The Losers, Vol. 5: Endgame

The Losers #5

by Andy Diggle, Jock (Illustrator), Colin Wilson (illustrator)

The seemingly unstoppable C.I.A. mastermind Max is about to play his final hand, and he's sitting on a whole pile of aces. With a brand-new country under his feet and a nuclear arsenal within his reach, Max is going all in—and the stakes are nothing less than the global balance of power itself.

As all the other players are folding, though, the Losers are still holding their cards—and they've got one last chance to raise the bet. But calling Max will cost them dearly, especially considering the joker they're about to be dealt.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Espionage, Military Fiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2006

About the author

Andy Diggle is a British comic book writer and former editor of 2000 AD. He is best known for his work on The Losers,Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Adam Strange and Silent Dragon at DC Comics and for his run on Thunderbolts and Daredevil after his move to Marvel.

In 2013 Diggle left writing DC's Action Comics and began working with Dynamite Entertainment, writing a paranormal crime series Uncanny. He is also working on another crime series with his wife titled Control that is set to begin publishing in 2014.

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a letdown. Up until the end, this was a basically solid series -- not necessarily great, but an easy, fun read.

And then the villain creates an island fortress in the middle of the Persian Gulf. It's not improbable that he has (or rather, they have) a hairless kitty and a death ray.

It's a shame, too, because Max could have been a somewhat interesting character. I liked the revelation that he was actually a pair of twins, and I like the idea of a rogue agent who takes his mission more seriously than his bosses would like. Unfortunately, I just could not get past the idea of someone being able to predict that an earthquake would somehow create a new island within the course of a day.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. What a waste.

[47Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy, what a crappy ending. I though it wouldn't end as a parody riddled with deus ex machinas, but I was mistaken. The author throws in more action scenes than you can shake a stick at, but also an enemy with a twin, a nuclear bomb that can be triggered by hotwiring it like a car, weapons that jam, a hairy escape worthy of a Die Hard movie and a bird flipped on the last page. How can I not love it? Because I'm older than 13. And I almost wanted to watch the movie.

Roque recovered the nuclear missiles that went down with the two sunk ships in the last volume. Stegler is begging his superiors to look for Roque in Pripyat where the nuclear hides, but they refuse, likely because they were paid off too. It falls to the Losers again to get in the thick of it.

With the missiles under his control Max goes public, declares the delerict oil platforms a sovereign state called New Jerusalem and threatens the whole world with nuclear annihilation. He wants to force the American Way onto the whole world, even allocating a few bombs for the US to keep it in line.

The Losers are too late to stop Max's men in Pripyat. To show he means business, Max detonates a bomb in Pripyat. The Losers can get to Max's oil platform via a collapsed pipe that Max doesn't know about. Aisha goes through Clay to get to Max and still fails to kill him. Or is it Max's twin brother?

At this point the events take a turn into stupid street. So Max is in reality two guys, twins born by the previous CIA agent who used the Max identity. They killed their father, were trained as killers, made their way into the CIA where they continued their father's work to this day.

Cougar has a shot at the remaining twin, but his gun jams. Yeah, I told you it was stupid. This is the only gun that jams in the whole story. Cougar is wounded and chooses to stay behind while threatening his enemies with a nuclear bomb. Jensen heads to safety while Aisha faces the rest of Max's men. Max wants to bomb Washington, DC, but is stopped when Cougar triggers the nuke.

[Vikas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endgame for sure .. all the mysteries are resolved and sacrifices are made. What an awesome Story .. now I would finish watching the movie too. This has been a wonderful read. Never miss.

I have always loved comics, and I hope that I will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics or Diamond Comics or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on the international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I can. I Love comics to bit, may comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

[Mac · Rating 1 out of 5]

All right, look. I know it's a comic book. I'm not expecting something great, here. But no one, NO ONE, likes a secret-twin ending. Oh well, the series as a whole was fun, a decent way to kill an afternoon, but secret twins? Really, guys?

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weirdly, I caught the clues about the "twin" character, but the tectonic plate stuff left me cold. That was too far over the edge into super-villain territory, for the simple reason that no one could predict the actual results that cleanly, and there was zero reason to believe that the oil rig would survive what they said was happening.
That said, I liked the fact that Andy Diggle cleaned up the plot threads and didn't hesitate to kill off some of the characters that the audience had come to know and...love isn't the right word, really, but you know what I mean.
There is one plot thread that was NOT cleaned up, having to do with a bunch of possible briefcase nukes sitting around in unknown locations. Still, finding those wasn't the job of the characters in this story.
I've been told that the graphic version is better than the movie, but I still may watch the movie. The trailer had a couple of good scenes, anyway.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

So parts were predictable, like the multiple Maxs and Aisha turning, but the fact they kill half of them was definitely surprising. It definitely kept me on my toes.

[Caitie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this one was so sad 😞 but Jensen I LOVE YEWWWW 🩵

my first time reading a comic/manga series since high school. VERY fun.

[Tays · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a way, the rating I'm putting up here would be for the whole series. Like what I previously stated on the review I did for the last volume, this title has grown on me. The characters were all interesting in their own ways and well they were written brilliantly. The growth and depth they all have individually was well polished and every bit decent. One more thing about these characters, well technically, they're not righteous pricks or exemplar champions of heroics, they are afterall The Losers. They're as flawed as any human being driven only by the chase to achieve what was once theirs, their lives. And well there's Aisha, woman's got nothing in her mind except revenge. Ha! Apart from the main protagonists, the antagonists were well written as well. The villainous and wicked ways of a New World Order by Max becomes an integral part of the series, even when the Max character hasn't presented itself on the panels. You could clearly feel his presence. Props to Andy Diggle's writing in keeping the said character as mysterious as he was. In this volume though, you'll finally get the long desired explanation about Max and what directs him to his not so legal operations. The back story provided and laid out in Endgame wasn't short as how I was assuming it to be. My bad on that one.

