The Coldest Winter

The Coldest City #2

by Antony Johnston, Steven Perkins (Artist)

Writer ANTONY JOHNSTON and artist STEVEN PERKINS return to Cold War-era Berlin for this prequel to THE COLDEST CITY. After a string of botched assignments for MI6 in Berlin, David Perceval is being sent home. Even his final mission before leaving — the defection of a Soviet scientist — goes badly wrong, as the coldest winter for 30 years descends on Europe. With transport out of Berlin impossible, and the KGB searching everywhere for their lost scientist, Perceval must improvise a deadly game of cat and mouse through the frozen city to keep the Russians at bay, and deliver his own unique brand of revenge!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Espionage, Thriller, Graphic Novels Comics

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 2016

About the author

** Sign up for Antony's newsletter at http://ajwriter.substack.com **

Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era.

The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde was based on his graphic novel. His murder mystery series The Dog Sitter Detective won the Barker Book Award. His crime puzzle novel Can You Solve the Murder? reinvented choose-your-own-story books for a mainstream audience and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. The Brigitte Sharp spy thrillers are in development for TV. And his productivity guide The Organised Writer has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload.

Antony is a celebrated videogames writer, with genre-defining titles including Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor, and Resident Evil Village to his credit. His work on Silent Hill Ascension made him the only writer in the world to have contributed to all of gaming’s ‘big three’ horror franchises.

His immense body of work also includes Marvel superheroes such as Daredevil and Shang-Chi, the award-winning Alex Rider graphic novels, the post-apocalypse epic Wasteland, and more. He wrote and directed the film Crossover Point, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

An experienced podcaster and public speaker, he also frequently writes articles on the life of an author, and is a prolific musician.

Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of International Thriller Writers and the Society of Authors, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prequel to "The Coldest City", a tale of Percival who would later head up the Berlin office of MI6. Percival must handle the defection of a Soviet scientist during record snowfall in Berlin. With all the transportation out of the city shut down, Percival must play a cat and mouse game with the KGB while he bides his time. This story has much better art than the previous book along with better storytelling.

Received an advance copy from Oni and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Coldest Winter is a very old school spy story taking place in Cold War era Berlin. It takes place, unsurprisingly, in the dead of winter, when a British spy is attempting to smuggle a Russian scientist out of the city despite all the rail lines being closed, though he quickly discovers that his superior has set him up to fail... There are no James Bond quirks in this story. Instead, expect traditional subterfuge that's all low tech. It's a dark narrative, but there are flashes of humour, and our protagonist is a quick thinking man who doesn't dwell on angst. It's quite refreshing for the genre!

My one complaint is that although the art is unique and striking, it is often hard to distinguish between the different characters.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prequel to The Coldest City and I thought better written. Takes place, I believe, 8 years before TCC and is about trying to smuggle a Russian to England. I liked the art and thought the plot was clever and kept me guessing. Was Olga really his wife? Read it and find out....

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but totally unnecessary prequel to The Coldest City - typically convoluted Cold War spy story in the vein of early (and dumbed down) le Carré, and not really helped by the overly-busy illustrations.

For some reason, Johnston (or his publisher) changed illustrators from the first book, and (at least IMHO) not for the better. City was sketchier but actual illustrations:


…while Winter was obviously high-contrast lifts or tracings from actually photographs (a trick I often used in college):


2+ stars, generously rounded up.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was great, much better than The Coldest City, tbh. It was just a much tighter story with way more tension and I was really excited to see how things shook out. I also liked that you got a bit of the Russian perspective here as well.

While the artwork had a similar feel (very atmospheric and old school spy movie feeling), I could tell that it was drawn by a different artist because it was much more distinctive and not as sparse and minimal as TCC was. I still struggled a bit to differentiate some of the characters though.

Still I really enjoyed this.

[John Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant Cold War era spy story.
A true rarity in the 21st C
A spy story that doesn't rely on ridiculous gadgets
or unrealistic chase scenes
this is a solid story with great characters and excellent
plotting, it's thrilling to the very end.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I only care about Lorraine. Also as much as I like the art style I find it hard to remember who everyone is. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[Dave Neary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent prequel to The Coldest City about how David Percival became field chief in Berlin.

