I’m just about finished reading the four-book set of Greg Rucka’s comic book series of Queen & Country. I’m aware that there are some books as well, but I’m not too pulled towards buying them unless at least one covers the mysterious Saudi Arabia mission with Tom Wallace and Tara Chace that apparently threw everything up in the air, off stage, before forcing the series into what feels like a premature ending.
grumble grumble
It always seemed like Tom’s eyes were on Kate, and like he’d be pouncing on her the moment he got free. That he and Chace would hook up just seems entirely out of left field. I mostly just want to see if Rucka manages to justify it somehow, or if he threw it in there just to mess with us. How Tom got back from being a teacher to being in the field is also unclear.
Yup. The first one, “A Gentleman’s Game.” Most of the Q&C comic happens, then the novel “A Gentleman’s Game,” then the “Operation: Red Panda” arc, then the novel “Private Wars.” Wikipedia says there’s another novel to come out later this year. I liked the first novel quite a bit, and the second one certainly held my interest as I was reading it, but it’s not fantastic.
Oh, also, I’m not really a fan of the way they did the “Definitive Edition” collections. First of all b/c Red Panda is right up against the earlier issues despite there being this whole novel in between. But mostly because they put all the Declassified stuff in a separate, later, volume. Operation: Stormfront is a sequel to the first Declassified series (which was published earlier), and Crocker would seem completely out of character there for someone who hadn’t read the earlier issues.
–Cliffy
P.S. If you enjoyed Q&C, you might seek out Rucka and Steve Lieber’s Whiteout and the sequel Whiteout: Melt. They’re very much the same vibe and in fact Tara Chace’s first appearance is in Whiteout (under the name Lily Sharpe), although for reasons of licensing Rucka now claims that’s a different character.