Queen & Country has always been as much about the office politics as the field ops, but it looks like the two may intersect a bit more in this arc, where we see more directly the effects that Crocker's use of field ops has on his political future. Much of this issue consists of two stuffy old British gentlemen sitting around talking, and yet it's positively riveting. Some of the credit for that must go to Mike Hawthorne, who does a very effective job of characterizing these different characters and of portraying the sort of shadowy, sinister vibe of these private clubs where so much of the business of the world actually gets done. But the majority must go to Greg Rucka, who again proves that talking and political machinations doesn't have to be boring, and that the most deadly part of espionage isn't necessarily the most treacherous or the most dangerous to one's life.
In the midst of the chaos of the last arc, which saw two Minders dead and one engaged in some of the most brutal combat we've seen thus far, Rucka slipped in an even more chaotic change. The head of section, the one who was seemingly a political ally of Paul Crocker, suffered a stroke, and in so doing, through the upper management of the Service into chaos. This story opens with a pair of powerful politicians debating the future of the Service, how they've been doing their job and what might change. The discussion is full of jargon and polite euphemism, the way those in power always talk about their spies, but the implications are clear: things are going to change.
It has been clear from the outset of Queen & Country that while Crocker could be a manipulative and stubborn bastard, he was also most definitely someone trying to do the right thing. So when the implications come down that he's not been doing his job, the message is, things could get rougher for the Minders. Talk of budget cuts and less field operations imply that not only won't they be getting a replacement for their dead agents, but they might even see one or both of them cut back as well. Of course, the Minders don't know that yet, and this issue is spent dealing with the fallout of two deaths in the previous arc. Rucka does a fantastic job of showing that although theirs is a dangerous job, the Minders don't really deal with the death of their own that often, and the circumstances of Ed's death, especially given what he had meant to Tara, are more heart-wrenching than if he had been killed in the line of duty, because they were so unexpected. Tara's left with no one to get cathartic revenge upon, either, which can't be easy for someone with her personality.
There's actually kind of a fun mix between the deadly serious and the somewhat funny in this story, as Rucka veers between the back office dealings of appointing a new "C" and the mourning (accompanied by drinking) of Tara and Tom as they deal with the loss of two of their own. Seeing the two of them break into a liquor store like a pair of giddy teenagers is kind of fun, but their need for the alcohol speaks at the same time to the grief and responsibility both of them are carrying around.
Hawthorne handles both tones quite well, and I'm especially pleased with the work he does on Tara and Tom. All of his characters have a similar long and lanky look, but within that general framework, they also have very strong definition. The rotating art on this book is a blessing and a curse, as it gives the audience exposure to a variety of interesting styles, but it usually results in at least one of the major characters looking wrong throughout an entire arc. That doesn't seem to be the case here, as Hawthorne has nailed the essence of everyone from Tara to Crocker to Angela Cheng.