[Alex Sarll]

Coldest City prequel detailing a defection hampered by, as the title suggests, the particularly bitter and snowy winter of 1981-2. The art is at once more realistic and even sparser than the previous story; Perkins feels less expressionist than Hart did, but often foregoes outlines altogether, leaving only the play of light and shade. The story feels a little more Hollywood espionage this time around, with more public gunplay of the sort you'd think would engender diplomatic incidents; whether that represents changing currents in Cold War spycraft, I don't know well enough to say.

[MrsEnginerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting more Lorraine stories and got Perceval instead. Good switch and bait story, somewhat hard to follow if you can't tell the images of characters apart, although that is the gimmick. Quick read, worth the hassle.

[Spaghett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Coldest City left me a bit.... cold, while it had an interesting plot, I found it lacking in character, and felt it was so bogged down in codenames and minutia that it forgot to tell a truly compelling story. Fortunately, Antony Johnston's followup, which is actually a prequel, presents a far more compelling and enjoyable tale of cold war trickery that can be enjoyed without needing to read it's predecessor. The story kicks off with David Percival bungling an operation and being offered a chance at redemption, so already there's much more of a character-centric motivation for events this time around. The plot concern him trying to get a potential informant out of Berlin while the Russians are trying to take the informant back to Russia. There's much more intrigue this time around and you really root for Percival to hopefully pull it off. I felt like the various deceptions and plot twists were better portrayed, showing lots of clever tricks as opposed to the harder to comprehend political maneuverings of the first book. It's more straightforward, but in a good way that makes it flow better. The artwork continues to be excellent, with a new artist, Steven Perkins, providing a somewhat more realistic, somewhat Sin City-esque rendering, in contrast with the more stylized (but still excellent) proportions in the first book. Cityscapes are spectacular to look at, and faces are immaculately detailed and expressive.

Antony Johnston really hit his stride with this book and I hope to see more cold war adventures from him if they maintain this style. Even if you haven't read the first book or seen Atomic Blonde, this is a great caper that stands on its own.

[Gargi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy this book from the publisher in exchange for a review!

I started reading this book with very high expectations. 'Spycraft' is the stuff of my dreams. However, the book had a sort of bumpy start and wasn't very engaging. The Coldest Winter was old-school spy tale set in Berlin of 1981-82. KGB officers at odds with MI6, with a bit of American interruption. The book picked up speed after the first few pages, and was quick read after that. The illustration style made it all quite confusing for me; the characters looked quite similar.

I was just shocked at how much gun violence they were engaging in, without attracting any attention. Cool stuff, though!

Many thanks to the publisher for making this copy available as an ARC. I'm planning to read the other one soon!

[Fred · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd call it a cleaner read than The Coldest City, meaning the story was a bit more linear and thus easier to follow. This could be a great screenplay with twists, chases, double crossing and characters whose motives are unclear. The art looks like heavily retouched photos or like extreme use of a light box. It's difficult to tell several of the characters apart, which is the only drawback of the graphic novel.

[Melanie Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could only tell two characters for certain throughout the whole book: David and Olga. All you need is a hat or scarf or certain hairstyle to distinguish characters in graphic novels. It's not that hard! As a result, the plot was lost in me in several places, though I did understand this one better than The Coldest City.

[Steve Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prequel, but written after Atomic Blonde/Coldest City.

[Vincent Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it more the second time around. To be honest I didn't remember reading it the first time, but highly enjoyable plot and artwork.

[Scott Summerton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Coldest Winter is the 2016 prequel to The Coldest City (the 2012 graphic novel that would become 2017's Atomic Blonde), again written by Antony Johnston but with artist Stephen Perkins replacing Sam Hart. This edition is the 2017 reprint with a movie tie-in cover.

