Aftershock Comics 2017
Written by Garth Ennis
Illustrated by Russ Braun
Coloured by John Kalisz
Lettered by Rob Steen
I do rather like the whole idea behind this and Garth has done some absolutely amazing characterisation with Regent. He's a spy with an overactive sex drive and that he's handsome, charming and quite capable he's also a sexist pig who literally sleeps every woman he's ever met. He's so got those familiar traits of a Male Chauvinist with some A Type factors thrown in and he is just not supposed to be likable but you can't help but be taken in his charm and the naiveté of not knowing the kind of man he is. With so many things here that are familiar Garth manages to his spin on it so It's uniquely his.
I'm really a fan of McEwan she is not afraid to take the piss out of Regent and she's so very smart and intuitive. You can see through the opening here as she's putting the pieces together and the realises the truth of the matter at hand. Of course before she's able to tell Regent they don't have a clone of him all hell breaks loose.
Oh my goodness leave it to Garth to come up with this one and then let Russ run wild with it visually. Gender Fluid yeah they came up with something extremely interesting to see play out. I do like the fact that everyone is freaking out over what happened and then to see the general public in that state of trying it all out right there on the streets is just icing on the cake type of stuff. With our undynamic duo the only ones seemingly normal having to see and deal with all this is epically awesome.
Russ has to be having fun here I cannot believe otherwise. With the way he uses page layout through their angles and perspective really shows his eye for storytelling. We don't see as many backgrounds in use for me because when he puts them in they are fantastic. There's a page with a fountain and the buildings in the distance all show this great scene so fully. The attention to detail here is strong and brings characters to life beautifully.
So it's time for Regent to finally learn the truth and he's going to do that in a more roundabout way. Though McEwan having given him all the clues when the time comes he's rather calm about the whole thing. I'm telling you all right here right now that the dialogue is outstandingly good and the characterisation and story development are out of control. This is without a doubt one of those books that is a treat, it's so off the wall out there and mocking the spy genre in the absolute perfect way.
I love that the kids, whom he never knew he had, have all gotten together to form an army out for revenge against the man who sired them. We start to see why they are resentful and let's face it Regent did do a lot of wham bam and out the door. He never checked up on those women, some of whom were crazy, as it was just his desire to do the deed. On one hand you can't blame him and on the other he should've known sooner or later there would illegitimate kids of his out there.
From concept through execution this book is meant to make you laugh at it's obvious silliness and absurdity in its weaponised fluid. It succeeds on every single level as it really is brilliantly written and illustrated.