Broken Frontier

Okay, loosen that tongue right on up, ‘cause here we go:

Ulee Tarvydas and Ilona Hadzizec are ex-Resnigovian rebels, hiding out from one General Radkovic.  Strangely, Ulee’s old company—The Circle—becomes suddenly reactivated, hijacking a so-called “missle train” right out from under a Kazakhstan military base’s nose.  Now, an MI-6 agent named Wallace Christopher moves to find the still-hiding Ilona, to discover the truth of Ulee’s current operations.  But of course, nothing is as it seems in this world of high-octane espionage, and Christopher soon finds himself allied with the very man he sought to find, and the newest member of the mysterious militant sect called The Circle!

Modern Marvel sensation Brian Reed gets to shine in this, his very first creator-owner, and therefore his first creatively-controlled comic.  And in many ways, it shows.

I wasn’t a big fan of Reed when his Ms. Marvel series began, believing the first three issues of that book to be horribly derivative.  But he’s since grown into one of the more competent and consistently strong writers in the mainstream market today.  In the letters page of The Circle #1, Reed admits to performing “triage” on the original script for the “The Goliath Trap, Part 1,” it having been written long before he’d established his professional comics writing career.  “Most of it was sloppy and embarrassing to look at,” he confesses, and much like the difference between Ms. Marvel #1 and 21, the published version of The Circle is a polished, terrific read.

The characters are thirty miles of well-traveled road, all classic models plucked from super-spy stories of ancient yore, but Reed has a knack for believable dialogue, organic plot progression, and so the traditional elements of the story never feel tired, but only strong modern interpretations thereof.  The Circle isn’t forward-thinking in any way, nothing ground-breaking, but it isn’t entirely old hat, either.  The story is rich and complex, though placed within a familiar enough mold to be clear and easily followable.  This first chapter deals with everything that anyone should need in order to decide whether or not they’re along for the rest of the book, with a multi-layered premise and a satisfying direction established.  It’s good, good stuff, though perhaps nothing clever enough for some.  Either way, it’s a first issue worth trying for a proper judgment to be made.

Artist Ian Hosfeld, the other half of the creation-equation here, is, I have to say, someone I’m very glad has taken the plunge from conceptual game designer and into comics (I’m not much of a video gamer, and so never would have enjoyed his work otherwise).  His style rests somewhere between Brian Hurtt (Oni’s The Damned) and Luc Jacamon (Archaia Studio’s The Killer), with lines as rounded and animation-soft as they are angled, dynamic, and rough to the finish.  His storytelling is of an obviously experienced caliber, often better than most of the more flashy superstars in the field today.  The Circle, if this first issue is any indication to go by, is going to be a runaway hit for the man, so look for more Hosfeld to come.

Espionage comics, thanks in large part to Image and other small press companies such as Oni, Devil’s Due, and Viper, are nearly a dime a dozen these days.  But The Circle proves a superior selection in two ways: 1) The politics involved are neither old-school demeaning nor impossibly convoluted and 2) The action and intrigue is ever-present, offering a slow-burn story that nevertheless never seems to let up in intensity.  Most spy-thrillers suffer from drawn out or overly-simplistic plots between foreign national governments, which in turn impinges upon the pacing and overall enjoyment factor of the read.  Not so with The Circle.  Reed and Hosfeld have put out a captivating beginning, one that suggests an ongoing series that will be well worth the financial commitment.