Queen & Country, the Eisner Award-winning and critically lauded espionage series from acclaimed novelist and comic book author Greg Rucka, is back ...
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reviews
Feb 10, 2009
Felicia
rated it: 
I enjoyed this a lot. It's pretty standard spy-agency fare, but the drawings really made the journey enjoyable.
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Sep 07, 2010
Tony
rated it: 
I like graphic storytelling and I like a lot of espionage stories (be they fiction, film, nonfiction), so when the four-volume collection came out, I figured it was high time I sample this series. This first volume collects three stories about the British SIS (Special Intelligence Service, aka MI6). In "Operation: Broken Ground" (illustrated by Steve Rolston) an agent is sent to Kosovo to assassinate a Russian arms dealer. In "Operation: Morningstar" (illustrated by several a
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Jan 30, 2010
Joe
rated it: 
I really like the Q&C series and there's plenty of reviews here that'll tell you what great spy fare it is. I just want to put in my 2 cents about Leandro Fernandez's artwork in Operation: Crystal Ball.
OK, sure, Tara Chace is depicted in the typical "tits on a stick" style of most comic heroines, but I think it's almost justified in the context of this comic. Fernandez isn't going for anything close to a lifelike depiction, or even a serious one. The plot is larger than lif More...
OK, sure, Tara Chace is depicted in the typical "tits on a stick" style of most comic heroines, but I think it's almost justified in the context of this comic. Fernandez isn't going for anything close to a lifelike depiction, or even a serious one. The plot is larger than lif More...
Dec 17, 2010
Magic Mike
rated it:
This is a spy comic that is very well written. It has suspenseful action during the assignments and has a lot of drama in between with the characters who we get to know very well. The one problem with this series, which is most noticeable in this first volume, is the change of artists for each storyline. The new artists coming onto each new story do not care about what the characters looked like in the previous storyline. So what happens is the plain looking heroine gets turned into a supermodel
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Sep 29, 2011
Bookstorequeer
rated it:
This comic is great. I enjoyed the story and the characters and, especially, the fact that a lot of it revolves around a kick-ass female. However, because there is a different artist for each different issue collected here, you get a variety of styles, and I do NOT like how they changed Tara's look. At the start, she was reasonably pretty but not distractingly so. Then in the third story, she's suddenly had implants and walks around in a one-button suit jacket with nothing underneath. I lost a l
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Aug 16, 2011
Jeff
rated it:
I liked this book, but I'm not sure if I will read more of the series. Essentially, it is an espionage/spy title that focuses on a female agent. Less James Bond and more of a realistic take on spies, my favorite parts were where we see the cost of Tara's job on herself. If I did continue to read this series, it would be for those moments as much as anything. I think the biggest turnoff for me was that it is set in such a real life mode that my political beliefs turned me off somewhat. I'm n
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Apr 24, 2009
Justin
rated it:
My buddy, Erik, occasionally gives me stacks of comics (graphic novels, trade paperbacks, whatever you and your little pals calls ‘em these days) and I have to thank him for restoring my faith in comics and for turning me on to a lot of great stories. Queen & Country is on par with some of the best stuff Erik’s loaned me. Books that have become favorites, like Walking Dead, The Chronicles Of Wormwood, Rex Mundi, and Ex Machina.
Erik doesn’t like The Goon, though. He doesn’t much ca More...
Erik doesn’t like The Goon, though. He doesn’t much ca More...
Jun 09, 2010
Greg
rated it:
I'm probably the worst person to judge this book. Most of my comics involve people wearing spandex and most of my novels are filled with tough guy detective types. I'm not really a spy-thriller reader at all.
However there is something very 'real' about Queen & Country that I enjoyed and it reads very smoothly so there wasn't the burden of slogging through some "must read bestseller". I've often complained that regular comics too often bring out the dottering old Nazis as f More...
However there is something very 'real' about Queen & Country that I enjoyed and it reads very smoothly so there wasn't the burden of slogging through some "must read bestseller". I've often complained that regular comics too often bring out the dottering old Nazis as f More...
Aug 07, 2009
Jesse
rated it:
I really liked this collection. Greg Rucka has yet to dissappoint me. This has pretty much everything I loved from the tv series MI-5/Spooks (UK title) in a crisp and stark black and white comic, and its international rather than domestic.
