Number of issues 1 | Publication date July 2002 Main character(s) The Pro Colorist(s) Paul Mounts Genres Comedy, Superhero comics | |
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Similar The Boys, Streets of Glory, Chronicles of Wormwood, Just a Pilgrim, 303 | ||
The Pro is a prestige format One-shot comic book written by Garth Ennis, with pencils and lettering by Amanda Conner and inks by Jimmy Palmiotti. It was originally published by Image Comics in 2002.
Contents
Plot
A parody of mainstream superhero comics, it details the brief career of a prostitute given superhuman powers by the Viewer. She reluctantly joins the League of Honor, composed of the Saint, the Knight & the Squire, the Lady, the Lime, and Speedo.
Together they fight an array of lackluster villains such as The Noun and The Adverb, until her coarse language and actions, violence, bloody retributions, and her fellating The Saint result in her being expelled from the League. She rejoins them to fight a terrorist attack, flying into space holding a nuclear bomb and facing death (more in an effort to save the life of her young child than anyone else in the vicinity).
Later editions feature an additional eight-page story entitled "The Pro Vs. The Ho" in which the Pro squares off with a 12-armed prostitute. In the story, the Ho receives powers in much the same way that the Pro does via the alien "Viewer" that orbits the Earth in a cloaked ship. Because the Pro has superpowers, she is able to perform sex acts using superspeed. The problem arises when several of the Johns complain that by the time they relax enough to enjoy themselves, their "job" is over. The Ho then appears and confronts the Pro, who knocks her into the river and eventually saves her from drowning. Subsequently the two women get to know one another. The Ho explains that she never wanted superhuman powers, and all she ever wanted to do was work with small animals as a veterinarian. The Pro resolves to take the Ho to animal husbandry facility where she uses all 12 of her arms to "service" the animals for breeding.
In other media
On June 15, 2010, 5finity Productions released a limited edition sketch card series, including original art by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmotti and notable sketch card artists.
On October 12, 2009, Conner and Palmotti proposed a live-action adaptation of the graphic novel. They have said that they would like to have either Sarah Silverman or Ellen Muth as the lead. In March 2017, Paramount Pictures picked up the film rights to The Pro and hired Zoe McCarthy to write the screenplay.
Theres a animated short of the comic on YouTube.
Collected editions
Three volumes collect both of The Pro's adventures:
The 80-page new edition sold out and has had to be reprinted, thus Image's decision to reprint the Oversized version in paperback.
Reception
Craig Lemon of Comics Bulletin responded positively to The Pro, calling it "a hilarious piss-take" while commending the "morality play" twist ending. Similarly, Geek in the City's Aaron Duran, who placed The Pro at #4 on a list of the best graphic novels of the 2000s, labelled the book "One of the most vile, disgusting, perverse, and gut-numbingly hilarious comics of all time". The Pro ranked at #14 in the Comic Book Resources list The Greatest Garth Ennis Stories Ever Told!, where it was described as "off-kilter" and "hilarious".
Upon receiving a press release for the book, writer and artist Jim Steranko lambasted it as "psychotic, nihilistic garbage" produced by evil cultural terrorists, which prompted its creative team into inserting the sarcastic dedication "For Steranko".