By Cat Wyatt

Freelance is a fun new series about a different group of people who do their best to fight the threats that humanity is better off not facing. They’re an odd group, to say the least. There’s Lance Valiant, the only one who could be called a superhero in the group (by power standards that is); Tasha Kolchak is the genius in the group; and then there’s John Cabot, a reformed criminal (well, mostly reformed). Not really the team I’d picture to step up and protect humanity from some very real threats, but you can bet that nobody would complain about their helping.

Lance is more or less the focus of this newly formed group; he’s the superpowered one, and while he has no memories of his past, he’s more than capable of handling most situations that he’s thrown into. Being super strong, fire and bulletproof (and who knows what else) would probably help with the dealing with part, but it’s still impressive. The mysteries surrounding his past (and therefore where his abilities come from) have probably kept everyone on the team up late at night wondering. Or at least I imagine that’s the case.

The series starts off with a fight, which is a pretty good way of getting out attention right off the bat. Needless to say that Lance is devastating the opposing side (who are all dressed very nicely, and we have no idea why they’re doing this, not yet). John’s doing a pretty decent job of holding his own too, which makes me wonder what type of criminal he used to be… And then there’s Tasha, who appears to be smashing enemies…with a tablet? Something tech at least. I personally wouldn’t risk my tech like that, but then again I’m sure she’s got her reasons (like not wanting to get choked out).

It turns out the small team is invading the mansion (at least that’s what it looks like) in order to get their hands on Nekros, a dangerous antagonist who has control over something called the Red Sanction. Whatever it is, it sure doesn’t sound good.

As it turns out, the Red Sanction is an entire swarm of nano-bugs, which wouldn’t normally automatically equal something awful (it depends on what their function is, after all), but these guys were designed to strip the flesh off of bones…which is obviously something only a supervillain would want to do. Thankfully Lance makes it to Nekros before he unleashes them on the town below (at least that’s what I assume he was about to do) and being an amazing superhero sort the bugs only manage to strip him of his clothes, not his flesh.

Remember how I mentioned earlier that John was an ex-criminal? Well, apparently something in his past made him more than okay with not taking prisoners if the need was strong enough. So he didn’t hesitate to kill Nekros, even though Lance believed he could still talk/beat him down. I sort of get John’s perspective here – every minute they spent fighting Nekros increased the odds of somebody else getting injured or killed. And considering how many nano-bugs are in the air, the risk multiplies exponentially. And since the control for said bugs resides in the brain of Nekros…well the best way to shut them off is to shut him off.

The reactions from both men and the ensuing fight immediately gave me a pretty good idea about their relationship. Both clearly have feelings for the other (beyond the teammate bond that is), and while John seems to be okay with admitting that (to himself and Tasha at least), I’m not sure Lance is at the same point. Regardless, Lance isn’t okay with the idea of John killing people; he believes they should be better than that, no matter what. Obviously, John believes that murder can be justified, depending on the situation. The differing opinions lead to some clashing, and will likely take some time to resolve.

While all of that is going on, we’re introduced to our antagonist (I would assume, who else could they be introducing in that manner) all the way over in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Her design is pretty sleek (picture a cross between Black Widow and Sombra). Her name is Apollyon, and I have a feeling there’s more to her than meets the eyes.

Would you believe that all of that happens before we’re even halfway through the first issue? The creators for this team are not afraid to go at a faster pace. I would assume the first mission we saw was to establish the characters and the internal conflict between them, while the next will introduce the overarching plot (which I would assume is also connected to the antagonist introduced).

The next mission is an interesting one, to say the least. The team has been called in to close a rift, or scar in space (I’m not sure if another series cover how these rifts were created, or if it’ll be fully explained later, but I sure am curious). Tasha has the tech to close down the rift, and thankfully it formed outside of any human cities, so the danger is relatively low. For the moment at least. I’m sure it wouldn’t remain that way should they have chosen to leave it open.

Obviously, things don’t go quite as planned (because we wouldn’t have the introduction to the series otherwise), and there’s a complication with the portal. I’m curious to see how they’re going to resolve everything, and I can’t wait to see more of Apollyon (I know I shouldn’t be looking forward to seeing more of the antagonist, but I do love her character design).

This was an interesting start to the series. Despite the fast pace it didn’t feel rushed, though I wouldn’t have said no to more details earlier on. They’ve established the plot, the characters and their unique interactions with each other, as well as the antagonist. So they’re pretty well set up for the moment.

I love the artwork for this series. Especially the character designs. Each character is so unique and full of personality. Lance is obviously the badass one, you can tell right away just by looking at him. Tasha doesn’t necessarily look like a spy (does a spy have a specific look?) but she does look like a techie. John looks like the tall dark and handsome sort, but also a bit of the bad boy as well, which fits. And as mentioned a couple of times, Apollyon is wonderfully designed as well. I love the choice of using mostly purple in her color palette; it gives her a regal feel like still letting her look threatening.

Score: 4/5

Freelance #1
Chapterhouse