The premise of this new series by indie publisher Reckless Hero Comics is pretty simple. A covert government organization called Dominion recruits a group of mercenaries to hunt down a terrorist group. Unfortunately there’s not much more depth to what actually occurs in the comic than this.
I try to show restraint when digging into a first issue because the groundwork is being laid. A big problem I have with first issues is too much time spent on introduction and this book sure does have a lot of it. A lot of time is spent establishing the government headquarters that is in hiring these mercenaries. These characters are typical men and women in suits that you find in the spy agencies espionage thrillers. I felt like it was a waste of pages to focus so much on them when the real story concerns the group of killers. All of the mercenaries of the group are interesting with their own styles and quirks but more time is spent on establishing them then seeing them in action. By the time the issue is over I was left feeling like I had just read character bios that usually occur in the beginning of a comic. There is enough action and over the top violence to make the book entertaining. The dialogue is very detailed. I respect the writer, Chris Imber (who is also the illustrator) for paying such attention to wordplay and dialect.
What caught me immediately about this book is the anime inspired artwork. It’s beautiful to look at. There are some great layouts that look like stills from a movie. I usually am not a fan of anime artwork in comics. I feel like it lacks originality. But it works for the story that Chris Imber is telling. He has enough variety in the character and setting designs to make it unique to things I’ve seen before.
Overall I enjoyed Operation: Boom. I think it’s a testament to how well it was written and drawn that I want more. The downside is that it does feel a bit incomplete as a whole issue making the cliffhanger more frustrating than it is exciting. I do want to know what happens next but while reading this issue I often wished it would skip to what happens after.
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Operation: Boom #1 Writer/Artist: Chris Imber Colorist: Chris Jenkins Publisher: Reckless Hero Comics Price: $3.00 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital
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