Velvet

Velvet #2

/ / Comics

Velvet #2Picking up a few hours after the first issue‘s cliffhanger ending with Velvet Templeton on the run from the governmental spy organization she spent her entire life serving, Fitzroy heads to the Director of Arc-7 to relay the night’s events (and his team’s failed attempt to grab a secretary no one realized was once one of the agency’s top field officers) while demanding answers to just who the hell Velvet Templeton really is.

While showing us that Velvet may have lost a step or two in the years since she retired from field work, the second issue also shows us she still has the skills (and risk-taking maneuvers) to stay one-step ahead of those persuing her. On the run, the old spy decides if her own government is content to pin the recent murders on her rather than doing a proper investigation she’ll take the lead on her own.

A really strong second issue fills in a bit of Velvet’s past (at least to the man given the job of chasing her) as well as reveals a skeleton in her closet that might come back to haunt both her and the Director. Worth a look.

[Image, $2.99]

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Top 10 Comic Issues of 2013

/ / Top Tens & Lists

top-10-comic-issues-of-2013

Here’s my look back at the ten best single comic issues from the past year. Including ongoing series, one-shots, and mini-series, the only limitations I put on this list was that the comic had to have been released in 2013 (no reprints) and I limited myself to only a single issue from any one title. Because I was focusing on standout issues rather than consistently strong comics every month several of my favorite series missed the cut, but, if time permits, I may work up my regular list of best comic series of the past year as well.

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Top 10 Comic Issues of 2013 Read More »

Velvet #1

/ / Comics

Velvet #1The old adages of hiding in plain sight and not judging a book by its cover immediately come to mind while reading the latest collaboration between writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting. When we first meet her, Velvet Templeton is shown to be the highly intelligent secretary of the Director of Arc-7 (a secret government spy program whose agents and funding do not exist in any official records). The murder of an agent who Velvet was once close to has the middle-aged executive assistant thinking back on the past and doing some investigating of her own when she doesn’t trust the official story.

It’s while investigating Arc-7’s leading suspect, a retired spy who Velvet also spent some time with in and out of the bedroom, that the woman realizes she’s been played as the audience realizes Velvet is much more than your average secretary.

The twist of having Velvet be a highly-trained field operative in semi-retirement, without revealing much of her past, as she’s underestimated by those who choose to frame her for the murders, creates an intriguing set-up which I will happily stick around to read more of.

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