Where every absolutely doesn’t go to plan.
Creative Staff:
Story: Cavan Scott
Art: Corin Howell
Colors: Triona Farell
Letterer: Andworld Design
What They Say:
You only die twice. Tragedy has struck MI666. With an agent down, the hunt begins for the killer. Meanwhile, the ghost of Gideon Quill continues to delve deeper into Gina Meyer’s past, coming face-to-cursed-face with the spirit of the man who terrorized her as a child. Continuing the supernatural spy saga by New York Times bestseller Cavan Scott (Star Wars: The High Republic) and Corin Howell (Wonder Woman).
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the things that I do like about books not from big companies is that they’re more willing to deal with actual changes to not just the story but to the characters, which had this arc killing off some folks early on and moving forward from there with all the things that came from that. Cavan Scott has moved the storyline along well with the first two arcs and has provided growth, change, and plenty of chaos, so we’re keen on more. As I’ve talked about with this series, Corin Howell has been a favorite for a while now when it comes to the artwork as I’ve liked several of their books in the last few years. With this one focusing more on action, they keep things tight but accessible and with a good flow to follow rather than too many quick cuts that don’t tell the tale, which goes a long way for me.
Having missed out on the previous issue, Scott does thankfully include a bit of a recap along the way of how MI666 was attacked and that Hex was captured and whisked away. That resulted in Coyle – in dragon form – going up against Hui with Gina going pretty hard against her as well to find out what happened to Hex. And she’s still riding on anger over Aashi so she’s not exactly at her most stable. What we do follow is seeing Hui escape all of this and end up at Mok’s convenience store in the storage, completely naked and wounded, but hopeful for help from her. It’s a brutal sequence that shows just how isolated Hui is as the other low-rank agent there, Ashley, ends up killing Mok and almost gets Hui too, if not for Coyle showing up. It’s an awkward rescue but it’s fun to watch as it plays out as Coyle tries to dial down things even as the cops arrive and with Gina being all terse and tense as she steps in to save someone she absolutely doesn’t trust.
It’s an amusing dynamic to watch as she saves her and brings her into the fold because Gina does realize that Hui was betrayed as well and they may need each other for a bit. It delivers some intel that they can act on as a trio to figure out where Hex is and that has them going to a fun remote island where Hui’s organization works out from. I like that Scott gives us a little espionage/Bond style stuff with the HALO drop and being all secretive, and then to reveal that things are not what they seem at all not just for Gina but for Hui as well, at least at first appearances. It basically puts Gina back into the position of not being able to trust anyone and being on her own, which is where she does shine. I really like her with a team and the loss of Aashi has really impacted her, so seeing her fall back into this mode as it progresses in the next issue should be interesting.
In Summary:
I continue to thoroughly enjoy this series and that it makes progress issue after issue with what’s going on. It’s changed a good deal since the first issue and first arc alone and I’m really enjoying that avenue of it since it can be hard to find that in a lot of books. Scott’s script works well so that if you did miss an issue you can get key points (though you should go back and get the full experience!) while Howell’s artwork really hits a sweet spot for me, especially with how they hand Hui in this installment. It’s really well done and I’m curious to see what twists and turns are next in this storyline as it is unpredictable, which is a big plus for me.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: August 3rd, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
