By: Mark Millar (writer), Matthew Vaughn (co-plotter), Dave Gibbons (art), Angus McKie (colors)
The Story: A little, Kick-Ass-style deconstruction of the superspy genre?
Review (with SPOILERS): Much like Kick-Ass asked the question, “What would really happen if people tried to be spandex-wearing superheroes?” Secret Service is having the same type of thought about the James Bond/superspy genre. That genre of entertainment is just about as silly as superheroes since there’s no way a James Bond or Jason Bourne character could really pull off all those amazing stunts and escapes because the bad guys are almost never that inept and humans just aren’t that durable: we break and die.
That point is driven home during a surreal first scene where some bad guys have kidnapped Mark Hamill (a.k.a. Luke Skywalker). A superspy shows up to save him and we go though all the Bond-esque stuff: amazing feats of marksmanship, cool technologies against henchmen, etc. But, when the time comes to jump the snowmobile off the cliff and open the Union Jack-themed parachute (ripped right form that thrilling scene in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me with Sir Roger Moore as Bond), you wait, and you wait… Then SPLAT! And, you know what? That’s probably about how it would work in real life. Even the world’s elite warriors and spies just can’t string together 20 incredible feats in a row.
All of this is backdrop for a bigger story that the creators want to tell us. It features as a main character a British superspy…a colleague of the guy who went splat. We come to learn that although this guy is very Bond-esque in his mannerism and customs, he grew up poor. And not poor in the sense of “workman takes his lunchpail to work everyday…” We’re talking about what we’d call in the United States “redneck trash”: uneducated, lousy teenage juvenile delinquent teenage kids, unstable families, recreational drug use by the parents, little kids rolling joints for the parents, mothers shacking up with loser guys, etc. So, this guy somehow bettered himself and “escaped” from this vicious cycle of poor education and low expectations. However, we’ve seen this movie before: The lowbrow family is always having problems that require the protagonist to step away from their better life to “fix” one of their problems…..and he sighs, rolls his eyes, but helps out because he loves his family even if he DOES think they are a bunch of losers. Millar has this theme nailed.
One problem of note for the protagonist is his nephew. The kid is headed for bad stuff: ignored by his parents, he’s stealing cars and joy-riding with buddies. That’s a ticket to nowhere and our protagonist sees this and decides to take him under his wing as a protege. And….that’s what happens in this issue….
What the creators are setting up here is a little formulaic. There will be an odd-couple, mentor-protege relationship. It will doubtless feature training sessions as the wayward teen tries to harness his natural aptitude for the work and struggle against his lack of appreciation for authority figures. He’ll probably lean how to use silverware properly and put on a tuxedo. Meanwhile the protagonist super-spy will bring him along on the supercool missions and along the way, will find that the superspy can’t ever really “escape his background” and that elements of his background make him a better superspy. It’ll be cliche, but it will likely be well-told.
Millar will also have those little wrinkles that set him apart. For example, the central crime of the story sounds intriguing and unique: Bad guys are kidnapping Star Wars, Star Trek, Dr. Who, etc. actors. What for? Are they making them act out creepy fan-fiction or something? Would you put that past Millar?! And, it’ll also have that sense of real-world that Millar bring to a project like Kick-Ass or the opening scene of this issue. Nothing is idealized and people will die if they attempt risky stuff.
Plus, it’s all so British. An English or Scottish accent and speech pattern adds a lot to a comic when you’re an American. I can HEAR these characters in a way that I never hear Wolverine. They’re calling each other “wanker,” therefore they’re probably Englishmen. They sound like Simon Pegg and that street they’re driving down is probably in London or Manchester. When you see two men having a nice dinner together, you hear them in your head and they sound like Sir Ian McKellen or Sean Connery (who is Scottish, but you get my drift). It gives this story a sense of place that not all comics have.
The art was a big attraction to this issue too. Dave Gibbons is mostly known for his work on Watchmen and if you’re expecting 9 panel grids, you’ll be disappointed because Gibbons doesn’t have Alan Moore backseat driving the art. This is just straight-up, honest comic-book art. I do love me some modern comic artists, but it is also nice to see these guys like Gibbons from the earlier generation who aren’t as concerned with showing off on a dramatic splash-page. My only quibble with the art was that I got confused about who characters were a few times, but that’s always hard in a comic without spandex. I mean, there are only so many ways to draw a bunch of white guys!
Conclusion: The pitch for this was probably: James Bond + Wanted + Kick-Ass. If you enjoy those, you’ll probably come to enjoy this series even though the first issue was mostly introduction. Plus, quality art from a classic artist we don’t see enough of nowadays.
Grade: B
-Dean Stell
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