Broken Frontier

On the heels of the successful 21st Century Blitz story arc in Captain America, the Union Jack is called upon to fly solo in his very own thrilling adventure.

I’ve always found the character of the Union Jack very appealing, and it was great to see him utilized once again in recent issues of Captain America. There’s always been a plethora of potential around Joey Chapman ever since the days of his debut in Captain America #253 (volume one), so I was thrilled to death to learn that Marvel was planning this new mini-series.

The last time Union Jack starred in own his mini-series, the creative team of Ben Raab and John Cassaday charted Joey Chapman’s battle against the forces of Baron Blood. This time around, there are no vampires to be found as Joey is called into the offices of MI6 to help squash a different threat altogether. He’s been charged with the task of leading a team of hand picked agents to battle the latest uprising of R.A.I.D. to prevent this offshoot cell of Hydra from terrorizing London. Joining him is Contessa Valentina Allegra De La Fontaine (serving now as a UK liaison), Sabra (on loan from Israel) and the brand new Arabian Knight. All four of these agents are quickly pressed into action though and after taking down a sleeper cell attributed to R.A.I.D., horrific events start befalling London.

Certainly there’s enough going on here in this issue to get every reader excited about coming back for the second one. In fact I enjoyed the matter-of-fact style of writer Christos N. Gage and I found his script to be delightfully well paced. I also thought he crafted believable characters throughout, and this bodes well for the remaining three issues still to come to conclude this mini-series. I definitely think he’s off to a rip roaring good start here.

I am also inclined to believe that a good story should be accompanied by good art, and there’s no shortage of that here. British born artist Mike Perkins was the right choice to helm this series and he’s coming off a stellar stint on a previous Captain America story arc. He has such a good handle on pacing and that’s coupled with several continual pages of action packed panels to make this inaugural issue a jolly good read. I think he has a good command of all the characters involved, especially the scenes involving Union Jack’s tussle with Zaran.

So if you like a story that’s brimming with action and intrigue then I think this first issue of Union Jack may be for you. The premise is believable and it’s nice to see Joey Chapman tackle a different threat other than vampires for a change. Hopefully this new outing for Union Jack will help spawn further adventures for the character, but in order to do that he’s got to survive this latest caper.