It’s hard to gauge a book that’s only ten pages long (it’s a preview, not a full length comic). It appears that Remender is blending the grounded style of Vertigo’s military books with the grandiose nature of its parent company DC’s superhero books. The publisher, DDP, sells it as a cross with Operation: Impossible, Band of Brothers and James Bond. In other words, fans of Marvel or Wildstorm would like this.

A group of mercenaries bust into a South American mansion being protected by a different group of mercenaries in the book. The conflicts between the people and dialogue are what keep this grounded in reality. A government official hires one group of mercs and the other group is hired by a drug cartel – so it’s not GI Joe versus Cobra like DDP’s prior military/espionage titles. Because the tactics they use are somewhat implausible and the imagery is just this side of the aforementioned GI Joe it isn’t as reality driven as some books out there. But they point it out in the dialogue and talk more like real people. After the heroine busts out of some bushes half naked, screaming for help, and then taking out a group of guards with Bullseye style knife throwing, she says to her leader, “There are a dozen ways to have done this that left me wholly dressed.”

There are times where the dialogue is less believable. In one scene a couple guards on a deck are gassed from beneath the floorboards. Something perfectly believable, but then the guy who did the gassing stands next to them as they’re choking to death so that he can say to the guards, “Fast actin’ stuff, ain’t it? My ol’ dad’s recipe.” Useful exposition, but it kinda breaks the suspension of disbelief.

Dusk is the name of the half naked heroine earlier mentioned. With the swords, knives, cleavage, and guns she reminds me of Elektra, but for most of the story she wears more clothes then Elektra. She clearly doesn’t like the guys she’s working with, which is just as well because they betray her by the end. Since it’s only a preview, the story ends there.

In the additional promotional pages following it shows that Dusk escapes after the cliffhanger ending and apparently joins up with a group that will later fight the guys who betrayed her. Apparently she gets a hold of a motorcycle or two at some point, based on some cover art sketches also shown in the book. I didn’t care too much about that stuff.

One of the interesting bonus features were the original page layouts sketched by Penick complete with notes. People who aren’t interested in writing or drawing comics could probably care less. But for me, seeing a step in the process is as valuable as the entertainment from the story itself.

Though I didn’t give this a lot of bullets, keep in mind that this is a 99 cent promotional preview. If a 99 cent, ten-page-story, preview of Watchmen were ever sold, I couldn’t look at our site’s standards and say it was worth more then 3.5 bullets. So I’m looking forward to full issues of this but I’m not holding my breath.

---

What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!

---