I'm a courts/crime reporter, and when I'm down at the provincial courts, waiting for a trial to move forward or for lawyers to work out a sentencing arrangement for an accused, I have a lot of downtime. To fill it up, I bring along a novel. Two of my most recent escapes from the slow pace of justice have been Greg Rucka's A Gentleman's Game and Private Wars, writer Greg Rucka's most recent novels. They also happen to be set in the world of Queen & Country, with British agent Tara Chace as their heroine. Q&C originated as a comic series, but Rucka's prose-only work in that world was just as strong as his comics writing. Now the original comic-book series is back, and it's just as compelling as the novels. This latest story arc fills the gap between the two novels, actually, and as much as I enjoyed it, I wondered if it might make for an inaccessible read for those just following the comics or checking Q&C for the first time. It occurs to me, though, that accessibility is exactly what Rucka is trying to achieve.
Tara Chace returns from the Middle East, where she was on an independent, rogue mission to assassinate a terrorist leader and tidy up a situation that had forced her government to sacrifice her. The ordeal not only saw the trust she had in her boss decimated, but the only man she'd ever loved shot dead, right before her eyes. In other words, Tara is far from her happiest frame of mind, but she willingly undergoes debriefing and psychological probing at a British intelligence training facility. Paul Crocker, the director of operations and Tara's boss and mentor, wants her back as Minder One, but others in the organization resist the reinstatement, seeing her as damaged goods.
I've got Oni Press's Capote in Kansas original graphic novel around here somewhere; I just haven't had a chance to read it yet. After seeing artists Chris Samnee's work, I'll have to make sure I find it and read it. His style is perfectly suited for Rucka's spy series. It's dark and gritty, and the artist has a great eye for realistic settings. His work here seems to boast such influences as Eduardo (The Long Haul) Barreto, Michael (Daredevil) Lark and even a bit of Bryan (Ultimates 2) Hitch. Samnee conveys the emotionally distant facade of the main character quite adeptly here.
At first, I thought Rucka has made a misstep by including so many references to the events of his Queen & Country novels in this revived comic series. It occurred to me, though, that he's done so not to confuse new readers or those who stuck solely with the comic, but to include them. This is just the prologue for a new story arc. The writer is setting the stage, and this overture is designed to give the reader the information s/he needs to know.
Though it was a pleasure to revisit these characters and the fallout from A Gentleman's Game, I was struck by another feeling after I'd read this issue. Basically, I thought, "Tell me something I don't know." For diehard Q&C fans who follow the comics and the novels, this prologue tells the reader nothing new. We know why Tara's puking so much. We know what will come of the ultimatum regarding Andrew Fincher. Still, the redundancy in the plot didn't overwhelm my delight in immersing myself in this dark, intense world once again. Furthermore, I trust in Rucka's writing enough to know that he won't just rehash old material, that he's got something new and exciting just waiting around the next corner. 8/10
