Broken Frontier

Take a trip to Cuba and the return of Cold War Espionage.

A checklist of reasons why Pigs #1 is a great first issue:

1)      Excessive vulgarity

2)      Alternate history

3)      The Bay of Pigs

4)      Cuban sleeper cells

5)      Cold War covert tactics

6)      Presidential assassination 

Pigs #1 from co-writers Nate Cosby and Ben McCool is sure to please fans of both espionage and historical fiction alike.  Following the botched 1961 “Bay of Pigs” incident, a Russian sleeper cell was left waiting to reap revenge on the United States.  As the agents laid and waited, the second generation of Russians infiltrators trained and eventually replaced their elders.  These agents, some thirty years later, have been activated, are planning their missions, and are searching for the mysterious and elusive “White Russian.” 

Cosby and McCool’s story is simple, straightforward, and contains enough strange and vulgar ideas to keep the energy and excitement moving.  Beyond the cell’s cloak and dagger mission to infiltrate the US, the biggest draw of Pigs is the mystery behind their activation; the cell has waited and trained some 50 years in Cuba, what is the motivation and reasoning behind the operatives’ recent activation?  Both Cosby and McCool did a commendable job of raising compelling questions and situations, and only answering enough to push the story foreword.  Enough mystery is left behind as Pigs #1 ends to create a draw for the rest of the series.

The art team of Breno Tamura and Christopher Sotomayor work quite well together to create a vast array of characters and settings.  Each of the ten or so characters are unique and identifiable, which is incredibly important considering the amount of exposition within the issue.  The final gruesome splash-page complete with gore and police evidence is a fantastic way to end Pigs #1, moreover, as it perfectly captures the intensity and urgency of the issue.

The characters, alternate history, and insidious operations within Pigs is not only enough to create a good first issue, but lays the groundwork for a solid series.    With so much occurring in the first issue alone, it is hard to guess in what direction Cosby and McCool will take Pigs.  Cosby and McCool have created a world worth returning to, with enough unanswered questions to keep the mystery alive.