Broken Frontier

Out in into the wilderness they trek, led by the urgings from their masters, charged with keeping Them off of his lawn. The pack, led by Gene the Hackman, are strong, experienced soldiers – they don’t know exactly what Them are, but they have their orders, and Them are to be scrapped at every opportunity. The Masters must be obeyed. But the Masters are not all they appear to be and when Gene the Hackman’s pack scatter he will come face to face with a world shattering truth!

Admit it, we all have the kind of pleasures that, when talked about out loud in public, raises eyebrows and produces dry coughs in other people. Some applaud the modern satire of Archie & Jughead, others laud the critical reflection of modern society in zombie movies, others cheer the Atomic Age in Fifties monster movies and some find contention in the reality of Agatha Christie murder mysteriers whose world always turns out right in the end. Although Dan Abnett professes a love for the John Wyndham post-event survival novels, I sincerely suspect him to have a guilty love of Italian post-apocalyptic movies and Eighties hardcore he-man films.. The glory that is 2019: After the Fall of New York, Battletruck, Clash of the Warlords, Empire of Ash and Dirty Harry, Cobra and Mr Majestyk.

Kingdom quite cleverly turns the desert into the icy reaches of Antarctica and the roving mutants into bugs but there's no fooling this writer. Kingdom is created by Dan Abnett (Sancho Panzer and Sinister Dexter, Durham Red, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper and various Marvel, Dark Horse and DC Comics) and Richard Elson (Judge Dredd, Time Twisters, Terror Tales, Roadkill, Shadows, etc), collects the first two stories from 2007-2008 into one action packed volume with some beautiful colour and excellent production values.

Abnett and Elson form a fantastic pair for this energetic power play of a graphic novel. They lose no time in setting up the characters and slowly introduce us into their world, Anarchticy. Adrift in the icy sphere of Antarctica, last refuge of man, they wipe away the bugs that rule the world and have cut the human race down to forty thousand specimens. Along the way, Gene The Hackman's pack gets decimated, he learns the truth surrounding the humans and his name and sets about exploring the remnants of the world that's left.

The beauty of it all lies not per se in the story but in the way the world and the characters unfold. Abnett writes a long drawn out action saga with plenty of heart though it is hidden beneath the genetically enhanced alpha male soldier Gene The Hackman. Elson in his turn creates a savage bleak world full of dangers and has tought out some fearsome designs and colour schemes for the dog soldiers and their adversaries, the bugs. They immediately start the story running and you're hooked through a combination of impossible odds, ultraviolence and hardbroiled man of action stuff. You only have reached page 3 and already the battlecry is sounding: 'Get whet!'.

As the book proceeds, the tale's adrenaline pace never lets up but there's also a bit more heart injected. You get the feel for the protagonist and his situation and you start to be enamored with this genetic deviant, created solely to serve man's needs. The second tale 'The promised land' further leads us on the evolutionary path of the character and is even better than the first part 'Kingdom'. The action doesn't let up though but Abnett delves more into the horrors of the state of the world, turning his attention away from Antarctica and letting Gene advance into the bug-ruled world. He injects some more human characters into the story and because you're more familiar with the setting you tend to empathize more with the characters in the story Gene encounters. Although dark secrets are always hiding around the corner in this bleak world. It's an excellent storytelling choice by Abnett, where the first part plays more to the action à la Starship Troopers, the second tale focuses more on the hidden dangers, the new world horror.

The Dog Soldiers have arrived! Keeping your lawn clean with testosterone and Gene The Hackman, ultimate alpha male! Writer Dan Abnett and artist Richard Elson have created a new incarnation of the tragic action hero. A dog soldier made to do the biddings his masters in an impossible war. A tale of stamina and muscle, set in a world gone to the bugs, Kingdom is Mad Max meets Starship Troopers in comics and comes  highly recommended for those who want a good solid dose of post-apocalyptic action!

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Kingdom, published by 2000 AD, is a 144 page colour paperback that retails at £12.99 and is available at your local retailer.