Old Dog Cover Reviews 

“Old Dog” #1

By | September 30th, 2022
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Declan Shalvey has had a hand in a bunch of Marvel titles as an illustrator, and these days is maybe best known for visually iterating on the most recent version of “Moon Knight” that we’ve all seen on TV. Shalvey’s a master artist, and if there’s one thing that’s not taken for granted, its his ability to breathe life into characters, filling panels with images that set our imaginations alight. “Old Dog” #1 was on our watchlist because this is pretty much a Shalvey show from top to bottom — he’s writing, illustrating, and doing colors on “Old Dog” #1. Overall, Shalvey serves an ice cold, visually striking action/thriller story that looks good but sometimes skimps on the narrative.

Cover by Declan Shalvey

Old Dog #1
Written, illustrated, and colored by Declan Shalvey
Lettered by Clayton Cowles
Reviewed by Kobi Bordoley

Jack Lynch was a once-promising CIA operative. On the eve of retirement, looking back at a failed career, he is tasked with one final mission…that goes horribly wrong. He wakes years later to a changed world and deeper changes within him. When a shadow group offers Lynch a second chance at a life of adventure, he’s paired with the last person he could ever imagine. In order to adjust, this old dog will have to learn some new tricks…

OLD DOG is a striking new spy-fi series by DECLAN SHALVEY, the accomplished and innovative creator behind books such as Moon Knight, X-Men Unlimited, INJECTION, and TIME BEFORE TIME.

Spy-fi, cyber-noir, call it what you will, “Old Dog” #1 markets itself as a thrilling mixture of science fiction and hard boiled drama. Together, it feels somewhere between The Expendables, X-Men, and Tenet. To start, this is a pretty cool premise, and the gritty crime-fighting, dark dealing aspects of noir mixed with technology and dystopia make for a classic combination. It’s unclear what’s going on exactly in “Old Dog” #1, but it has hints of genetic engineering, maybe some slight time travel/hopping? We’ll see. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Before delving into the plot, let’s talk about what really works in “Old Dog” #1, and that’s (you may have guessed it) is the art. Shalvey does a masterful job of inhabiting his world with expressive characters. As you may have surmised from the stark cover for this issue, Shalvey has a certain finesse for drawing faces. He can draw a grizzled agent and green, warm faced recruit with equal skill. In these faces we get a sense of character, a sense of who is discerning, who is pompous, and who can fight. Drawing character expressions is one thing, but Shalvey is much more than a one trick pony. “Old Dog” #1, at its core, is an action story, and Shalvey creates some bomb sequences. There’s a particularly well done infiltration sequence in “Old Dog” #1 that I found myself flipping back to a few times before the story was done.

Another one of Shalvey’s tricks is his ability to move in and out of impressionistic and realistic styles. He knows when to give us heavily detailed pictures and when to go for a more free-lowing look, and the skill to move between the two. This is what gives us clean, easy to read action sequences mixed with emotionally poignant character close-ups. While there’s no real funny business or innovation in panel design, “Old Dog” #1 doesn’t need it. These fights are clean and evocative without that extra flair. As pretty much the only one in the driver’s seat of “Old Dog” #1, Shalvey gets the chance to color his own art. This leads to some really well done action scenes that are elevated by raging reds and oranges. Overall, “Old Dog” #1 just looks nice.

All that being said, “Old Dog” #1 somewhat lacks narrative heft and characterization. As to the former, the pacing in “Old Dog” #1 feels a little bit uneven. Our main character starts the story ribbing it in a van with some colleagues, and then there’s a confusing infiltration scene with some time jumps that are harder to follow than they should be. After that, our intrepid hero slips into a coma for 8 years after coming face to face with an exploding, powerful device. He wakes up, gets info dumped on by black suits, and agrees to join in their top secret project that he stumbled upon in the botched infiltration plan. Honestly, as far as comics go, this is par for the course in terms of plot progression. in “Old Dog” #1 though, the exposition is so foregrounded that at times it feels more like we’re being told a story than living in one, if that makes sense. Lynch, the titular Old Dog, barely questions the new plan beyond a few platitudes, and the whole thing has a whiplash quality to it; we’re very much “along for the ride” but instead of excited, I was ambivalent. Perhaps that ambivalence comes from the characterization in “Old Dog” #1. As mentioned above, Shalvey is adept at painting expressions and giving character depth through art, but without the narrative piece, characters still feel a little hollow. At the end of “Old Dog” #1, there just isn’t a lot of buy-in given to the audience about why we should care about the main character. This makes the titular reveal of “Old Dog” #1, the identity of Lynch’s new partner, feel less interesting than it should have.

To be sure, this is still a fun comic with a lot of legs. First issues are tricky to pull off, and the fact that this one falters doesn’t mean the series is doomed. Far from it! The mystery is there, the action is there, the visuals are more than there. If “Old Dog” #1 is given room to stretch, we’re sure it’ll find its stride.

Final Verdict: 6.9 – A few more tricks and this old dog will be worth watching.


Kobi Bordoley

comic reviews, as a treat.

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