Broken Frontier

At the end of the day, Tony Lee’s Lady Action is a sentimental British spy romp that uses the genres’ typical trappings to it’s advantage. There is nothing splendidly new or original within these pages, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining. For all intents and purposes, you’re holding a book called Lady Action, a spin-off of the classic 1960s series, Action Man – this is not Tolstoy.

The plot is pretty straightforward as we’re introduced to Nicola, our action lady — out of her element, on assignment and in a very slinky dress. The mission: extract very sensitive files from an evil boss during a dinner party. With her trusty (?) man on the inside, she gains access and is moments away from completing her mission. Now, what kind of spy book would this be if it all went according to plan?

What ensues is a series of betrayals, double crossings, escapes and of course, action. Writer Tony Lee wastes no time establishing his heroine through dialogue and the pacing of this 22-page one shot is brisk and light, like all good popcorn fare should be.  Artist Jake Minor has a wonderful handle on the fluid motion of his main character and at times can favorably be compared to Mark Bagley in his composition. With their combined talents, Lady Action is a pretty solid little story that is complete, but sets up more along the way. Is it wholly original, no. A strength that the story does play to is knowing that it’s not something new. It embraces the established genre conventions and has a good time with your expectations.

One of the more entertaining aspects of the book is not actually part of the story, but the back matter chronicling the origins of the character and her relation to female heroes of the time. This is a fun and informative part of the book that fleshes out some of the clichés with which the story has a blast.

Lady Action is not on the tip of many readers’ tongues as a must buy, but what lingers between the front and back covers is a happily devised and fun story. Some readers may have issue with the heavy handed and telegraphed plot, but taken as a contributor to a specific tone and an exercise in genre, it’s a forgivable transgression.

Lady Action is a good read, but unfortunately teeters into the category of fun obscurity. There is nothing structurally, physically or aesthetically offensive in this book. But, there is very little that compels the reader to move forward with the characters. It maintains a strange level of spectacular mediocrity – you know it’s pretty good, but you don’t feel the rush to continue it right away. There is something special here that can hopefully be fleshed out in further stories, but in the meantime, it only leaves a faint impression.