Broken Frontier

Ex-Secret Service Agent Frank Cobb is a human wrecking crew, until he’s convinced to rein it in and help out a friend...and that friend is about to need someone like Cobb.

Have you ever watched one of those good ‘popcorn’ action movies? The kind where the hero is the ultimate tough guy, the villain is completely irredeemable, and there is an endless supply of disposable henchmen who get properly disposed of? Do you love those kinds of action movies? Meet Cobb: Off the Leash.

The reader is introduced to Frank Cobb and in the process immediately gets an idea of Cobb’s sense of right and wrong...as well as what he does when the situation is "wrong." Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Cobb still has friends in the U.S. government and they have no desire to see Cobb end up on the Associated Press wire. So Cobb is "encouraged" to go join an old friend’s security and investigation firm. Just in time it seems, because there is a beautiful woman with a big secret and a Russian mobster who will kill her to keep it and they are all about to converge on the investigation firm. Cobb looks about to slip his "leash" before it even really gets on him.

Writer Beau Smith certainly knows his genre. Cobb: Off the Leash #1 is firmly planted in the roots of action films by the likes of Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, or Charles Bronson, but the best of all of them. The way he intercuts Cobb’s story with that of the Russian mobster and girl has a very cinematic feel, as does the pacing for the story and the setting. He also writes quick witted, sarcastic dialogue that wins a smile from the reader and makes the main character of Cobb a charming smart-aleck, instead of an obnoxious one. Opposing Cobb, the villain for this piece is an absolute cold-hearted snake, the kind that you always love to hate. In fact, his introductory scene is novel in its villainy and I will never look at a golf course in the same way again.

Artist Eduardo Barreto may be working without color here but with his pencils and inks color isn’t needed. His work is crisp, clean, and dynamic and it is obvious he works well with Smith’s style. Barreto’s panels actually feel and read like camera angles and the reader just can’t seem to shake the feeling that they’re actually "reading" a movie.

Cobb: Off the Leash #1 probably won’t change the way you look at the world. It won’t leave you pondering the nature of humanity or our future direction. It will, however, give you a good chunk of guilt-free entertainment and bang for your buck. So go ahead and pop yourself some popcorn when this one comes out, sit back, and prepare to cheer on the hero and curse the villain. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?