.
The lady is impressed, but then reveals of being with I.A., and she expected Twitch in her office the next morning for their interview. Poor Twitch gets a free coffee for his unfortunate choice of confidant. A couple of punks go to see a KISS show, and the bf dies from a sneezing fit gone way wrong. Then, Sam sits with the I.A. agent, and she reveals the depth of trouble he was in due to the dead Lieutenant having been shot with his gun, and he was blaming a perp which splatters by the end of his chase, the masked hat fella.
Meanwhile, the punk guy is ID'd as 1 of the murdered mob fam, and Sam next hears Twitch on tape telling his tale, which pisses him off into smashing the player, he then confronting the bad cop from the bar. By the end of their chat, neither are satisfied, the shadowed killer listening from a doorway nearby. When he comes back to confront Twitch, it comes out he'd been kicked out by his hubby, and he'd felt flattered by the pretty lady's attention. They're interrupted by the doc chatting about the latest mob fam death being caused by a hybrid, non-airborne cold.
Then, a more dramatic death occurs in front of them, when Afflek is the 2nd unlucky catcher of the killer cold, the doc getting sprayed along with Sam, and before Afflek expires, says, "Udaku". Sam's at a bar when the masked killer comes up to him, and does him some gore, it turning out to be a fantasy, Twitch then coming in and offering to get him home, which he accepts, as he accuses Twitch of having betrayed him, of which Twitch doesn't deny, but also admits to having been a bad buddy, but still was his buddy. By the time Sam ditches him, he makes clear of he not needing to come pick him up tmw, and he'd locate Twitch when necessary, as well as to stop calling him sir. Next day, Sam goes to the s.o. of Afflek, as Twitch does his research of Udaku.
Neither gets any news, and both sides get together again to share, Twitch telling of the only pop ups being for a minister's name, and some other possibly Russian language. Sam decides they should try to solve the case, avenge Afflek, and get everyone to literally kiss their asses, Twitch showing approval. A masked fella drops from the sky right next to them and asks for Sam's assistance, but he turns him away repeatedly til he leaves, confiding to Twitch of how annoying the fella was, he preferring to check out the Russian lead. They drop by to a guy they knew who used to sell stolen junk, Sam q'ing him about the word Udaku after confirming his Russianness, to which the guy reacts by silently pulling out a gun and offing himself in front of them.
The masked hat-wearing fella then comes through the door, Sam shouting for him to halt. This doesn't happen ofc, Twitch and Sam separating to catch him, and Twitch following the fella down a sewer. When Twitch gets to the bottom and is looking around to discover the right direction, the masked fella comes up silently behind him. Twitch hears the fella before he grabs him, he shooting as he turns, which Sam hears, and tracks back fairly close as Twitch is tossed to the floor, his gun popping off again, and Sam locating the sewer grate opening.
Twitch sees the fella vanish out of his clothes again, and Sam is aiming his gun at the grate as he sees more masked fellas in hats approaching him. When they disappear in front of him, he sees the same hat coming up from the grate, he auto-shooting, and is met with Twitch yelling his ID, and getting hit in a non-too lethal spot, apparently. When backup arrives, Sam goes over the story with the fella shooting himself, the gun, and display case, now gone. Upon hearing the doc was suspended, Sam ignores the dirty cops trying to waylay them any longer, since they were making shit up anyways, Twitch deciding they were next to go to the station.
As Twitch fails at making the doc feel secure with his promise of fixing things, Sam is refusing to get into a car when asked, til the person asks nicely to speak with him, and Sam thinks he knows who it was, so steps in the car, and chats with the man in shadows. The last of the mob fam, he hopes to protect his kids, and admits he doesn't know the word Udaku, but could confide who was messing with him. When Sam goes back into the station, he's much happier, and shares with Twitch of how the I.A. lady was fucking with them. So, when she comes in with her fed agents to share how they'd been working undercover and also don't know the word Udaku, she admits to not having trusted them enough to share with them sooner.
Despite this disrespect, Sam makes his demands of them, which they hadn't much choice, but agree, the 2 now ready to get down to the point of this mess. Sam is watching the news go over the mob fam deaths, and keeping his expletive-heavy quote in the segment, then Afflek's hubby drops by to confess she knew what Udaku meant, and who was the killer, etc. On top of this, she hid the proof, in case they came after her, and she gives him the key to the locker, she biffing off with the plan to leave town immediately. Meanwhile, Twitch at the same time Sam is chatting with his interrupter, the doc comes by to aid Twitch with his arm, and relate how she was grateful he'd helped get her job back. Sam then comes by and silently q's doc's real reason for coming by, giving Twitch props in the car, which he denies anything sexy.
Afflek's hubby doesn't get relief, a blood splatter on a window marking her end. Sam and Twitch are scouting the station, Sam admitting it was fishy getting evidence so easily, despite her insisting he had to claim it. As the 2 look at the locker, a buzzard of cops are behind them, and threaten to shoot and or arrest them, but then the last of the mob fam gets involved, and it becomes a diversion, which Sam and Twitch take by making escape. When they get a chance to stop, they q Keller, he not saying anything for what he'd been threatened with along with the others. Sam gets nothing, but the doc has a mental break through on why all the mob members were dying.
Sam and Twitch as kids chat about Twitch not thinking Sam'd be allowed to shave his head like Kojak, when they see a girl being sexually harassed in the school yard, Sam stepping in. It's touch and go on who has the upper hand til Sam kicks the boy in the nuts, then has him agree to not do this pervy shit again. Back in the present, the fella Sam and Twitch'd cornered was about to reveal what "the" Udaku was, when mob fam member comes up with a gun and plans to take Keller hostage, which Sam and Twitch must bend to, which doesn't end well for mob guy, since right after he gets in his car, masked guy comes up, and the car explodes impressively. The duo return to the station where the agent finally had someone who could reveal the meaning of Udaku, he starting with when he'd transferred to their precinct.
He 1st hears the word at an initiation with a slurry of cops, the Udaku another old mob fam from S. Africa. He also mentions the weird melty guys being Udaku hitmen, the doc discovering they were bio-weapons. 1 fella next rushes in saying they were here. The agent calls in backup when the guys she posted outside the door don't answer.
Sam and Twitch investigate down the hall, and realize what must've scared everyone off was a body contorted, looking pained on the floor. Then they see a quartet of shadow men. Twitch goes back to check on the doc after Sam fights them off, he discovering she was unharmed, but those in the hospital room'd been well killed. The doc shares of the blonde chick having come in and taken the confession tape, Twitch ordering her to get back to the station, so she could help them. Twitch next tracks the blonde chick to the car garage, and explodes her vehicle with a gunshot, but she being fine, and Twitch placing her under arrest.
Twitch repeatedly attempts to get her to reveal why she'd gotten them involved, until she states they were essentially stooges. Blonde chick goes on to admit how it was unlikely she'd meet any real justice, since she wasn't American, and her pop owned the legal system in South Africa, which they had for 6 centuries. She then allows how she'd hang out there for a bit, before coming and murdering his kids. She taunts him with this like it'd be the perfect threat for him not to kill her, when he fires the shot as Sam watches from behind him.
On a ship in the ocean, the blonde, Cecilia's pop gets the news quietly. Fuck yeah I want to read more! Dang, what a spot to leave it for the 1st vol. Good thing I found the rest of them! Until I get to those, since they're digital, to the next!
