Artist: Dave Gibbons
Co-Plotter: Matthew Vaughn
Colourist: Angus McKie
Editor: Nicole Boose
I have mixed reactions when I hear that a book has been written by Mark Millar. Sometimes he puts out stuff that has this reader purring with delight. Work such as Saviour (the little I saw of it), The Ultimates, The Authority easily falls into this category. At other times he seems to court controvery for its own sake, with little beneath the surface, such as Kick-Ass and his 2000AD strips. However the one defining thing is that he knows how to construct a story so even when delivering shallow, meaningless drivel it is at least well written and makes sense to the reader, so when I heard that he and Dave Gibbons would be working on a book together, it seemed well worth checking out. There was one final concern which regarded the inclusion of Matthew Vaughn and its seeming parallel development as a film property and comic, the fear being that the comic would be neutered by the need to only inlude scenes that would make a good film.
It would seem that any fears were unfounded as this is a wonderful comic that confounds expectations. We have all the hallmarks of a James Bond film, the big, exciting introductory scene, suave and sophisticated agent, Jack, dining with his boss on wine and fish in the Westminster. Each of these is wittily undercut by the inclusion of a twist. The first scene is a daring rescue of Mark Hamill which doesn't quite go as expected, and the dinner with the agent is interrupted by a text from Jack's sister telling him his nephew is in trouble with the law again, as it turns out our sophisicated agent is from a rather less sophisticated background, less James Bond and more Jeremy Kyle. This is all good stuff, but it is in the depiction Jack's sister and her family that Mark Millar really shows his chops. Rather than stereotypical and slightly condescending, this is a lot more realistic. Certainly it is exagerated, but the actions, the language, the atmosphere are all spot on.
As you would expect from such an established and talented pro, Dave Gibbons turns in some wonderful art that does its job so perfectly you barely notice it as he manages to drag you into this world without once pulling you out of it due to clumsy panel transitions, strange page design, or wierd looking bodies that don't fit together like any real world human being. Expressions too are perfectly rendered so we always have a good idea about what the different characters ma be thinking and feeling.
This is an excellent book, and when the end came I found myself wishing the next issue was already available, and you can't ask for much more than that.
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