ACTION MAN IS DEAD — LONG LIVE ACTION MAN! He’s the world’s greatest special agent… until he dies saving the planet, with all the world’s eyes on him. Now his young protégé has to step into the role — whether he’s ready or not!
Writing
Action Man, the British answer to G.I. Joe. Most will remember him more from his cartoon in 2000 where he was a member of an extreme sports team and possessed a probability factor which allowed him to do perfect actions without getting hurt. This is the first attempt at a revitalization of the Action Man franchise in over ten years.
The concept is pretty familiar. Action Man is a title and in the pages of the first issue, a person bearing it dies. His replacement, Ian is trying his best to live up to the title but everyone on his team seems to blame him for his superior’s death. It’s a good story of a new guy trying to carrying the torch and is off to a good start. This is mostly due to the large amount of action scenes which takes place in just the first issue. The Action Man comic has action scenes, shocking isn’t it?
Artwork
There are two different artists working on this comic. The first, Chris Evenhuis handles the prologue story line where Action Man dies. The second, Paolo Villani tells the story after Ian takes the reigns as Action Man. Each has their own unique style, Evenhuis’ seems more hard lines like he’s trying to show stability and Villani utilizes more speed lines as if to showcase just how extreme this new hero is. Both artist’s work is helpful to make the story feel unique but the change in style mid-issue may throw some people off.
Conclusion
This book is perfect for fans of 24 or spy movies in general. Only question is will this be the series which truly puts Action Man on the map in America? Hard to say. There has been many attempts to make him as relevant as other toy lines but they never seem to take root. Maybe if this comic is able to keep up at this pace fans will finally have a place to turn to for the titular stories of Action Man.
