So, I thought I might write a little thing about this excellent series that I started reading a couple of weeks ago. It was after I read an interview with Gordon Rennie on the 2000AD Review website, in which he rated the series highly. It was funny, because it was one of those series that I kept on seeing and considering buying, but I never quite got around to getting them. I always seemed to be put off, either because it was a series about British spies written and drawn by Americans, or because it was about the modern world of espionage, a world now almost entirely dominated by the likes of Tom Clancy - the man who is to the world of fictional espionage, what penecillin is to dick rot.
Of course these fears were completely pointless: why shouldn't an American write a perfectly good story about British people (after all, plenty of British writers write American characters)? And Gred Rucka, the writer, can certainly write characters...
I've brought a few trades and I'm getting the singles with issue 25. Excellent series with a very British feel. Its also nice to see an espionage series leave politics in the background and just tell a cracking story. Would be a good fit for the Megazine if the art wasn't so miniumalist.
"Of course these fears were completely pointless: why shouldn't an American write a perfectly good story about British people (after all, plenty of British writers write American characters)? "
Obviously never read Chris Claremont's X-Men.
Will
No, no, you don't understand. It was because of things like that (and a lot of the drossy art you see in the likes of Vertigo books) that I formed this xenophobic view in the first place.
Still, if I were Irish I'd be much more offended of Mr. Claremont's representation of me (not that I'm rating up all the old Black Knight/Captain Britain/X-Caliber stuff, though).
As for the art in Queen & Country...
I think this is one of it's strong points. At first I thought so called 'cartoony' art would be inappropriate, but it just works so well. Also, the variety of art styles makes it more of a writer's book, which is what is needed when there's such intricate characters on display. It really is in the characters, above all the technical detail, that makes the books so compelling. That said, Rucka can really write a tense scene (as anyone who's read the end of the Afghanistan trip in book 2 can attest).
I would say that, although as previously pointed out, politics is not the driving force for this strip (mirroring the amoral nature of the minders), it is always carefully woven into the background of each story, and it's interesting to observe the changes that occur after September 11th (which, incidentally, is never directly mentioned).
So far, the comic has just reached number 25, I think, and there are five collected tpb's, each between ?5 and ?10, with a mini series, Decalssified, set in Berlin during the Cold War in 1986 also collected, and a sixth volume due for release in Autumn, so there's no reason not to check it out, if you haven't already.
I guarantee that everyone on this board would like it (and that's not something i would say lightly).
Oh I love the art; I just don't think it suits the megazine which is a shame as it'd make great reprint material.
Will
Yeah, I've read the first three trade paperbacks. Bar the occasional lapse in dialogue it's a good read. Lovely art for the third collection.
Its certainly one of my fave U.S. series of the last 3 or 4 years.
Couldn't agree more. It's a shame we always dismiss comics from the U.S. when we're really judging them by what's in the mainstream. Queen & Country, for me, comes only behind Walking dead when it comes to current U.S. comics (ftr: Lucifer is 3rd). The art, I feel fits the strip wonderfully. Why wouldn't it fit the Meg? Surely it's not massivly dissimilar to the art for say, Cabbalistics. As long as the srt fits the strip then it's more than welcome ihmo.
Now go buy Rucka's excellent Atticus Kodiak novels series - FINDER, SMOKER, KEEPER, SHOOTING AT MIDNIGHT and CRITICAL SPACE. He's a marginally better prose author than a comics writer IMO, and I consider him one of the best comics writers currently working, so...
J-Bo-1
There's also his novel NO MAN'S LAND, based on the Batman saga of the same name. I'm readin git at the moment.
Erm....I'll get me coat...
Oooh, is it any cop? His GRENDEL spinoff book, PAST PRIME, is OK...
J-Bo-1
PS: "I'm readin git" - heh heh heh
Yeah, I'm really enjoying it. A good example of how to do a novel based on a comic character without looking like you think you're slumming it.
Chris Golden's Hellboy novels, however, are complete dross.
I don't see the point in something that was designed for the medium of comics stepping outside that arena (no offence, Gordon). That's not to say there can't be any critical worth to it, or that a good one can't be written, it's just that it doesn't interest me (although I'm not trying to dissparage anyone who does enjoy reading them - or writing them, for that matter).
I think it was Rucka's books that sort of put me off getting Queen & Country. I just don't trust people who use titles like 'Critical Space' - it just smacks too much of 'Tom Clancy's Net Force' for me.
Just finished book five of the collected editions, and I can't believe that I've got to wait until August for the next one! That was a real page turner, as well as being a bit of an emotional upper and downer ( irefuse to use the phrase 'emotional rollercoaster'). Nice art by Carla speed MacNeil as well, which works really well, but only when you least expect it to.
