Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artists: Pia Guerra (p), Jose Marzan, Jr. (i)
Publisher: DC/Vertigo
Plot:
The book opens with Agent 355 attempting to work a deal with the Israelis agents that have kidnapped Yorick, as she basically states that she would be willing to trade the two male astronauts who are due to arrive in the area shortly, for her beloved Yorick. However, we see this deal is simply to keep Yorick from being taken out of the area, as Agent 355 hopes the promise of the other men will be enough of a temptation to keep Yorick within reach of a rescue attempt. However, while they set up a meeting, we see the leader of the Israelis agents has no intention of playing ball, as while she does remain in the area, she sends most of her underlings to the meeting with the clear intention of killing Agent 355 and anyone who is with her at the meeting site. Meanwhile, the crazed leader of this group decides the best course of action is to use a rocket launcher to blow the arriving shuttle pod out of the sky, thus insuring that her group is the only one in possession of a living male. While her plan doesn't exactly go over all that well with her second-in-command, we see after a brief tussle the woman is back targeting the shuttle pod. However, the fight lasted long enough for Yorick to partially escape and he's able to knock the woman out before she can destroy the shuttle. The issue then ends with Agent 355 approaching the shuttle to discover...
Comments:
I like the fact that this issue is almost self aware of the conventions of the action genre, as there's a wonderfully amusing scene on the final page where Yorick becomes upset that he's been given a "to be continued" moment right when we're on the verge of learn if the astronauts managed to survive their reentry. There's also a clever little scene where Yorick's captor reveal that they are aware of his escape artist's abilities, and one has to love Yorick's reaction to this little "bigger brother" moment. There's also a nice little bit of false build up as the lead villain takes a moment to brag about how impossible it is for one to escape these handcuffs, so naturally us readers expect this moment will result in Yorick showing off his escape artist skills by finding a clever way of extracting himself from these handcuffs. However, given the time that he had to pull off his escape, as well as the simple fact that the story has established that he's not a professional escape artist, what he does manage to accomplish is far more rewarding, as it has a stronger sense of realism to it. Plus, the handcuffs act as a fairly simple but effective way of showing us how Yorick could overpower a woman who presumably has years of training in hand to hand combat. In the end Yorick's escape isn't overly dramatic, but it is the type that has a nice sense of credibility to it.
I also have to say that this book is not without its moments of genuine excitement, as I was truly surprised by the solution that the lead villain comes up with to the idea of the arriving astronauts. The scene where her second-in-command decides enough is enough is also a nice tension filled scene, and I enjoyed the way that this fight had a rather unexpected finish, as one almost expected the lead villain's final moments had arrived when her second-in-command stood up against her, but instead this moment of rebellion is rather short-lived, and it barely even delays her actions for more than a half-a-minute. Of course one could argue that this delay was long enough for Yorick to make good use of, and it does make sense that Yorick would be the one to save the day, given he is this book's hero. In the end, the entire sequence is a very exciting finish to this aspect of the book, though now that I think about it once the question of the astronauts is resolved, this book will have resolved all the threats that had been hanging over this book for its entire first year, and frankly it's going to be a little strange to not have at least one group dogging the heels of our band of heroes. Still, the mystery of whether the astronauts survived, and the possible answers we might receive when it comes to Yorick's own survival are enough to hold my interest.
While Ultimate Spider-Man offers up some of the dullest covers in the industry this title, alongside its fellow Vertigo title the "Fables" are offering up some of the best-designed covers on the stands. Now there are times when the collection of images do act as spoilers, but I've simply taken it upon myself to not really study the covers in depth until after I've read the story inside. Still, visually this book's covers are a masterful study of design and they also display a wonderful understanding of how to capture the key moments of the story inside. As for the interior work, the art has a nice sense of realism to it, as the characters move like real people, and one can see their individual little character traits reflected in the way they move across the page. I mean Agent 355 looks like she's all business when she's talking to her counterpart via the radio, and then she's decidedly more relaxed when she's discussing her plan with her Russian partner. The idea that the women sent after Agent 355 are not professional killers is also nicely established by the art as they look absolutely mortified when the bullets start flying. I also love Yorick's little tough guy act, as it's a bit like he's performing a comic routine of how to get on the nerves of the people who have kidnapped you. Yorick's heroic actions are also quite nicely done, as there's a nice sense of awkward clumsiness to them that helps to sell the idea that he's not a particularly skilled hand-to-hand combatant.
Final Word:
I'm getting a bit anxious when it comes to getting the astronauts on the ground, and Brain K. Vaughan seems to be well aware of this, as he decides to torture us readers with the promise of an answer next month. However, there's more than enough going on in this issue to hold my attention, as the lead villain of this issue is a pretty nasty customer whose cold, and dispassionate approach being the only group on the planet with a living male was quite surprising. It's also good to see Yorick is finally allowed to do something heroic, as lately he's been more of a passenger, than an active participant. However, the real star of this issue would have to be Agent 355, who manages to come up with a plan that while reckless did prove to be a success. I also enjoyed the moments of humor, as Yorick was in fine form in his dealings with his kidnappers, and I loved the final scene where Yorick is allowed to express his annoyance at the cliffhanger ending us readers are subjected to.
What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!