IDW Publishing 2016
Written by John Barber
Illustrated by Paolo Villanelli
Coloured by John-Paul Bove
Lettered by Neil Uyetake
While the battle between TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE, M.A.S.K., and ROM rages across the Earth, the U.K.’s top field agent, ACTION MAN, tracks down the mystery of ORE-13—and finds an unusual metal ally!
Now this is what i’m talking about! I love what John has done here from the Roger Moore reference, Young James Bond anyone, not to mention all the movie references that abound here we get to see Ian, hmm Ian Fleming anyone, do what Action Man does best. While the Joe’s and M.A.S.K. have Kup captured on Governor’s Island the Action Man team decides to get involved after learning that they’ve been infiltrated and compromised. This could lead Great Britain into direct conflict with their staunchest ally but you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
The characterisation here is absolutely wonderful. It’s about time we see all this youthful exuberance from Ian about the situation he finds himself in. All this surrounded by the Joe’s and Manheim playing their cards close to the vest. It’s really quite a mish mosh of weirdness going on with those two organisations as second guessing, lying and subterfuge are running rampant throughout these pages. Still I really like what’s happening here and Action Man knows Mainframe and has his phone number well that’s just an extra bit of goodness. All these characters exist, now, in a world together so it’s bound to form some odd and unusual relationships right?
With the Revolutionaries series coming up it’s nice to see how that team is kind of coming together here. Yes I love the ongoing Action Man series and hope that continues but his association in a second book with his newest friend and ally well that’s got a ton of promise. With all that we’ve seen so far this is the only issue i’ve noticed that the new team is actually coming together.
Huge fan of Paolo and Jean-Paul here. These interiors are tight, clean, crisp and full of attention to detail. Paolo uses backgrounds to his advantage and fleshes out the scenes incredibly well. The use of page layouts through angles and perspective show a great eye for storytelling. The colours are wonderful whether mutated or full on they help create a great atmosphere for where and when the action is.
This is the part of the Revolution we’ve been waiting for the coming together of forces to figure out what’s really going on instead of assuming or placing blame based on fear. Plus it gives us a great look at the Action Man program and how well they work as a team even after the events in their own series. With dynamite characterisation and a great story to work with this is by far one of the better tie-ins I’ve read.