The Coldest Winter is the followup 4 years later yet is a prequel taking place 8 years prior to The Coldest City, as David Percival first enters Berlin. From there Johnston structures a story much like City in that what you know and what the characters know all unfold at different times, and you even get the big reveal with flashbacks explaining at the end, just like in City. I enjoyed this quite a bit though as it gave a familiar feel and, honestly I now hope for more Coldest books that continue with this formula, since even though you know things are afoul, you generally don't know how or why.

Hart not returning was a bit of a disappointment initially, as we go from City's stylistic simplicity to Perkins' busy grit, yet it didn't take me long to appreciate Perkins entirely. I had issues with Hart's art in City as it was at times too basic and I wasn't able to keep characters straight, something very important in a spy thriller. Perkins on the other hand has an almost rotoscoped reference level to his art, which makes it feel like this was adapting an as yet unseen movie, clearly getting in some advance storyboarding what with Atomic Blonde far into production when this was originally released in December 2016. That cinematic element brought something huge to this and elevating things nicely I feel, but also contrasted City in a perfect way, where that had simple stylized art for Lorraine Broughton's story, this has gritty real art for Percival's tale.

That is the other key to this, Lorraine Broughton is not in this whatsoever. I was initially very disappointed to learn this was a prequel of Berlin and nor Lorraine, but as the story unfolded I was all in on Percival's story. It lacks the flash and cleverness that City had, but fills it with the sneaky conniving methods of Percival instead.

This compliments City in a great way, and I'm not certain it would work that well on its own not having read City first. Easily recommended if you read and enjoyed City of course, but otherwise, go for that one first. This is a case where the prequel order belies release order.

[Mark Allard-Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Coldest Winter is Antony Johnston's prequel to the acclaimed Graphic Novel, The Coldest City, which itself was adapted in to a Movie and released in 2017 under the title Atomic Blonde.

The Coldest Winter maintains the gritty, dark feeling that permeates throughout The Coldest City, both visually and metaphorically within the confines of the story arc itself; giving us that same Noir-meets-Spy Thriller tone.

Set before Lorraine Broughton's arrival in Berlin by a few years, The Coldest Winter essentially gives us the story of David Percival's rise to his rise to being the top MI6 operative in Berlin and the characteristics and events that lead him to "go local"; showing the key betrayals and failures that lead him to take the path we see him on by the time the events portrayed in The Coldest City come to pass.

If nothing more, this Book makes a fantastic peddle in to The Coldest City, showing a Man, believing he is doing good for his Country, desperate to make the right impression, but intent on taking the most direct path to reach this goal; eagerness and a want to achieve clash against a slight lack of field experience and his Station Commander, a Man with a blind-spot, to bring the Book to a head.

Antony Johnston is well-versed by this point in Noir and Suspense within the Comic Book medium and, in lesser hands, this could have easily fallen apart; but Johnston gives us yet another great track in to the Spy Thriller/Noir medium. Even though the Artist has changed from that of The Coldest City (Sam Hart), great efforts have been made to emulate that Book's Art for sake of continuity, for this Steven Perkins deserves some righteous praise, for the Art delivers flawlessly on its projected continuity to that of the aforementioned Coldest City.

Great suspense, a perfectly timed story flow and a wonderful insight in to what made the once idealist Percival the corrupt operative he became. My only professed downside is that I really wanted more, it felt maybe twenty pages too short.

A fantastic Graphic Novel that all fans of gritty espionage dramas would be recommended to read.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Antony Johnston's The Coldest Winter is another cold war era spy thriller set in Berlin of the 1980s. Like The Coldest City it is a spy novel which happens to be told, quite effectively, as a graphic novel. As I like to mention in any graphic novel I review I am not well-versed in the nuances of the artwork so am coming at it almost exclusively as a reader of novels who believes graphic novels have earned equal footing and therefore read them as well.

I can't put my finger on it but the artwork here worked much better for me than in The Coldest City. Where the previous work seemed almost claustrophobic throughout this one was more varied depending on where each scene took place. I'm sure there is a good explanation for the difference but it is beyond my knowledge level. What I do know is that the artwork here was a definite addition to the story itself.