The art varries between the 3 major stories in this collection, which is to be expect in a collection of regular print comics. Despite this, all the art is fantastic. The only draw back is the wide range of visual interpretations of the cast of More...
The art varries between the 3 major stories in this collection, which is to be expect in a collection of regular print comics. Despite this, all the art is fantastic. The only draw back is the wide range of visual interpretations of the cast of More...
Dec 17, 2011
M
rated it:
Queen and Country follows the life of the England-based SIS agency and their premier operative - Tara Chace. This massive collection opens with Broken Ground, as Tara must escape Kosovo following her successful assassination of a top-ranked Russian General; she also must deal with the hired guns sent to collect her head back in England. Morningstar drops Chace and her fellow minders into Afghanistan to recover vital intel left behind from a murdered reporter. Finally, the Crystal Ball segemnt mi
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Jan 06, 2010
Miriam
rated it:
I'm giving the 3 stars for the first two books in this omnibus. I hated the last book - more for the drawing then anything. I have no patience for the two inch waist and watermelon breasts. I also didn't enjoy how the men were drawn. I might enjoy Fernandez's drawing in a different context - I admired the technique - but in this one.
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Dec 23, 2011
Joey
rated it:
This is some of Greg Rucka's best comic work. The comment above by Felicia Day about it being standard spy fare is just insane. This series is very heavily influenced by the television show Sandbaggers, and spends just as much time with the behind the scenes bureaucracy of intelligence work as it does with the action. This series is like The Wire, except about british spies instead of policemen. It is the anti-spy-story. Dark and depressing, like John le Carre, but with more action to balance th
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Dec 05, 2010
Sophie
rated it:
This was brilliant. Greg Rucka is one of my favorite writers, and this book is a perfect example why. I love how he writes women especially - his take on Wonder Woman is fantastic, and I don't need to talk about Batwoman, do I? In "Queen & Country", the main character is SIS field agent Tara Chace, and she's tough, strong, but still a woman (not just, like the saying goes, "a man with tits"). We accompany her and her colleagues on their missions, but we also spend a lot of ti
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Jul 28, 2011
I don't usually go for spy/espionage stories in any format, but I surprised myself by how much I liked this one. The story is detailed but well thought out and the pacing is great. And it is more then just a story about sexy spies and big guns -- the characters are grounded in realism and being a spy is more like difficult lonely bureaucratic work then an action packed thrill ride. I wasn't pleased with how the art changed over the course of this volume. I thought that Tara was much more rea
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Jan 26, 2009
Russell
rated it:
Rucka doesnt mind spending time in the hallways and offices of intelligence gathering and we get to know his characters better as a result. I find myself intrigued with the lives and character, the quarrels and conversations of the mid-level management. The book is very compelling. I did have a bit of a problem with the moving target that this novel is visually. I wish he had chosen one artist and then let them develop more strongly through the length of the run. Sometimes it felt as though
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Dec 18, 2008
Katie
rated it:
This was my first introduction to graphic novels (thanks to a recommendation from the staff at Forbidden Planet). I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps it's because I love strong female protagonists, and spies, and [covert] action. Perhaps it was because I never thought I'd like a graphic novel of any type - but this was like watching a movie. I loved the art in all three stories, and the characters were realistic and believable. I am glad there are graphic novels out there to appeal to me, and I rec
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Jan 24, 2008
Bill
rated it:
So yeah, this? This was really, really excellent. Greg Rucka can write a hell of a spy story, giving us all the usual espionage tropes we've come to expect but still throwing some new takes into the mix. This is as much about what goes on behind the scenes as it is what goes on in the field... the politics, the inter-bureau rivalries, the personal lives of the people involved, and the sort of tolls (emotional and physical) this line of work takes on folks. Tara Chace is a fascinating charact
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Dec 17, 2009
Rosalia
rated it:
A graphic novel series about the British version of the CIA (operatives that only work on foreign soil). Even though the novel is very plot driven and doesn't really provide background information on the operatives (unless you count the blurbs in the beginning which I don't because really they only describe people's positions in the organization); I was still really interested in the characters, their interactions with each other and with the shrink. Too bad my library doesn't carry any of the
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Aug 05, 2008
Ronan
rated it: 
Absolute trash, unbelievably bad and anodyne, yet I read both... No, it's honestly terrible, the most pathetically boring, unimaginative storyline ever encountered, populated by the most anodyne collection of stereotypes ever assembled. It has all the right ingredients for a massive piss-take except irony. Dear god why?
