With the serialised nature of comic books, I think there’s a tendency to want to tell these grand, intricate stories with ensemble casts and impossibly complex plots and while comics is definitely a great medium for those stories, “Dead Drop” #1 from Ales Kot and Adam Gorham shows that it’s also a great place for a good old action romp.
Written by Ales Kot
Illustrated by Adam Gorham
Four issues. Four stories. One ticking clock! Red-hot writer Ales Kot (Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier) and rising star Adam Gorham (Zero) start the countdown to DEAD DROP as an unlikely cast of superhuman operators fall in deep for an undercover conspiracy action thriller in the darkest corners of the Valiant Universe…There is a secret black market in New York. It is hidden in plain sight – in our streets, trains, restaurants. Those who know how to navigate it exchange secrets of extraordinary nature. But when the secret in circulation is a biological weapon derived from Vine technology, the gloves are off – and the most extraordinary agents are released to stop the disaster before it occurs. Otherwise, in less than thirty minutes, there will be no world to come back to. X-O Manowar, Archer, Neville Alcott, Detective Cejudo and Betamax are ready to save the world.
Now, before we get into the meat of this review, I want to stress one thing: I’m not familiar in the slightest with the Valiant Universe. In fact, this is actually my first Valiant comic ever. So, while this review is going to look at the quality of the comic itself and whether I’d recommend you checking it out (spoiler, I do), it’s also something of a look into whether this is a good introduction to the Valiant Universe (spoiler, it is). The reason it’s such a good introduction to Valiant, though, is perhaps an odd: it’s not really an introduction at all. “Dead Drop” #1 focuses on action first and foremost, using the Valiant Universe and characters, most recognisably in this case being X-O Manowar, as a backdrop to show an exhilarating chase through Manhattan while hinting at larger and much darker things to come.
One of the things that immediately stands out as a moment of “They really thought this thing through” is that the credits page shows a map of Manhattan Island and the route of the chase that the issue. Not only that, but the page numbers are annotated showing the transition of locations as the chase continues. This was a nice touch and shows that everyone on board really had a sense of what they wanted to accomplish. This touch also allows the reader to rough out a vague idea of where the characters are on that route at any given time, meaning that the action can flow naturally without breaking to plant a big “You are Here” sign to catch everyone up.
With that nice little touch out of the way, though, it’s time for Kot and Gorham to let loose. Because this issue focuses heavily on the kinetic action of the chase, never really letting up until the issue ends and the story such as it were mostly existing as a briefing for Manowar to catch us up to speed, Gorham really shines here. The action is frantic and non-stop throughout the issue and one of the reasons Gorham shines is that the linework in his art is incredibly clean and keeps the action crisp and understandable at a glance. This is also helped by Gorham implementing layouts that make liberal use of inset panels to convey a lot of small details within a much larger panel without muddying the flow of the action. All this keeps the action flowing smoothly and keeps a frantic tempo to the chase as it gets more and more desperate as time goes on.
While Adam Gorham’s linework is very clean and keeps the action crisp on the page, a lot of the texture of the book comes from the colours by Michael Spicer. Just from the first page it’s clear that this book isn’t the bright and vibrant Silver Age callback as a lot of Marvel books seem to be nowadays nor is it the dark and gritty, perpetually neon-tinged night of many DC comics lately.
Continued belowInstead, “Dead Drop” stays somewhere in the middle with a lot of murky earth tones keeping a grounded reality to the city of Manhattan while X-O Manowar’s suit shines in its rich gold and blue hues. It really makes the unreality of Manowar’s presence stand out against what feels like an otherwise realistic world. That otherwise realistic feeling gives weight to the action, but it doesn’t mean the book is ashamed or downplaying Manowar. Instead the colours show that “Dead Drop” is dropping the character right into a very real, very dangerous situation and saying “Get out of this one, then.”
“Dead Drop” #1 isn’t a book that’s all action with no substance, though, and that should be evident by the fact that Ales Kot is writing it. Anyone familiar with his work, especially on “Zero” or “Secret Avengers”, will not only feel write at home with this book, but will surely love it. Taking a basic premise that plays to the strength of the visual artist and using dialogue to build around the action of the book and hint at a much deeper conspiracy, Kot plays a lot of cards that should be well known to any one familiar with his work, but with a twist.
The setting of the Valiant Universe and the focus on X-O Manowar juxtaposes the moral ambiguity of the government conspiracy that Kot hints at with the pure heroic nature of the actions of Manowar. The guy drops, literally, right into the action and the first thing he does when confronted with cops who thinks he’s the bad guy is affirm that he won’t hurt them. It immediately endears you to this moral core to what feels like a very morally ambiguous world and I can’t wait to see where Kot and Gorham take the character over the next three issues.
“Dead Drop” is an issue that works on a good number of levels. It’s a great first issue to a series that promises a story full of action, but with a lot of depth. It’s a great single story that has a solid beginning, middle and end and emphasises a lot of character nuance within a limited space through their actions in a very kinetic and dangerous environment. And, finally, it’s a great introduction to the Valiant Universe because instead of delving deep into the lore of the universe, it gives you just a taste of one of the major characters and whets your appetite to explore their publishing line more. At least, it did for me.
Final Verdict: 9.4 – This was a fun ride with tons of great action by a great creative team and is definitely one you should all check out.
