On Reading Graphic Novels discussion

I really loved this book. Has anyone else here read it? I thought it was brilliant!

Here's my review...

This book contains a really engaging and gritty pulp science-fiction story with bags of fun and some real depth in places too. It collects #1-4 of the story arc "Re-Ignition" and #1-6 of the story arc "My War"

"Fear Agent: Final Edition" tells the story of a down-and-out alien hunter, who takes out alien pests for a price. His job is somewhere betweena future space-age pest-controller and a full-on mercenary for hire. This is clearly not a job he finds easy but he always (well sometimes) catches a break. Whether his need for whiskey helps him or not is not very clear. However, despite his desperate struggles, he does seem to rise to the occasion, especially when the chips are down.

This has been a really great read, with moments of laugh out loud fun, moments where I felt sympathy and real concern for the characters and a large side-order of escapism. The dialogue was sharp and witty and the story was very well crafted by Rick Remender. The art was dynamic and characterful and although two different artists were used for the two different story arcs I really had to look carefully to see the difference. It reminded me of some of the very best 2000AD Judge Dredd art.
At first the characters seemed interesting, stylish and kind of fun in a sarcastic way but I feared they might lack depth. However in Chapter 4 (Issue #4) of "Re-Ignition", Rick Remender brought new depths to Heath Huston's character, really stepping up his characterisation to a new gear and I felt like Heath became much more real. This brought the story up from 3 stars up to 5 for me.

Overall Fear Agent has all the ingredients of a really fabulous tale and I think I will most definitely go on to read Fear Agent: Final Edition Volumes 2 and 3. It was one of the best pulp sci-fi comics I've read in the many years. Highly recommended