| The Extremist | |
|---|---|
Cover to The Extremist #1 (September 1993). Art by Ted McKeever. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Vertigo |
| Format | Mini-series |
| Publication date | September – December 1993 |
| Number of issues | 4 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Peter Milligan |
| Artist(s) | Ted McKeever |
| Creator(s) | Brendan McCarthy |
The Extremist was a four-issue comic book mini-series, written by Peter Milligan with art by Ted McKeever. The series was published by DC Comics through their Vertigo comics imprint from September to December 1993.[1] It was originally created by Brendan McCarthy, who gave it to Peter Milligan to develop as a comic series because he "couldn't be bothered to draw it."
Judy Tanner, grieving after the murder of her husband Jack, desires to get revenge on the murderer. She submerges her identity into that of "The Extremist", an alias her husband went by in both his life as a patron of the most extreme sex clubs, and as a hired assassin for a shadowy organization called "The Order". Judy eventually murders a woman she believes to be her husband's killer, but later learns the real killer was a man named Patrick, the "Chief Hedonist" of the Order. Patrick claims he killed Jack in order to manipulate Judy into becoming the Extremist, and manipulate her into killing an innocent woman to "liberate" her from her bourgeois moral system.[1]
After Judy goes missing, her neighbor Tony Murphy attempts to find her, while discovering more and more about what "The Extremist" really is, and is both ashamed and titillated by his discoveries. In his quest to find Judy, Tony's obsession prompts his wife and newborn child to leave him, although he does eventually manage to track Judy down, after which a thoroughly indoctrinated Judy kills him to prevent him from exposing her activities or those of the order.[1]