King of Spies, Volume 1

Product Information

Netflix acquired Millar’s publishing imprint, Millarworld, in 2017, and while the acquisition gave Netflix access to much of Millar’s previous work, it also made the author a unique employee: a one-man factory for new and original works. King of Spies by Mark Millar and Matteo Scalera follows Roland King, a retired MI6 agent living out his retirement in London. He’s divorced, estranged from his son, forgotten by his country, and worst of all, he has time to sit and think. The art by Matteo Scalera is very scratchy and some may not jive with it, but I personally thought it was great.

Active since the height of the Cold War, he has toppled regimes, gone toe-to-toe with other spies, seduced his way into private information, and assassinated high-value targets, turning the world into an even more dangerous place than he started with. My one main concern going into this first issue was that they would squander the fascinating concept of what is essentially an older James Bond atoning for his lifetime of debauchery and sin.The colouring by Giovanna Niro in the book also adds to said dynamism and helps bring the various environments to life. The very average artwork, the stupid characters, the reductive politics that lead nobody anywhere – all this smacks of Millar treading water yet again. Mesmo os quadrinhos que trazem mulheres como protagonistas, tais como Imperatriz e Renascida, também lidam com crises de meia-idade e um machismo enrustido. Bush, Pope Benedict XVI, and Prince Andrew, you'll maybe get a momentary chuckle, but the rest is a tiresome and increasingly ludicrous series of action set pieces duct-taped together with father and son issues straight out of Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" song. It was a relentless pity party and when the protagonist wasn’t spending his time endlessly whining about past choices he couldn’t change, he was pinning all the blame on others for his own choices that he consciously made.

And you know what, I could care less about Bond's spiraling demise, because King of Spies is everything a Bond movie should've been, and then some.If you love Millar, you’re going to love King of Spies, and if, like me, you find him to be a bit hit or miss, I’d still recommend you check this one out.