Broken Frontier

Duncan is a little unbalanced. Of course, this means he is the only chance we have when a rogue triplet becomes a problem.

A.J. Lieberman and Riley Rossmo are ready to fill the void that has been left in the absence of further issues of Fraction and Ba’s wonderfully manic Casanova. There is no high concept science fiction here - well, maybe a little speculative psychology - but there is a sense of danger and fun all within the confines of an espionage type setting.

Lieberman seems to have a greater handle on what makes a covert op book work though. This book is almost as procedurally sound as Queen and Country. Well, if the British Secret Service was in the habit of hiring folks with multiple personality disorder. You see the triplets are just that, three people, except in one. A trinity of insanity, trained and augmented to be the perfect killing machines. Unfortunately, save Duncan, they were all failures. When one of the other rogues goes active, a secret agency which has employed all manner of important people from Secretaries of State to Quentin Tarantino (while managing not to stroke their egos) must rush to see if Duncan still has it in him to save the world.

What the reader gets is a visceral romp through insanity. It is inventive while recalling all those things one loves about comics anyhow. I mean, the book is titled Cowboy Ninja Viking and that is exactly what you get in one nifty little side-burned package.

To be honest, the narrative is a little jarring at first. The prelude that literally concludes with a bang becomes crystal clear by book's end, but sets the reader off center. By the time Duncan appears on the page having a three way conversation all by his lonesome, the reader knows this is no ordinary book. It shouldn’t work at all, it should be a mess. However, just like that loveable Marvel Merc with a Mouth, it works... once you are clued into what is happening. By the time you get to the cliffhanger reveal, it all comes together and you have been sucked into this crazy world of big explosions, sword socky and personalities for days.

That’s another thing the book doesn’t skimp on. Besides the size (this is a golden trimmed book, requiring a bigger bag than even those guys buying silver polys to keep their comics pristine), the lack of advertisement and the big action with smart scripting, we get interesting characters. These are quirky folks that should inhabit a world crazy enough to take the most unhinged and make them into soldiers.

Rossmo is his usual chunky self. The character designs are similar to Proof, but the women are sexier and the blue white coloring of the book gives it an entirely different feel. Who knew he would also be able to take the slicing of a head, show it six different ways and make it feel like you were watching a classic Sonny Chiba flick? God forbid Proof ever ends, because DC and Marvel would be foolish not to start a bidding war over this cat’s work.

The only real complaint I could ever have about this book is that with money tight, I don’t need to be adding books to my pull list. Too bad my heart tells me this is the kind of thing that breaking the bank is all about.