And Then I Read: SECRET SERVICE 5 & 6

Image © Millarworld Ltd, Marv Films Ltd and Dave Gibbons Ltd.

For years aspiring filmmakers and screen writers have been trying to springboard (and storyboard) projects using comics. Mark Millar has skipped the middlemen and gone right to the top, teaming with director Matthew Vaughn on this project that is clearly an action film in comics form, and no doubt a useful tool to sell and cast the film, which is in development. Having great art by Dave Gibbons certainly doesn’t hurt, and I admire both Millar and Gibbons for producing such a fine story that works great as a comic, even while it serves another purpose.

It’s the story of two secret agents, an older, seasoned, hardened one along the lines of James Bond, but without as much glamor, and his protegé and nephew Gary, a general screw-up from the slums (as Jack was) being given a chance to make a new life in the dangerous but rewarding world of espionage. The characters are well-depicted, if not terribly likeable. The action is very violent and at times thrilling. The plotline is over the top at times, very down to earth at others, not a bad mix at all.

If the movie does get made it’s not one I’d want to see, I think I outgrew action movies of this type some years ago, but I can certainly recommend the comics.