This was definitely an interesting issue. It was very different from previous ones, but it was something that needed to be done on the series so I can appreciate that. What I liked about the issue was that it established more about the characters personalities, but without diving into their personal lives or through shallow conversations. The title of this issue is “Buddy System” which matches perfectly since our remaining four members of Team Omaha are split in two and sent to different countries. They’re also sent to different climates which I think also served as a great metaphor for the conversations and emotions between characters.

Our first group that’s in Russia is Switchfoot and Fiddler. They’re very cold towards each other as Fiddler asks Switchfoot if he hates all women or just ones that are soldiers. This conversation perplexed me because I didn’t really pick up on the ending which is resolved later in the issue. I guess it just didn’t hit with me, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the issue or the conversation. They destroy the Russian satellite they were sent for, but Fiddler falls through the ice as they’re leaving. Now a man that she was confronting about sexism is the only that can save her.

The other part of the team is in Afghanistan near the Iranian border scouting some intel. This is Weatherman and Bookstore’s side of the team. Their discussion is all about trust and how they can continue being a team if they can’t trust each other. Basically the happy family they built has been revealed to have a drug using son and now they don’t know what to do. Though it doesn’t seem like it, both Weatherman and Bookstore get rather heated about the subject.

Was there a ton of action or even a lot of counter-ops coolness to this story? Not really, but you definitely learn a lot more about the team and their personalities. We’ve seen glimpses of who they really are here and there, but now they’re exposed and we’re seeing that all together. Edmondson does a great job of character building in this issue.

As I said, not a lot happens in this issue, but damn if it doesn’t all look pretty. Gerads is an amazing visual storyteller as he’s able to take simple pages that are mostly conversations and hold your attention the entire time. You could just blaze through this issue in a few minutes by just reading the dialog, but you would miss the impressive visuals. It’s also very impressive to see the changes to the characters like facial hair and haircuts (or lack thereof). It really makes the world come alive and feel real which is important with a story that’s based heavily in our world.

If this was your first issue with the series then you were probably feeling a bit lost, but trust me this was a great issue to start on as you were given a ton of information about the characters personalities. I’m definitely looking forward to the next issue and more importantly to how the relationships continue to develop or in some cases unravel.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Nathan Edmondson Artist: Mitch Gerads Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 10/2/13