Image Comics 2017
Written by Rob Williams
Illustrated by Simon Fraser
Coloured by Gary Caldwell
Lettered, Designed & Production by Peter Doherty
With the world's computers wiped out and its cities plunged into darkness, a group of mining magnates is summoned to a secret destination in the depths of Hunan Province. Determined to find The Red Diamond and restore order in the streets, Eggsy and Kwaito disguise themselves as rich jewel tycoons and jump in a helicopter headed for China. There, awaiting them, is a Betamax tape— one that will blow their mission wide open. Issue number three of this unstoppable, action-packed miniseries contains violence, explosions, flying wingsuits, and vintage jets.
Well I have to admit that the plot, premise, that Rob is building upon here is extremely delightful. The story itself unfolds rather nicely and it’s nice to see Rob’s writing on full display here today. The one thing I could without is Eggsy’s fratboy sexual innuendo’s I mean they feel kind of childish, immature and with the frequency we see them it’s a tad overkill. I mean what is he a 14 year-old who just discovered what sex is? So that’s my big and only gripe to what we’re seeing.
The whole idea that we see a world that has no power, other than at the Red Diamond’s meeting place, and how all that plays out. Starting with figuring out how Eggsy is going to get back to England from New York City. When the description comes across I really was expecting something totally different than what we got. That either makes Rob smarter or me just older than I realise, either way that’s something I thought was clever.
What’s not so clever however is the real world implications of what would happen should this kind of scenario actually play itself out. We really do live in a world of privilege where everything we have and do is taken for granted. There are so few people who vividly remember what life was like pre-computer technology. That it has so permeated every aspect of our life is astonishing in itself to see Rob paint out the consequences of that in black and white for us well that’s even scarier. So well done for that bit of real world terror scenario.
So aside from the fratboy behaviour I have to say the characterisation here is pretty good. Seeing Eggsy with his old mates and being bluntly told he isn’t one of the lads any more well that’s gotta smart. I still like that he’s trying to still fit into both worlds and yet is finding out he doesn’t belong in either. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes from here.
So the interiors here are alright, still a little on the cartoony side for me but I’ll get over that. There is some very nice attention to detail here though and I like the aircraft and the backgrounds more than I like how we see the characters I mean when we get to those tree covered mountain spiress my jaw hit the floor. The visuals feel more like old school Doctor Who than modern spy James Bond Jr.. The use of page layouts are handled nicely and the angles and perspective are as well. On the whole it’s not a bad effect but i’d like the characters to feel more like they should and while some do it’s not really enough when it comes to Eggsy.
I liked how the twist this issue had it’s own twist. Rob does a great job here keeping things moving forward and keeping the reader on their toes. It’s nice to see that a book can have both slowed down characterisation and story development that goes hand in hand with breakneck speed. This is what the kind of storytelling we want out of a spy thriller.