Well I'd say this was one of the good one's out the in the comic genre. The art style was consistent even with the sudden change of artists from Jock to Colin Wilson back to Jock. The effort and brilliant storytelling and artistic panels laid in on this title was complacent. A great short series and an actually satisfying one. I'd recommend this to anyone, especially those kids who are out for a wild ride with guns and military concepts and tactical thinking with a great bit of humour somewhere in the middle of it all. Less superheroics and more realism.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Not good. Not a guy.”

This is definitely my favorite volume, and I think the strongest, in the series. Art is so important to me in a comic and I really think it can make or break a story. This can’t be a controversial opinion.

This was actually my second encounter with Jock’s work, but it was what really sold me on his art. His art is The Losers. I’m a big baby OK but it was hard for me to read these books illustrated by anyone else. With that in mind, I adore Colin Wilson’s contribution.

I mean, not only is Wilson’s art absolutely gorgeous, it so elegantly complement’s Jock’s. The two halves of this volume, the two contrasting styles, make a beautiful whole.

The writing is fantastic, every character is so undeniably themselves. Every character proves themselves, for better or worse. Every character is ALLOWED to be whoever they really are. Every character is allowed, I’m sorry, the dignity of their choices.

Even the fucking island! I love it. It’s pure comic book fun.

I have a huge pet peeve about stories that ramble on and on and I have so much respect for when and how the creators chose to end this. I mean like beloved characters are killed off and I love it! I love that dedication to the integrity of a story.

(Although, to be honest, sometimes I do still daydream about a one shot spinoff about Aisha’s last stand.)

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you say to the end of a series that always knew that it had a finite end, and write itself exactly where it needed to go?

Loved it.

Can't believe I forgot entirely where this story was headed since the last time I read it. This is pretty much the poetic finale to the story that always needed to come out of where it started.

I really can't believe someone like Diggle exists - more paranoid and insightful than me, with one of the sharpest writer's pens I've ever read, and a wicked sense of humour, irony and twisted justice. (I forgive his "explain everything in one grand sweep of a villain's life" monologue because it's a damned compelling take on how the world got where it is and how these guys would deal with it.)

I'll always admire and desire every page of art that Jock puts in front of us - kinetic, lumpy shadows and right to the point of every scene.

[Jamil · Rating 2 out of 5]

so, i'm not sure why, but this series just sorta wasn't my thing. i kind of sped through the last two volumes today (gotta know how the story ends - i'm a completist that way). but yeah, just not to my taste, the overall story i guess. the final page though was killer. almost makes reading the whole series worth it, just to get that line.

oh yeah, and jock's cover design work is aces. so if you're into that, just flip through the books and look at the covers he did for the individual issues. pretty gorgeous stuff.

[Lauri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Losersi viimseks köiteks on mul lõplikult kopp ees kildurebivatest õilsatest ex-eriüksuslastest, jaburast jaburama süžee käänakutest ja pöörakutest, maailma uskumatuimast verejanulisest araablasest nais(!)rambost ja eriti Kaiser Soze'st nimega Max kes on kogu asja taga aga kellest keegi vähimatki ei tea. Muinasjutt, ja kehvakene selline, aga sealjuures stiilselt teostatud. Mulle meeldisid Jocki räpakad lohakad jooned ja pruuni ja määrdunud moega värvigamma, ja ega ka külaliskunstnikel viga polnud. Siin viimases osas see Pripjati-lõik oli väga vingelt tehtud.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this whole series was very well done, I personally didn't care for the direction of the final volume. It went in a grandiose, Bond-villainy direction and the large-scale conspiracy plots sort of overwhelmed the smaller touches of characterization that I'd enjoyed so much in the previous couple volumes. It still ends well if not, for me, particularly satisfyingly. I don't know if the creators were rushed to finish off the book or if this is really the way they wanted to wrap up.

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, I'm of two minds about this conclusion. Yes, the plot is daffy and maybe even cribbed from a Saturday morning SuperFriends episode: identical twins as bad guys, a new island rising out of the ocean floor, etc. BUT if you read it as an over-the-top parody of American hegemony in the Bush era, it's pretty hilarious. Great stinger in the very last panel too.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the movie opening in 2 weeks i decided to burn thru the five TPBs that had been loaned to me. While Max's plan, well part of it, seems a bit too outrageous I can sum the series up as a good solid action read. In the final volume, yes the good guys win, sort of. But we again get double crosses, and betrayals, and again if you're planning to see the movie I refuse to spoil it for you.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got a little James Bond super villainy is this last volume, but ultimately the pay off was quite good and far more bleak and cynical than I expected it to be. The last page summed the whole series up nicely.

[William Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

An over-written ending to what was a fantastic book. This volume, however, was the weakest of them. Seems as if it were written to be on the big screen as some big budget summer blockbuster with all of the hackneyed lines and same double-cross scenes... just wasn't up to par.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

a pretty good ending to a pretty good series.

[erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't pleased with the ending.

[Sergejs Timonins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow I wasn't that satisfied with the ending as I hoped to be.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This final LOOSERS collection is a fitting ending to a superior series.