Broken Frontier

Ever wonder why exactly Heath Huston, the last Fear Agent, is such a self-loathing alcoholic? Find out here.

Heath Huston’s last adventure saw him surmount insurmountable odds and find his way back to Earth in order to save all of humanity. Naturally, he failed, ran into his ex-wife, and found his way back to the bottle. His failure stung, seeing his ex-wife stung, and numbing himself with alcohol was all Heath could do. Why? This series takes a look at Heath’s encounter with aliens ten year earlier when they first invaded. He sees them brutally attack Earth, its cities, its children.

But before he sees any of this horror, the reader sees Heath’s life prior to alien involvement in it. This is where Rick Remender proves his stuff. In juxtaposing the normal life Heath led with the utter and personal horror of the invasion the reader is reminded of just how real Heath is, despite his job title and collected stories. Ten years ago Heath was a Texas man driving a rig across the desert, chatting with his father, kissing his wife, and playing with his kid when everything changed. In comics those two words commonly have little to no meaning, things may change for a while, but they tend to always fall back to status quo. Not in Fear Agent, and nowhere is it clearer than in this particular comic. The shock, the sorrow, the fear, the anger Heath Huston feels upon the alien invasion is so dramatic, so harrowing it might make you rethink your opinion of the character . . . it also might make you cry.

One thing however, that won’t make you cry is the art of Tony Moore and Ande Parks. Moore’s pencils almost seem to have been drawn specifically for Parks’ pen. It is as though one person is doing all the art, these two work together so seamlessly. Moore’s lines are hard and angular, almost stark, which goes with the sad, sad story being told. Parks working with Moore only adds to the comfortable feel of the scenes of quiet country life and the boldness of the scenes of carnage. When Lee Louhridge’s colors cover all these fine lines the images are one thing and only one thing: awesome.

A surprisingly thought-provoking comic chock full of enough drama and action to hold you till next month, Fear Agent: The Last Goodbye will shed some light onto the man, Heath Huston. It might make you actually like the character too . . . or at least pity him.