The novel aspect was, well, a spy novel. Certain things are expected in these books and this one delivers. There were sufficient plot twists to keep me guessing and the action moved along briskly, aided significantly by much of the artwork. You have the expected espionage taking place between East and West but you also have the internal politics and jockeying for career position within the intelligence community as well.

I would recommend this to readers of graphic novels and espionage thrillers. If you are on the fence about graphic novels I think this would be a wonderful one to read to see just how well image and text can work together to tell a complex story.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antony Johnston's The Coldest Winter takes place eight years before The Coldest City. MI:6 agent David Perceval is being sent home after one botched mission too many in Berlin. However, his last mission, supervising the defection of a Soviet scientist, goes wrong from the start and he must use all of his ingenuity to save it as the coldest winter descends on Berlin.

Johnston knows how to write Cold War spy thrillers very well. The Coldest Winter has many twists and turns and good and bad are just words. Although, I did liked The Coldest Winter, I liked The Coldest City more. Honestly, that's because of my love for the movie, Atomic Blonde.

I did like the character of David Perceval better than I did in The Coldest City. I felt his fatigue and his ambition. He was between a rock and hard place. He had to deal with the endless politics of MI:6 and the cunning subterfuge of the KGB. It was fast paced and exciting and could see this as a series on Starz.

Like with The Coldest City, I didn't enjoy the art. This time, by Steven Perkins. Like before, I like clean and defined lines. Although, I did like that it was black and white. It goes well with the spy thriller motif. I don't think Johnston with this Coldest series but I wouldn't mind reading another installment.

[X Core · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like less of a slow plodding noir than the previous novel. Previous one was slow and mysterious.

This one was much more fast-paced. Although, I still wouldn't call it fast paced. There were car chases and shootouts, but it still felt like a noir.

I like the art style less in this one. It was a bit confusing in the previous one, but in this one it was confusing in every single panel. In the first one, I actually liked the art style. And this one, the panels all had a lot going on. In the first one, they were simple enough that the black and white was stark and artistic. It gave it a mood. In this one, it just feels like the artist doesn't really know why it's in black and white. But I guess that's a little rude to just disrespect the artist like that. But that is my personal opinion.

This was a good solid graphic novel. I honestly enjoyed this much more than a lot of other graphic novels that are highly rated and famous. It was short, but it was really good. It felt like a succinct mini episode in the spy world of Anthony Johnston. I love how the characters feel so real, without being edgy. David is a gruff asshole, but I still like him.

[OmniBen · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 3.75/5
A well written and well drawn little spy tale that well and truly took me by surprise, given the fact it was a blind pick off the library shelf. I knew nothing about the original movie adaptation, although if they've done a decent job adapting the source material (which we know Hollywood are respectful and discerning craftsmen when it comes to such things, then the movie might be a decent watch as well. The paperback format of this collection was a bit of a downer, and the black and white art, as cool as it was, really didn't help to illuminate the sizeable cast, leaving me often wondering who I was dealing with on each page, which was an unfortunate and unnecessary detractor to an enjoyable little story. These minor gripes aside, any fan of the spy / thriller genre will almost certainly find something of value here. One of my better random library selections of late. 3.75/5


OmniBen.

[Gardy (Elisa G) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnston deve aver capito quanta potenzialità aveva il personaggio misogino e burbero di Perceval di "La città più fredda", dato che l'ha reso protagonista insieme a BER-2 /James del prequel ambientato 8 anni prima.

Come hanno fatto i due a diventare gli agenti del MI6 al comando in una città così strategica? Come portare a termine una missione impossibile (la classica porcata rifilata da un capo che vuole sbarazzarsi di te) in una Berlino paralizzata dalla neve e brulicante di agenti del KGB?

Vuoi perché il confronto con il KGB qui è decisamente più adrenalinico e con un compagno villain accattivante quanto Perceval, vuoi perché lo stile di Perkinks è più ruvido ma incisivo di quello del predecessore, "L'inverno più freddo" è più riuscito del primo volume. Tanto che un po' di spero che Johnston torni a scrivere delle avventure berlinesi di BER-1. ★★★½

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Coldest Winter is the prequel to The Coldest City which I was a huge fan of, so needless to say my expectation were high...and Antony Johnston definitely gave me what I was looking for!