The most annoying feature was the author's enthusiastic acceptance of the Sky News version of the world, the protagonists encounter (and of course, triumph over) vicio More...
The most annoying feature was the author's enthusiastic acceptance of the Sky News version of the world, the protagonists encounter (and of course, triumph over) vicio More...
Apr 10, 2011
Upom
rated it:
Standard spy fare. Stock characters (The professional femme fatale dedicated to her job, the renegade, captain, etc.), similar plot structures for all the stories (spy performs operation, danger ahead, has to stop the bad guys while under some restraint, like having no weapon, having no backup, saves the day at the last minute), and crazy scenarios that require a good suspension of disbelief make the book. Still the graphic novel had two strong points. One was that the pace was just right, so yo
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Jul 30, 2011
Alejandro
rated it: 
It promised much more, but at the end it turned out to be as biased and monochromatic as many other spy stories out there -not to mention dated. The fact that world events and reality have overtaken it doesn't help much, either (even James Bond has of late shown more depth of story and character than this). A disappointment.
Jan 13, 2011
Patrick
rated it:
This straight-forward spy procedural is strongest when exploring wonkish debates about jurisdiction and operating protocols. It's not so hot when it tries to illuminate the personal life of its main character, Tara Chace. The office and real world politics seem authentic, but Tara's tough-girl warrior is strictly cliche.
Dec 06, 2010
Sara
rated it:
Slightly embarrassed to admit that I picked this up because I read an interview with Rachel Maddow where she recommended it! Liked the story and the Tara character, but was a little thrown off by the different illustration sets- definitely liked some more than others. Will probably read the next one too!
May 26, 2009
Meri
rated it:
An action packed graphic novel about MI6, this book contains interesting bits of information about the world of espionage. I can't help but wonder, though, if the blond badass leading lady Tara Chace is a ripoff of Battlestar Galactica's Kara Thrace. It seems too obvious to be a coincidence.
Jul 17, 2011
Jerusalem
rated it:
I really liked the first two adventures but I had a slight problem with the third one--they completely changed Tara's image. She was so scantily clad and her physique had become almost grotesque seeing as the size of her breasts were larger than her head.
Otherwise it was brilliant :)
Otherwise it was brilliant :)
Aug 09, 2009
Esteve
rated it:
"Operation: Broken ground" 3.5/5. Good stuff: catchy plot, great characters (Rucka has a knack for writing about female characters), high tension... One of the best Rucka.
"Operation Morning Star": 3.5/5. Good story, but the high point is the character's evolution.
"Operation: Crystall Ball": Great plot, characters growing up and amazing penciler, Leandro Fernandez) 4/5.
"Operation Morning Star": 3.5/5. Good story, but the high point is the character's evolution.
"Operation: Crystall Ball": Great plot, characters growing up and amazing penciler, Leandro Fernandez) 4/5.
Dec 07, 2010
Amy
rated it:
I've never really read a spy comic book like this because...well...most spy comic books are kiss kiss bang bang. But I had faith in Greg Rucka and picked up Queen & Country. I really enjoyed the way that Rucka builds a spy story without sex, (too much) violence, and other crutches the Bonds and TV spy dramas of today rely on. Queen & Country is a slow burn, interesting and captivating.
Oct 16, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it:
Female-driven spy novel! Gorgeous artwork! Explosions! I could have done without the gratuitous romance or the third artist's oversexualized interpretation of the character (she seriously should have broken from boobs that big) but otherwise fun.
Dec 02, 2008
Eric
rated it:
Probably the best international espionage thriller-type comic i've read, although the Leonandro Fernadez art in the last arc isn't really my cup of tea. I'm definitely looking forward to picking up the next two volumes.
Jul 22, 2009
Ann
rated it:
This is spy stuff, a graphic novel, and a great female lead, Tara Chase. it's pretty brilliant stuff. Great read. Also, it was recommended by Rachel Maddow in _Mother Jones_ and, of course, she's awesome, too.
