I have to admit I was getting worried about Greg Rucka.
He’s never managed to really grab me with his corporate work – though Gotham Central is very good, even if DC is perversely collecting it at a rate of one volume per year – and that work has been dominating his schedule for the past year. He hasn’t written an issue of Queen & Country for a long time, and the recent Declassified mini was both unimpressive and plagued by massive delays. Rucka’s major work on his creation has come in novel form, with 2004’s Gentleman’s Game and last year’s Private Wars continuing the story of British secret agent Tara Chace. Private Wars was an enjoyable read, with most of the attention to detail and twisting plots that make the comic such an enthralling read. But it just hasn’t been the same without the comic version around. Thankfully it’s back, and it turns out I needn’t have worried about Rucka.
Rucka’s playing something of an odd trick with this storyline: It’s set between Gentleman’s Game and Private Wars. I can’t recall seeing this sort of inter-medium crossover before, but I’m not sure it should pose a problem, since I’d imagine most fans of the comic have read the novels. I haven’t read Private Wars yet, so thankfully don’t know much about what’s going to happen next, though it remains to be seen if this storyline will amount to more than just a bridge between the two novels.
But even if Red Panda turns out to be inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, it’s still a triumph of details and character. This issue is dedicated to the fallout from Gentleman’s Game, which saw Tara betrayed by her own government and operating her own rogue mission to redeem herself. As is par for the series, Tara is once again beaten and bloodied, both physically and emotionally. Just off the plane from the Middle East, Tara is greeted by her boss and hauled off for questioning. While Tara tells her story to MI5 and the department shrink, her superiors argue her fate: Donald Weldon wants her removed from service entirely, while Paul Crocker wants her back on active duty, regardless of the psychiatrist’s opinion of whether she’s ready.
As usual, Rucka mixes office and national politics with characters and emotion nearly flawlessly. Tara obviously made a huge mistake on her mission in Saudi Arabia, and broke any number of rules, regulations, and laws making up for it. But she’s still the best operative available, and SIS has already got two relatively inexperienced minders.
Tara’s still a wreck – perhaps more than before – and still hiding her pain with liquor, cigarettes, and sarcastic wit. Her conversations with Dr. Callard are reminiscent of their first meetings in Operation: Morningstar, though with more familiarity. When Callard manages to cut through Tara’s defences, Rucka exposes both Tara’s bloodied soul and one of Crocker’s methods for ensuring loyalty and effectiveness in his agents.
Chris Samnee joins the list of distinguished artists who have worked on Queen & Country, and immediately distinguishes himself. He has a simple style that matches up well with the work turned in by Mike Hawthorne and Mike Norton on previous arcs, but shows even more versatility: He has some very noir-tendencies, occasionally producing some stark black-and-white panels and pages that wouldn’t seem out of place in Sin City. But he’s also superb at conveying Tara’s emotions, both the obvious ones of devastation and her more subtle distrust at being roped back into operations again. As with other Queen & Country artists, Rucka places a great amount of faith in Samnee, scripting several pages – including the opening four – with little or no dialogue. Samnee executes wonderfully with style and clarity, and the storytelling is superb.
Queen & Country has always succeeded on not just the basis of international politics and espionage, but on character development and subtle professional and personal relationships. Rucka puts them all on display here: He continues to explore Tara’s damaged psyche, as well as Paul Crocker’s relationship with his operatives. Rucka may have decided to move the really important Queen & Country stories to his novels, but as long as he keeps telling stories like this in the comic, it’ll remain one of the best books on the market, and Rucka’s crown achievement in the medium.