I will admit, any novel about Cold War spies is probably going to get at least a 3-star rating out of me, but Johntson does a great job at creating a thick plot and introducing many twists in just a short amount of time. This novel was particularly action packed and had me flipping through the pages as fast as I could. Credit should also be given to Steven Perkins for excellent illustration that was integral to developing the storyline. It was really fun have a glimpse back into the world of East vs. West and build upon the story Berlin before Lorriane Broughton arrives. I'm really hoping this one gets adapted into film as well!

[Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prequel to The Coldest City, The Coldest Winter is another gripping thrill ride through the spy-strewn streets of Berlin in the early 80s.
Now with added snow.
As with City, Winter is stark and monochrome in design - a style that only serves to heighten the tension and drama of the narrative (trying to get a Russian defector out of Berlin when Europe is snowed in).
Double-crosses come as standard and by the closing chapter you're not sure you can even trust the guy you've been following throughout this. And I'm still not sure you can.
Johnston serves up another scintillating thrill-ride that will warm the cockles of every lover of spy thrillers.
And there's a car chase. In snow. Which in a graphic novel is a thing of beauty.

[Jonathan Chaparro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esta es la precuela de Coldest City, esperaba encontrar de nuevo al personaje de Lorraine y conocer su pasado, pero en cambio se centra en David Percival (que no fue mi personaje favorito del primer libro y que por cierto es muy diferente al personaje de la película) mientras busca la manera de sacar con vida a un científico virologo de Berlín... Si bien la historia es entretenida no me pareció nada memorable, pasa sin pena ni gloria.

Este tiene otro dibujante y la verdad siento que baja mucho la calidad, sigue manteniendo la línea del blanco y negro, pero se nota que todo es dibujo sobre fotografía, no se ve un trabajo artístico. Al igual que en el primer libro, el trazo tan oscuro hace muy difícil diferenciar a los personajes en algunas escenas luego no te enteras de quien es quien.

[Christa Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Berlin in winter, it is COLD but a Soviet scientist wants to defect. Agent David Perceval has a had a series of screw ups, he is getting sent home. His last assignment is to get this scientist out of the country. David is in a situation where he doesn't trust anyone. Travel is very restricted due to the weather, it is the height of the Cold War. And yet, he does not fall for the situation that would ensure his failure. Instead, he double crosses where needed just by doing his job well. He sneaks the scientist out and now will continue in his job for at least another day.

The artwork here is wonderful. Everyone is a shady character, just as it was during the Cold War.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A tidy little spy thriller that is more opaque in art and story than it needs to be. The edition I read touts this as a prequel to the Atomic Blonde movie, which I saw, but at the end of the book I had no clue how any of the characters in this volume related to any of the characters in the film. A google search says the protagonist of this book is the character played by James McAvoy in the film, but I don't really see much connection between the two. I'm waiting for my library to get The Coldest City graphic novel to see how the original work compares to its big screen adaptation and dovetails with this prequel.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prequel to "The Coldest City". aka Atomic Blonde.

Berlin, 1981-82, height of the Cold War. David Perceval, British agent, has one last mission to save his career: oversee the defection of a Soviet scientist and get him back to England before the Russians get their hands on him. But the relentless snowfall paralyzes the city, with no way out. And so begins a cat-and-mouse game of keeping the scientist out of the hands of those that want to kill him.

A quick one, great at capturing the mood, although the black and white drawings make it difficult to differentiate between the characters. Better than the first book.

[Eric Railine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A return to the British espionage scene of Berlin in the 1980's, The Coldest Winter acts as a bit of a "prequel" to the earlier The Coldest City. Set approximately 8 years earlier, the story provides background color to a major character of the first book while remaining completely standalone - either book can be read by themselves, or in either order. The writing and pacing is sharper, the artwork (by Steven Perkins this time) is better, and the ending far more satisfying. Highly recommended to fans of Greg Rucka, or espionage/spy thrillers in general.