Millar is one of those name creators, whose following has
garnered him a fair bit of autonomy. As
a comic writer, he’s worked with artists such as John Romita, Jr., Leinil
Francis Yu, JG Jones, Dave Johnson, and Frank Quitely, had work published by
Marvel & DC, as well as other, smaller publishers, and seen a number of his
books translated to film. The guy’s a
success, and I’ve not read much of it.
So, a few years back, I decided to check out some of his work—and though
I enjoyed his “Old Man Logan” storyline, I had a lot of trouble with another
Wolverine story he wrote, which you can find if you search the site, but I
don’t feel the need to heap on here again.
Suffice to say, after reading these books, I felt no need to check out
anything more from Millar. I was
done.
Am I glad I moved past that personal decree and read Kingsman:
The Secret Service.
The big draw here, for me, was the artist, Dave
Gibbons. He has worked on some of my
favorite comics—writing the World’s Finest mini that was drawn by Steve Rude,
as well as drawing the Martha Washington series with Frank Miller, as well as
Watchmen …’nuff said there—and I will check out anything he’s involved with. Gibbons never disappoints.
Kingsman is a story in the vein of James Bond, revolving
around an agency of British super-spies (focusing on Jack London, the agency’s
best in the field). London’s sister is
on the dole, living with a worthless piece of trash who has no right being a
father-figure to either of her children, the older David, better known as “Eggsy,”
who’s working age, or his far younger brother.
Rarely there for her, having long moved past enabling her, in his mind,
and believing she needs to take some responsibility for her life, London is
still willing to get his nephew out of jail, through his high-level governmental
association, whenever he does something stupid.
But, this time, as he helps Eggsy, London decides to give him a chance
to get out of his current living situation and make something of himself and
recommends him as a new recruit for the spy agency.
As Eggsy begins his training, his uncle is hip-deep in a
rash of kidnappings of pop cultural icons such as Mark Hamill and Rowdy Roddy
Piper. Clues are being unearthed, but
they make no sense. Not until one final
piece is revealed. At which point, uncle
and nephew start to close in on the twenty-something technological wunderkind
who has been using his money and telecommunications expertise to devise a plan
that will save all his pop culture heroes while almost eighty percent of the
world’s population is killed through a subliminal signal delivered through their
cell phones. And then, London, a
thirty-year veteran of the spy agency, is taken out, his nephew now left on his
own to complete the mission—one that is doubly hampered by Eggsy’s discovery of
moles within the spy agency.
Spoiler: good guys
win.
Millar & Gibbons play with an intricate balance of
seriousness and satirical comedy in the tone of the book and manage to pull it
off amazingly well. Much of this is
familiar—the cool gadgets, the global threat, the calm, cool approach of the
spies who rarely flinch in combat—but Millar & Gibbons put a nice spin on
it through the dichotomy of the younger generation, epitomized by Eggsy, and
the older, as characterized by the experienced members of the agency. Through the training episodes, the creators
play up this generational gap, offering the readers a traditional solution to a
problem posed to Eggsy, only to have him upend expectations when he finds a far
different, but plausible escape from his predicaments. This, more than anything, is what makes Kingsman
such an enjoyable story. Tack on some
emotional growth for the protagonist, Eggsy, pathos in the form of London’s
death (which his nephew experiences almost as his own, through the video-link
they had at the time), and some genuine drama during the final battle when
Eggsy must confront a former spy and find a way to outmaneuver an opponent
familiar with all of his training and gadgets…or, at least, most of is gadgets,
as we find out, and you have an engaging and entertaining read.
Gibbons’s art is top-notch, as always—clean, crisp lines
with fully realized backgrounds and easily read pages. Millar plays fair with his readers, feinting
nicely within the narrative to reveal solutions that, though unexpected, work
with the information already available on the page. I never felt like there was a cheat or a
“wrestlemania” moment (where the protagonist wills himself, or herself, to
overcome his opponent, despite having been completely outmatched the entirety
of her, or his, altercation). Certainly,
some of the emotional growth and character beats were a bit too quickly
achieved, but the creators work within a limited space, so we can forgive them
that.
Overall, I really enjoyed this, which surprised me. Not a book that might reward future re-reads,
but it’s certainly one that will entertain you when you’re looking for something
fun and light to read. Now I’m looking
forward to checking out the movie. I
expect it does translate well.
chris
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