Broken Frontier

The Activity provides a clean-up job, but too sanitized of a comic.

The Activity is very easy to hop into, with everything you need to know being explained in the issue. Part of the problem, though, is that it's such a generic concept (a mysterious government organization tasked with going in and cleaning up the messes of others) that it's largely forgettable; this could easily be an early adventure from R.E.D., The Losers, and so forth… and in fact, like the other two, seems primed for a theatrical movie. This is a fine aspect; many of the best stories out there told in comic books have been realistic (or at least, movie realistic), but at the same time, it's a sad fact that not all comic books will use the visual medium to its fullest extent. Everything in this book works more as a storyboard for a live-action tale, one that wouldn't require any special effects or even camera trickery to produce.

Comic books can be used as a medium for getting stories out there that couldn't exist otherwise (and until Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, no movie really did grasp bringing a comic book to life), but The Activity could easily exist as a movie. With a good crew behind it, it'd be a pretty decent one too. If not a movie, then much like the recent Human Target series, a weekly espionage adventure that doesn't require the biggest budget or stars, but just a solid crew of people who know what they're doing.

The characters are likable, the situation is interesting, and it's logically paced and plotted. As a story, there's nothing wrong with it. Gerads is a good artist, Edmondson is a good writer. If you're coming to this story looking for a rather well-told and well-drawn story about a governmental clean-up crew, you've come to the right story. Gerads has some fun with facial expressions, and Edmondson manages to throw a few curveballs toward the readers (instead of two of the crew hooking up, as you might believe given the crash-course on the characters, it's all just a diversion).

The Activity is a solid production, but just doesn't seem to be the perfect fit for the world of comic books, rarely taking advantage of the medium. Like a children's book that's text only, or a wacky comedy with expensive set pieces done on a sitcom budget, there's just better fits for the story. Still, the book in your hands is encouraging enough to read more; hopefully, someone with power in Hollywood reads it and options it.