Writer: Beau Smith
Artist: Eduardo Barreto
Publisher: IDW
EDITOR’S NOTE: The first issue of Cobb arrives in stores on May 31.
Cobb: Off The Leash #1 should be archived as a case study of exactly what the first issue of a comic book has to provide. With this first issue, Beau Smith provides:
• A clear indication of the protagonist’s charisma and a hint of his back story;
• The protagonist’s supporting cast and their personalities;
• The antagonist and his machinations;
• The title’s tone;
• The conflict and its stakes;
• A cliffhanger into the 2nd issue.
You may have read that list and thought, “Well, no duh, Dallas! Obviously, a first issue needs to supply all those things!” My response to that remark is that you should be dismayed then at the pervasive failure of recent 1st issue comic books to provide these essential elements. By “pervasive,” I mean that both the smallest of self-publishers and the hallowed “Big Two” regularly commit this transgression. (Marvel Comics’ Moon Knight #1, for instance, is very fortunate to have superstar David Finch presenting its visuals because the artwork alone is the reader’s hook to buying the 2nd issue.) Cobb has earned my admiration for “doing it right.”
Frank Cobb is a ronin. A former Secret Service agent at one time on White House duty, Cobb now has a purposeless, listless life. True to his character, he still defends the defenseless, but it’s clear his talents (which include knowing clever ways of beating the snot out of people who have the abuse coming to them) are being wasted. Enter Jim Hamilton, Cobb’s former superior and now Assistant Director of American Security—Homeland Division, who wants to attach this aimless Samurai to a new “Master.” Not back with the Secret Service or some other government agency (an assignment Cobb would instantly refuse) but with a Manhattan based private investigation service, headed by an old friend of Cobb’s.
Meanwhile, Russian mobster Yuri Ivankov looks to prosper as an arms dealer with new “terrorist friends” and will ruthlessly eliminate anyone who seeks to obstruct his enterprise, including a beautiful Russian girl named Nikita. In her flight from Yuri, Nikita seeks protection. She arrives at a Manhattan based private investigation service that just brought an ex-Secret Service agent into its fold.
Cobb: Off The Leash fills a genre void in today’s super-hero-inundated marketplace. I would classify it as a “masculine action story,” reminiscent of the Sylvester Stallone-Arnold Schwarzenegger-Bruce Willis-Kurt Russell action movies of the 1980s (which I will very arbitrarily classify as the Golden Age of action movies). The genre has specific rules, and Cobb diligently obeys them (without being derivative). It presents a dichotomous world: the villain is despicable while the hero, although “rough around the edges,” is nonetheless noble and fearless. The opening pages make clear exactly the kind of person Cobb is inherently. This is the kind of book Beau Smith was born to write, full of fisticuffs and gun play: activities I’ve read Beau is VERY knowledgeable about.
It’s also the kind of book that suits Eduardo Barreto’s skills as an artist. Honestly, I never preferred Barreto as a super-hero artist. No question, Barreto is as professional as they come. His presentation of the story is very dynamic as he effectively varies his angles and perspectives, all of which are very solidly rendered (as the included page from Cobb #2 demonstrates—you can expand the page by left-clicking it).
Barreto’s characters have dominant poses but they are not exaggerated enough for a super-hero narrative, in my opinion. “Exaggerated” not in the Rob Liefeld bizarro anatomy sense, but exaggerated in the John Buscema “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way” sense. Barreto’s style is too realistic and not “fantastic” enough for a super-hero book. Again though, the style suits Cobb’s needs perfectly.
I will give no assurances that every reader of Cobb will enjoy it. Your verdict is primarily contingent upon whether or not you enjoy masculine action stories. It can’t be denied, however, that this is a well produced comic book. Its genre may not interest you, but undoubtedly, presented within is an appropriately paced story with unaffected dialogue, characters with distinguishable personalities, and solid artwork. After reading this first issue, you will know exactly what kind of book Cobb is. Nowadays that’s an achievement in and of itself.
What did you think of this book?
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