Its time again for another Weekly Comics Hype. Im doing these alphabetically, but skipping around a bit, and today I want to tell you about one of the craziest, wildest, most gun-mad capers Ive ever read, a story where the stakes get higher and higher with each issue and somehow the creators rise to their escalating challenge with a style that belies their short time working for American publishers. Its The Losers by Andy Diggle and Jock.
The Losers, which concluded its 32-issue run earlier this year, is a remarkably entertaining thriller full of high concepts, double-dealing and backstabbing. Our heroes are a group of former CIA special operatives who were betrayed by someone in the agency and are believed to be dead. This series tells the story of their revenge, but the stakes suddenly become astronomical when the traitor they are looking for suddenly changes all the rules by engaging in the biggest case of nation-building the worlds ever seen.
Wow, this is a cool series, and its really fun globetrotting, jumping from the neatest point on the planet to the next. Theres a visit to Sealand, one of my favorite countries, at one point, and a critical segment takes place in Pripyat, that abandoned city in the shadow of Chernobyl. In volume two, they pay a visit to Monserrat, where key evidence they need was buried by a volcano years before. Its reminiscent of the very best Mission: Impossible episodes, the ones they only made in your head and not on the Paramount backlot.
Mixed in with the real-world setting and political turmoil are some genuinely great characters in the team. The slightly manic computer expert Jensen was always my favorite, but Cougar, the laconic sniper, is just too cool for words, and Aisha, a killer who hooks up with the team for her own reasons, is utterly fascinating. Shes a walking time bomb, and you never know who she might go off on next, and it might just end up being the rest of the Losers...
The Losers was written by Andy Diggle, a former 2000 AD editor whose first US project had been a Lady Constantine miniseries and who later scripted the remarkably fun Adam Strange: Planet Heist book. He does a great job keeping his audience guessing and providing some amazing cliffhangers, some of which made reading this book as a monthly title almost unbearable. The artwork is mostly provided by the pseudonymous Jock, with some fill-ins by some fabulously-chosen alternates, including Ben Oliver and the remarkable Colin Wilson, who handles the amazing Pripyat segment.
The series was published in 32 monthly issues. The first 25 issues are available across four nicely-priced collections (retailing for between $10 and $15 each) which are available now, with a fifth, concluding, volume coming in September. But I warn you, this series is crazy addictive. Dont blame me if you buy the four available books and then find yourself hammering on a comic shop door to dig through their back issues instead of waiting for DC to release that fifth book.
Your local comic shop would enjoy your custom; new books ship on Wednesdays, so why not stop in after work?
The Losers, which concluded its 32-issue run earlier this year, is a remarkably entertaining thriller full of high concepts, double-dealing and backstabbing. Our heroes are a group of former CIA special operatives who were betrayed by someone in the agency and are believed to be dead. This series tells the story of their revenge, but the stakes suddenly become astronomical when the traitor they are looking for suddenly changes all the rules by engaging in the biggest case of nation-building the worlds ever seen.
Wow, this is a cool series, and its really fun globetrotting, jumping from the neatest point on the planet to the next. Theres a visit to Sealand, one of my favorite countries, at one point, and a critical segment takes place in Pripyat, that abandoned city in the shadow of Chernobyl. In volume two, they pay a visit to Monserrat, where key evidence they need was buried by a volcano years before. Its reminiscent of the very best Mission: Impossible episodes, the ones they only made in your head and not on the Paramount backlot.
Mixed in with the real-world setting and political turmoil are some genuinely great characters in the team. The slightly manic computer expert Jensen was always my favorite, but Cougar, the laconic sniper, is just too cool for words, and Aisha, a killer who hooks up with the team for her own reasons, is utterly fascinating. Shes a walking time bomb, and you never know who she might go off on next, and it might just end up being the rest of the Losers...
The Losers was written by Andy Diggle, a former 2000 AD editor whose first US project had been a Lady Constantine miniseries and who later scripted the remarkably fun Adam Strange: Planet Heist book. He does a great job keeping his audience guessing and providing some amazing cliffhangers, some of which made reading this book as a monthly title almost unbearable. The artwork is mostly provided by the pseudonymous Jock, with some fill-ins by some fabulously-chosen alternates, including Ben Oliver and the remarkable Colin Wilson, who handles the amazing Pripyat segment.
The series was published in 32 monthly issues. The first 25 issues are available across four nicely-priced collections (retailing for between $10 and $15 each) which are available now, with a fifth, concluding, volume coming in September. But I warn you, this series is crazy addictive. Dont blame me if you buy the four available books and then find yourself hammering on a comic shop door to dig through their back issues instead of waiting for DC to release that fifth book.
Your local comic shop would enjoy your custom; new books ship on Wednesdays, so why not stop in after work?