Sex. No, I'm not just trying to get your attention, it is sex that is at the center of the latest Queen & Country arc, a big change from the terrorism-focused plot of the previous arc. More precisely, it's about the fallout that sex can have, both personally and professionally, and Rucka does an impressive job of coming up with a main plot that falls into the purview of the intelligence office while still synching up pretty nicely with the Tara/Ed subplot that's been going on, thematically. And Jason Alexander's art is just as different from Leandro Fernandez as Fernandez was from Rolston, but it's ideal for the story being told here.
Rucka and Alexander open the book with a steamy sex scene that makes me wish I knew French, but which remains pretty clear despite there being very few words I actually understand in it. That scene turns out to have quite a bit to do with the main plot, but we leave it alone for the most part this issue to focus on the subplot with which it resonates, namely the affair that Tara Chace and Ed Kittering have been carrying on after work.
Once again, Rucka has tapped into the side of espionage life that just about anyone can relate to. It's not hard to imagine the personal toll that such work would take on someone, and so seeing these two find comfort in each other isn't hard to swallow. And everyone at some point has been in a relationship where they were more involved than the other person, or vice versa, so it's easy to emphathize with both Tara and Ed. I also appreciated the sort of quiet politeness going on around the affair, as most of the people in the office know what's going on but have chosen not to say anything.
Jason Alexander's artwork is inky and dark, with strong and realistic anatomy but also with plenty of shadows to let the reader's imagination fill in the gaps. His work is probably the closest Queen & Country has seen yet to the work of Steve Lieber, whose work on Whiteout with Greg Rucka set up expectations for Queen & Country artistically that Oni chose to go against. In retrospect, it was the right call, giving the book its own identity separate from Whiteout in a more strong sense, but that doesn't mean I'm not pleased to see this more realistic and gritty art style return, as I've always felt it was a style best suited to Rucka's writing.
There's a wide open field of potential stories for Queen & Country, given the different tasks that the intelligence service is called upon to deal with, and this story arc looks like it will be exploring a more sordid and corporate side of espionage. Although the surprise of who is behind the cameras in the opening scene was a pretty good one, I must confess that I'm more interested in how this case about the ramifications of sex will resonate with the subplot of Ed and Tara, which is based on much the same themes.
