Jawbreakers is a series of indie graphic novels that focus on a retired team of ex-superheroes who now find work as mercenaries. It is published by Meyer's press, Splatto Comics. The first book was written by Richard C. Meyer, with pencils by Jon Malin, and colors by Brett Smith. Since then, Malin and Smith have been replaced by Filipino artist Aaron Alfeche and anonymous colorist "Color Channel" for subsequent books.
The first volume of the series, called Jawbreakers: Lost Souls
was available to fund on Indiegogo in 2018. It held for a few months the record for a crowdfunded comic book, raising the then-unthinkable sum of over $400,000 note . The final amount covered several times over the original goal, and the finished product was shipped to the project backers in February and March of 2019.
The initial volume was followed in 2019 by Jawbreakers: Gød-K1ng, in 2020 by Jawbreakers: Grand Bizarre, in 2022 by Jawbreakers: Forever, and in 2023 by Jawbreakers: Contingency. There have also been two stories focusing on individual members of the Jawbreakers: Knife-Hand: Blind Spot and Kuffz:Origins. All also funded on Indiegogo.
Jawbreakers contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Xaxi is shown carrying and sharpening a spear and accompanies the Jawbreakers on a mission. It's currently unknown if she has any powers herself or if she is a Badass Normal.
- Anti-Hero: Most of the main characters are ex-superhero mercenaries who are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
- Anyone Can Die: To a surprising extent:Jawbreakers: Lost Souls: Kill-Switch, Devil Dog, Xaxi.Jawbreakers: God King: Hellpriest, Knife-Hand, Xaxi (again).
- Ascended Extra: Zig-Zagged. After the positive reception Xaxi had with his fans, Meyer announced he had reworked the script to make her a central part of the plot instead of just a one-off character meant to provide exposition and Fanservice. However, the fans then got worried she would distract from what is supposed to be a simple but fun comic about a G.I.Joe-like team fighting a giant gorilla, so Meyer cut her character once again. Although she still has a bigger role than in the original script.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: There is a giant gorilla monster that serves as the main focus of the comic.
- Back from the Dead: Xaxi, who is quickly killed off again.
- Badass Crew: The main characters are all ex-super heroes now working as mercenaries.
- Black Dude Dies First: Inverted, Kuffz is one of the only two surviving Jawbreakers by the end of God King.
- Blood Magic: The pact God King made with the evil deities requires a blood sacrifice.
- Deal with the Devil: The God King seeks to make one of these with evil gods to become a deity himself.
- Eye Scream: At one point a giant gorilla monster has its eye knocked out.
- Five-Token Band: The Jawbreakers are actually quite diverse.
- Silkworm is British, and half-Filipino.
- Kuffz is Afro-Caribbean.
- Knife-Hand is an amputee.
- Hellpriest is blind, and an Irish immigrant.
- DevilDog is gay.
- Genre Throwback: To early-mid 1990s Dark Age Marvel/Image anti-hero books. The back of the first book outright states "The '90s are back!", and Jon Malin's hyper-stylized art is very evocative of that time, as is subsequent artist Aaron Alfeche.
- Gorn: The comic gets pretty violent at times with lots of blood, severed limbs and more. Not to mention what happens to the Big Bad...
- Hard Light: Silkworm has the power to generate objects made of this, which he uses to save some of the Jawbreakers from falling to their deaths.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Hellpriest and Knife-Hand sacrifice themselves to help bring down the God King.
- Laser Blade: Knife-Hand has the power to create blades of energy with his hands, naturally.
- Manly Gay: DevilDog. So manly, he could be mistaken for straight until the end where he is revealed to be in a romantic relationship with a sentient male gorilla.
- McNinja: Knife-Hand is an American raised by a Japanese ninja clan after being sold to them by his kidnappers, which is where he got his signature knife-hand powers.
- Ms. Fanservice: Xaxi, whose outfit consists of a few thin strips of cloth and some jewelry. The author himself seems to have taken notice of this and made a poster featuring her one of the backer rewards. Grand Bizarre has the buxom Valverde, who also fits this role. In Forever, there's the new Jawbreaker and only female Stonemarten, who likewise has very large breasts. Seems to be a recurring theme with women in this universe.
- Nail 'Em: At one point Knife-Hand nails Hellpriest's hands to the wall with a nailgun.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
- Most of the Jawbreakers have cool and/or threatening sounding names. You've got Hellpriest, Devil Dog, Kuffz, Knife-Hand, and Kill-Switch. Humorously, their leader goes by the comparatively mundane and unassuming name of Silkworm.
- Jawbreakers Forever gives us new members of the Jawbreakers named Bereaver and Terror-Wrist, though one of them goes by the rather mundane Stonemarten.
- Once per Episode: Each Jawbreakers book contains a sexy pin-up piece by South African artist Sashi Perdigao for "promotional purposes."
- Religious Bruiser: Hellpriest is an Irish-Catholic and mercenary superhero.
- Stripperiffic: Xaxi's outfit, of course. It's basically just a few thin strips of cloth covering her naughty bits.
- Sunglasses at Night: At least a few of the characters can be seen rockin' their cool shades at night. (Just look at that cover up there for an example.)
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Kuffz.
