Title: Queen & Country (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Greg Rucka (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Marc Ellerby (Review 1) and Michael K. Smith (Review 2) and (Don't click it, read the review here... )
Review: Operation: Broken Ground
- Review 1 - Pure gold.... Greg Rucka's acclaimed spy series starts here. From the word go, Rucka doesn't let up, doesn't slow the pace down, nor does he bore the reader or make the series seem too OTT. The spy genre has had a misconception that it's all glam and gadgets, no thanks to the recent SFX obsessed Bond films, but Rucka crushes all that, he brings the genre right back to it's origins and makes it a dark and violent and very realistic, good vs. bad scenario. The main charm about the book though is the amount of characterisation in the book, from Paul Crocker the moody, arrogant, commander in chief type character to Tara Chace's professionalism with a hint of "f**k you" attitude. Rolston's crisp, clean, sharp artwork adds a deeper depth, concentrating on facial expressions and pushing his sequential talents to the max. Using panels of different size and space he never bores the reader or repeats himself. A true talent.
Queen and Country is an original, down to earth spy story. But it's more than that, it grips the reader from the first page to the very last one. It gives American comics a different edge and the reason it stands out so much is because there's literally nothing else like it on the market. Check it out, it'll be worth the money and the time.
Review 2 - VERY high quality work... This is an "adult" graphic novel, not in the sexual-content sense but because the plot does not involve superheroes, fantasy, or magic. In fact, it's much more gritty and topical than even most adult thrillers I've read. The Secret Intelligence Service, based in London, is (apparently) an MI-6 kind of operation, chartered to carry out assassinations and other operations abroad but whose agents are not even allowed to be armed at home. Tara Chace -- "Minder Two" -- is their best shooter and the story opens with her involved in an unauthorized Special Operation in Kosovo to take out a rogue Russian officer now running with the Russian mafia. Her success, followed by an iffy escape from the scene, leads the Russians to put a bounty on her head -- and to fire a shoulder-launched rocket at the SIS headquarters, just to show they can. Paul Crocker, Director of Ops, wants not just to catch the perpetrators of the attack, he wants them dead. The Kosovo operation was a favor owed to the CIA, who now decline to help in his vendetta. And so on, in a nicely complicated plot that revolves on personalities and the rules of the game in a changed world as much as on action sequences. The art is straight black-and-white line drawing that emphasizes facial expression and body language -- which fits well with the rather talky style of the narration. My only complaint is that the story doesn't so much end as simply stop -- obviously only the first episode in a continuing series (which I haven't seen any sign of).
More info:
- Written by Greg Rucka.
Art by Steve Rolston.
Publisher:
Post rewarded by Ojay on Jan 9th, 2012, 9:52 am. |
Very Nice Review. 5 wrz$ reward. Thanks Zach! |