King of Spies, Volume 1

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Seriously; the art is absolute gold and some of those action sequences had me staring at panels for extended periods of time as I contemplated just exactly how the hell he achieved such visuals. Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea A must-read for readers interested in Korea, the ­Korean War, or U.

After a life of debauchery, espionage, and murder robust enough to even make Bond himself blush, Roland looks at the world around him and realizes that he didn’t really make the world any better. He has also penned incredibly successful works for Marvel and DC, including Civil War, Old Man Logan, The Ultimates, and Superman: Red Son. Beyond the visual appeal, there's very little to be said about King of Spies and that seems to be a key selling point of the Millarworld brand now.Mark was DC’s art director until very recently and I love this old school spy paperback vibe he’s brought to this. At the same time I really enjoyed his run through Marvel’s Ultimate universe, with a few notable exceptions (see above). King of Spies' is an exciting new action-thriller from Millar that once again subverts the spy genre. As the authorities grow frustrated, they decide to fight fire with fire, engaging the services of Atticus King, Roland's son and rival.

Bloody and brutal and far more grounded, and with some of the most lavishing and evocative art you will ever see in a comic book, this is how you do it. Scalera uses a variety of angular shots at his disposal for dramatic composition, often blacking out the background with heavy ink work to focus solely on the characters "on screen. His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades. While it is satisfying to see corrupt officials and depraved celebrities get their due in the most gruesome manner, the story by itself lacks depth and is too straightforward to allow for political subtexts. It's also weird that the MC doesn't seem to care about collateral damage - he'll blow up the restaurant a bad man is in, and not just take out the bad man.Jesus Americano é um menino bozinho demais pra ser macho, tem que ser o diabo, que aí sim ele é macho de verdade. I’m the first to admit he is an incredibly dynamic story teller, and he clearly has an audience that loves everything he does. Spurred on by a fatal cancer diagnosis, Roland decides to make things right, in the only way he knows how: Kill everyone that has ruined the world, and leave it a better place for the son that hates him, and the grandchildren he’ll never meet.

And you know what, I could care less about Bond's spiraling demise, because King of Spies is everything a Bond movie should've been, and then some. It might be the fact this is ye olde Mark Millar, and a complete hodge-podge of yawnsome ultraviolence with something that might be pitched as The Dark Kingsman Rises.

The art by Matteo Scalera is very scratchy and some may not jive with it, but I personally thought it was great.