Before next issue delves into the "secret origin" of the Losers, this issue is a one-shot that focuses in on Aisha, and gives us a little more insight into her life before she became one of the enigmatic badasses of the Losers. I had some nervousness going in, as Aisha isn't my favorite character of the bunch, and Ale Garza's work seemed like an odd mix for this book, but it turns out, this is one of the best stories the book has had recently. It's got a terrific mixture of action and political commentary, sheds some light on Aisha without giving away all the secrets and has Garza digging into his stylistic tools to provide art that is perfectly suited to the book.
The Losers is the perfect book for those of us whose distrust of the U.S. government has only grown with each day that the Bush Administration remains in office. While Max has been set up as sort of a renegade within the CIA, it's pretty clear that Diggle is using The Losers to call out the real CIA for their history of unethical operations across the globe, which have contributed no small amount to the anti-American sentiment overseas. This issue actually puts U.S. forces (black ops, sure, but U.S. forces) as the bad guys of the piece, and an Arabic freedom fighter is positioned as the hero of the piece. It's an interesting juxtaposition, and it really works, because this kind of thing has happened in dictatorships and juntas throughout the last few decades.
Forget about the political commentary, though, because really, that's only a small part of what makes this issue so intriguing. No, the real meat of the issue is seeing Aisha return to the CIA, at least in some ways. We learn a little bit more about her, that she used to be an informant, and if her loyalties seemed shady before, they seem even moreso by the end of the issue. At the same time, though, while Aisha has clear anger-management issues and a frightening sadistic streak, her loyalties to an old friend and desire to avenge a personal loss make it easy to relate to her, even if you wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley.
The Losers has been, first and foremost, an action book, but it doesn't seem suited to the slick, realistic look of modern superhero comics, nor the manga-tinged superhero style that Ale Garza brought to his other books. So I was delighted that Garza modified his style for this issue, into artwork that is reminiscent of a mix of Jim Lee, Eduardo Risso and of course, regular Losers artist Jock. Garza's faces are less shadowed, more defined than the work that Jock regularly does, but he gives them a lot more character than the overly cartoonish Dragotta/Jock mix of the last few issues. In addition, the action sequence, featuring trucks, horses, helicopters, RPGs and a crucial bit of setting, are exceptional, as good as the classic runway chase sequence that concluded the first Losers story arc.
In all honesty, I had settled into a place where I was taking this book for granted a little bit following the last story. However, this strong one-shot tale, plus the promise of a flashback to the team's origins in the next arc, has reinvigorated my interest in the book. Like Human Target and Y: The Last Man, The Losers is sort of off the beaten path of the dark fantasy that we've come to expect from Vertigo, but it has the same level of quality and adult sensibilities that have made Vertigo some of the best mainstream comics in the last ten plus years.
