"Red Panda (part 3)"
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Chris Samnee
Publisher: Oni Press
At the risk of stating the dazzlingly obvious, things are very different for men and women. How people treat you, how they look at you, is often based strongly on your gender. Traditionally, the business of killing is largely left to men. However, as a man, I have to wonder what it must be like for a woman who has killed to bring life into this world. The paradox of this is a bit much for my head to bear and central to issue #32 of Queen & Country. Fortunately, there’s plenty of excitement should you not want to consider such philosophical questions.
Minder 1 and her team have been dispatched to Baghdad on a mission that is the blackest of black. There to kill an appointee in the new Iraqi unity government, the team has no backing, and their bosses have complete deniability. Disguised as journalists, the team begin the mission smoothly, only to have the two agents captured by insurgents. The intent of the jihadists is to execute them, and an actual journalist caught in the middle, on video tape for propaganda purposes.
Rucka and team deliver the same high quality story-telling that fans of Queen & Country have come to expect: plot twists, rising tensions and some solid action to boot. Anyone keeping up with the news has a pretty solid idea of just how dangerous it is to operate in Baghdad right now. Between friendly fire, kidnappings and suicide bombers, even the innocent have much to fear. This issue of Queen & Country ups the antes for the players by putting all of them in this cauldron with hardly any support. A scene early in the book when two agents snap up an enemy in the middle of a crowded market emphasizes this well: There’s a moment when everyone is staring at the agents and they become acutely aware that they have no idea who in the crowd is just a bystander and who is a possible enemy.
The flip side of this comes when Tara and her companions in captivity are absolutely, positively surrounded by enemies with little to no hope of rescue. This is contrasted quite nicely by the hectic efforts of their boss to organize a rescue. Much to the credit of the Queen & Country team, no cavalry on white horses comes to save the day and the captives must fend for themselves.
Samnee’s art continues to be fantastic in black & white. There’s not a moment when the reader will lose track of the action or not be able to discern volumes from a character’s expression. Unfortunately, issue #32 marks the end of Queen & Country for at least a year. Hopefully, we’ll see Samnee’s work on another project in the very near future.
If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at http://madbastard.hypersites.com
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