...Agreed. The ODD JOBS shorts collection isn't brilliant, either, though ISTR a couple of OK stories in it. Sequel's out this year.
J-Bo-1
CRITICAL SPACE is a specific reference to bodyguarding - his Atticus Kodiak character is a professional bodyguard. The Kodiak books - even SHOOTING, which deals with a supporting character's heroin addiction - are EXCELLENT.
J-Bo-1
I don't know. I know it's only my own pretentions and prejudices holding me back, but I find it very difficult to buy books that have one word titles (which make them sound like a folk record - 'Hitchin', or something) and that feature characters with cool names (Atticus Kodiak was clearly formed when Mr. Rucka was reading To Kill A Mockingbird and playing with the cap to the roll of film from his camera). I mean, I know he's a good writer - Queen & Country prooved that to me without a shadow of a doubt - but I just find the idea of a book about a bodyguard to be one step beyond for me. I think Kevin Costner has a lot to answer for.
>>but I just find the idea of a book about a bodyguard to be one step beyond for me. I think Kevin Costner has a lot to answer for.
Exactly. Where will those fools of novelists stop? Next they'll be writing books about cops and criminals, or secret agents, or something like that.
PS. Kodiak's an area of Alaska. And a species of bear, an Alaskan one, presumably.
THE BODYGUARD it ain't. Imagine the same kind of sparse tone of Q&C applied to the bodyguarding industry and you're pretty much where the AK series is. SHOOTING AT MIDNIGHT, especially.
(CRITICAL SPACE I found a little disappointing, as it goes. It's a page-turner, all right, but the character work was a bit sketchy and the core concept is weaker than pretty much all the others. But then again, I really didn't like the ending, and that may have utterly coloured my perceptions.)
Have you read WHITEOUT? That's pretty cool (and ISTR the sequel, WHITEOUT: MELT, introduces a character called Lily Sharpe, who may or may not be a work-in-progress version of Tara Chace).
J-Bo-1
PS. Kodiak's an area of Alaska. And a species of bear, an Alaskan one, presumably.
Natural diet: Capsules
BRING BACK SHAKO!!!
PS. Kodiak's an area of Alaska. And a species of bear, an Alaskan one, presumably.
Natural diet: Capsules
see a bear up close, shit yourself thats natural diet!?!?!
And for $15,000, you too can can travel to Kodiak Island and bag yourself an Alakasn Brown Bear.
'Fair Chase Hunts'? Does that mean the bears have landrovers and telescopic-sight rifles too?
And check out the photos section.
Link: Yeeee-haa!
But why would you name a bear after a brand of film stock?
Those crazy Alaskans!
"Exactly. Where will those fools of novelists stop? Next they'll be writing books about cops and criminals, or secret agents, or something like that."
Yeah. Bloody John Le Carre and Len deighton - who do they think they are? Novels should be about genteel people drinking tea, possibly in submarines whilst cataloguing types of imaginary fish, and eating buttered scones. All this action, excitement and intrigue is not for the world of the novel. I don't spend upwards of ?5.99 on a book to read a story which has a plot, or where something actually happens.
I'm sure this isnt a spoof but you'll be praying it is...
Link: Hunters for the Homeless
Leaving aside the entire debate about the morality of hunting (I'm opposed), as far as I'm aware Ted Nugent is actually quite a "responsible" hunter - he eats what he kills (i.e. he's not a "sport" hunter) and he doesn't go after endangered species.
The charity sounds like a bit of a logistical nightmare but every little helps...
J-Bo-1
Yeah well I actually felt a bit guilty after posting it remembering stories from older relatives who had to go poaching to suppliment their incomes in the 20s and 30s...
And I've eaten plenty of rabbit and pheasent myself so it's a bit hypocritical...
Yeah, we had rabbit on CCF camp. Alright, but a bit stringy. The squaddies with us told the less disciplined kids that it was rat.
Pheasant and all other game birds* taste ace, though. Had wood pigeon once. Mmm.
J-Bo-dammit-now-I'm-hungry-1
*Insert comedy photo here
Wait.
I'm a bit confuesd.
At what point did this thread stop being about Queen & Country and instead switch to rangy old geezers wandering around pelting mangy old bits of furry meat with buckshot?
"Queen & Country, for me, comes only behind Walking dead when it comes to current U.S. comics "
hummm in that case...
Clearly you've not yet read the fourth Q&C story arc ;)
J-Bo-1
Ahhh Rabbit is one of those things that needs to be cooked properly to really taste good... long and slow in a mustard saurce... delish. Makes having the bastard - bite and piss on anything - monsters as pets almost worthwhile
... that's a joke in case anyone ALF types are reading