You know what I love about this book? When I finish it, I want to talk about it right away. It invokes such strong emotion that I can’t help but talk about it and share my joy with others and that’s really what a lot of us are looking for in our comic books. Sadly we don’t get too many of those from the larger companies. But here in the indie territory you’ll find gems like I.C.E. with main characters that may or may not look a lot like a wrestler that loved to cook. Is I.C.E. a book full of deep thoughts that leaves you digesting the story that changed your life? No, but it is the story that you quote a line from the next time you see your friends or chuckle out loud when you see an amazing action sequence. It’s not going to blow your mind with the story, but it is going to make you remember it.

This issue, if you couldn’t tell from the cover, sees the death of one of Cole’s team. Quick, look at the cover again and you should be able to figure it out. At any rate the sequence of events that gets us to the cover image is full of explosions and action. Cole obviously dodges the bazooka that was aimed at him at the end of the last issue. Alli on the other hand narrowly escapes her car blowing up and only due to a warning message from Cole. Benno has a different experience as he pulls the classic “waiting in the rafters” move and dumps some rounds in his would be attackers. Afterwards the entire team is declared dead to the media to protect them and their families.Cole asks to go after Morales and is told no, which gives him every reason to up and quit and go after him on his own. The issue ends with a great one-liner that sets the stage for the action that’s begging to come in the next issue and frankly I can’t wait.

I don’t have any grips with this issue, I honestly don’t. It tells a story, it has real emotions tied to the characters, the characters even develop a midst all the action and most off all there’s action! What’s there to complain about? This title is vastly becoming the series I will compare all other action books too. The thing I really enjoyed is what I’ve enjoyed from the beginning, the fact that this isn’t a superhero comic and proves that other genres can work in comic form as long as the people creating it know what they’re doing. That’s where comics struggle in other genres, superhero writers suddenly think they can write romance or horror and the same thing happens in reverse. The problem is after so many years of writing one style they can’t break their own formula.Thank God Doug Wagner doesn’t have that problem, because he knocks it out of the park with this issue.

If you missed this series then at least pick it up digitally. The first issue is available through Graphicly and I’m sure the second issue will hit once the third releases, as is the norm. It’s seriously one of the best action comics you’ll read and puts that other book that hogs the entire genre’s name to shame. No one is putting out books like this except 12 Gauge and I hope that they keep on pumping them out!

Score: 5/5

Publisher: 12 Gauge Comics