Image Comics 2019
Written by Greg Rucka
Illustrated by Leandro Fernández
Coloured by Daniela Miwa
Lettered by Jodi Wynne
Andy wrestles with her past, and Nile continues to come to grips with her future. As their war against human trafficking escalates, their adversary is ultimately revealed, and the looming confrontation will unearth things long buried…
This is among the reasons why Greg is such a celebrated writer, with Stumptown, Checkmate and Gotham Central among his credits the man knows how to write some of the best procedural crime books around today. This is as intense and complex as they come too what with all their vaulted knowledge of war, warfare and for as long lived as they've become they have also become incredibly jaded and way too set in their ways. Then along comes Nile and suddenly the status quo is shaken up and the routine has become anything but and for Andy that kind of change makes her much too uncomfortable and increasingly volatile. If we have learned anything from the first gods is that living too long and having too much power has a habit of making you too unstable mentally. Just a little food for thought.
I like how this issue opens. Nile makes her usual drop with secret agent man, beware of pretty faces that you find, a pretty face can hide an evil mind, Ah, be careful what you say, or you'll give yourself away, and the arrangement suddenly gets complicated. Men such as he want to know more, give him a millimetre and he'll keep pushing until he gets more than a centimetre. It is a dangerous game dealing with men who think they have power and want more of it and in today's world that describes all too many. Still I do like seeing how this complicates matters all around, though for the boys not so much, but for Andy especially.
The way that this is being told is brilliantly done. From how we see the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information that highlights the books story & plot development to how we see this introduce new characters is expertly laid down. The character development as well is rather something else entirely as it would appear that the longer the women the more, I'm going to say unhinged, they become. It isn't so much as something subtle that makes me believe this either but then opinions are my own. The pacing is phenomenal and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way we see this ebb & flow snake through the book like a coiled cobra waiting to strike.
I really like the interior artwork we see here. There are old school elements, page seven is a great example of what I mean, and there is a modern take and sensibility so that we see Leandro's own unique style shining through. The linework and how we see and how it's varying weights are being utilised and creating this attention to detail s fantastic. Don't get me wrong I really wish we hadn't seen such a stiff kung-fu Barbie moment in this book and I really, really wish backgrounds were more prolific throughout as sometimes it just doesn't feel finished. Overall, however, the way we see the utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a really nice eye for storytelling. The colour work that we see really sets things off beautifully as we see through moments with the sun or that nice choice in that semi-negative space image. The hues and tones that we see throughout really create a misleading mood and tone and that's wonderful!
Greg never lets me down and as I find myself wrapped up in what could happen and what is going to wrong, let's face it things always go awry, that swirls through my mind. That what he and this team does and that's engage the reader and get them invested in the story like the true storytellers they are.