By Warren Ellis & JH Williams III (WildStorm)
ISBN 1-84576-400-5
Los Angeles is a dump and a dumping ground. Personal opinions aside, that’s the premise of this deep, dark espionage thriller from comics wunderscribe Warren Ellis. When MI6 screw-up Michael Jones is no longer capable of doing his job he’s offered a comfy testing job as his ticket out. No-one in their right mind should ever trust security service types but that’s the point – the burnt out, alcoholic agent just wasn’t.
After years of unspeakable atrocities ostensibly intended to create better operatives up to and including the bizarre and inexplicable Desolation Test, the ravaged remains of Michael Jones is consigned to the reservation provided by the West’s Intelligence Agencies for retired, rejected and discarded agents plus all the experiments that didn’t measure up: Los Angeles, USA.
There they can live out their lives as they see fit, but they can never, ever leave the city. There’s no pension scheme but the dregs can do whatever they need to make a living as long as it’s within the city limits.
Jones is a mess, both physically and mentally. He can’t drink, won’t sleep and takes too many drugs. He avoids daylight, regularly hallucinates and is numb to all sensation and emotion. In “the Community†he freelances as a private eye-come-fixer, sorting out problems that can’t be resolved by legitimate methods.
In this first compilation (collecting issues #1-6 of the occasional WildStorm comicbook) that problem is a retired NSA spook who’s being blackmailed by new members of the Community who have stolen the Holy Grail of pornography. The ravaged Colonel Nigh wants Hitler’s homemade porno back and will do anything to get it. Unfortunately so will the other filthy rich deviants who populate Tinseltown.
But something isn’t right. Jones may not feel but something deeper is hiding behind all the subterfuge and depravity…
Sardonic and rather bleak, this caustic caper on the nasty side of the espionage genre is a thriller with plenty of twists and a solid mystery to intrigue the most jaded reader. The content is strictly adults only – by that I mean that the subtext of duty, love and honour are assaults on the traditions of the hero-spy in as brutal a manner as the sex and violence underscore the dark side of the American Dream-town. This is a story for cynical adults not horny kids with appropriate IDs. Great stuff beautifully executed by Ellis and magically illustrated by JH Williams III.
Compilation © 2006 Warren Ellis & JH Williams III. All Rights Reserved.