Micah Ian Wright offers up a nice self-contained story that serves as an excellent jumping-on point for new readers, and along with the absence of regular artist Whilce Portacio, it makes for the strongest issue of the series thus far. Wright delivers something of an oddity: a left-wing military action/drama. His politics and morbid sense of humor are entertaining, and his penchant for cool, inventive espionage gear and plots outdoes James Bond and recent home-video release XXX.
Three men of remarkable skill and resources fly into Atlanta, and it quickly becomes apparent that have far more grave and deadly things on their mind than picking up a trio of Georgia peaches. They've targeted a man who's under a remarkable level of federal protection, but they're determined to get in. Their goal: survival. Not physical survival, but political and bureaucratic survival that happens to run contrary to the plans of the establishment in America.
The best work Mark Texeria has ever done graced the pages of the first few issues of Marvel's Black Panther a few years back. Now, his stuff hre is a far cry from that level of work, but it's still one of the artist's better recent efforts... much stronger than the art on the Cyclops limited series. Texeria's dark approach suits the mature tone of Team Achilles nicely, but that darkness never threatens to overwhelm any clarity in the storytelling. The three key protagonists are easy to distinguish, and he conveys their intimidating and confident nature with seeming ease.
Portacio's cover depicts a scene that's not to be found in these pages, but I hope Wright has plans for such a story. Though I wouldn't want to see it presented through Portacio's linework again, I would welcome a story in which the title characters bond through a poker game or the like.
While dialogue later on the issue clarifies what the entire Team Achilles premise is and how the three main characters here fit into it, there's an interesting sense of mystery in the first act of the book. Wright is vague about the trio's purpose, keeping the reader guessing as to whether or not they're on the side of the angels.
The real payoff, though, is when a character who represents just about everything that is wrong with American politics gets his rather extreme comeuppance. Wright not only advances the the plot for the title team, he offers up a powerful -- though far from subtle -- comment on the state of affairs in a Republican America. Despite the fact that I always get a couple of angry e-mails when I laud such writing, I have to commend Wright for striking such a relevant chord with this particular reader.
