The first part of this story, contained in Losers #7, looked very much like a downtime issue, an exploration of the characters after the slam-bang introductory story. Losers #8 reveals that not to be the case, as Diggle does provide some interesting character moments, but he also provides a fair amount of backstory on the Losers' nemesis Max as well as some very intriguing clues about the true nature of Aisha and what her agenda is. It's something of a change of pace from the Bruckheimer/Bay style of "Goliath," the first story arc, but "Downtime" is another solid outing from Diggle, and it has solid artwork from fill-in artist Shawn Martinbrough as well.
I've always enjoyed the downtime stories, the ones that show us our heroes in their more casual, day-to-day lives. The higher the contrast between day-to-day routine and the heroes' usual lives, the better, and so seeing into the quiet time of a bunch of ex-special ops works especially well for me. Diggle gives these characters a sense that they stand apart from the rest of the world, with Pooch not even able to enjoy the comfort of his own family without there being a huge disruption and Cougar's time in Mexico looking very much like him being alone in the middle of a crowd, consumed by private demons.
While the downtime aspects of this issue are well-written, however, the standout moments have to do with the characters who are still "on the job" even when they're taking time off. Through the General friend of Clay's, Diggle spins a tale of Max that builds him up as a pretty nasty adversary. The notion of an embodiment of the dirtier side of the CIA is almost on the tongue-in-cheek goofy side, but putting a face to the conspiracy bad guys is never a bad idea, and Diggle does sell the world that the Losers are involved in by invoking the scandals and covert operations that go back sixty years. On the less serious side, this issue has another hilarious moment with Jensen, whose "hacker gear" cracked me up, and his reaction to causing a blackout through his hacking is equally priceless.
The most interesting aspect of this issue, however, is the one that puts Aisha front and center. She's been playing enigmatic badass for a while now, and this issue allows her to continue to show off that side, putting down several armed opponents even when she seems very much at a disadvantage. However, while it's always seemed that Aisha had her own agenda, this issue hints that it might be a little broader than just helping out the Losers for personal reasons. Diggle hints here that Aisha might be another potential traitor within the group, using them for her own ends, and I'm very curious to find out what her goals are and how her operations with the Losers will fit into those goals.
I'm always a little nervous about guest artists so early on a book, especially when the synergy between artist and writer is key to my enjoyment of the book, but Martinbrough does a fine job here. I did miss Jock's style, but Martinbrough has dead-on storytelling skills, with especially strong work on Aisha's action sequence or the perfect timing on Jensen's ill-advised hack into a power company's mainframes. He's not quite as strong in conveying the iconic looks of the character, with the shadowy look of Cougar in particular becoming just a little defined, but he does nail the general looks so that their identities remain clear, and if Jock had to take a breather, Martinbrough is certainly an excellent replacement.
