Smoke 1: Good Boys Grow Up To Be Soldiers

Smoke #1

by Alex de Campi, Igor Kordey

In a futuristic London run by a government both morally and financially bankrupt, an ex-soldier-turned-government-assassin must contend with a crisis in London, an unusual terrorist group, their even more unusual demands, and a vindictive ex-girlfriend, even as he tries to rebuild his own shattered life.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction

154 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Alex de Campi is a New York-based writer with an extensive backlist of critically-acclaimed graphic novels including Eisner-nominated heist noir Bad Girls (Simon & Schuster) and Twisted Romance (Image Comics). Her most recent book was her debut prose novel The Scottish Boy (Unbound). She lives with her daughter, their cat, and a Deafblind pit bull named Tango.

Reviews

[Ezma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art and coloring are good, reminded us of early 90s Vertigo. Maybe because of that, we were expecting a sharper story? It’s an alright spy tale with good action and interesting characters, but the world feels underdeveloped. It’s set a couple years in the future, which seems like a great opportunity for some sharp satire, but both background jokes and the plot show it’s a little too underbaked to get anything out of. The heavy fatphobia in the first two issues stands out the most as trying to say something and that left a pretty bad taste in our mouth.

[Andy Haddon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this a bunch of times before, but not for a while, and I'm reminded again that in the aftermath of Brexit and the Global financial crash of 2008 and the Tories decimating Britain, this is an on-the-nose prescient piece of work, hugely enjoyable, even if you're reminded of just how sh*t the Real World is.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like Smoke was one of the most hyped up books of 2005 - it was hype on the fringe of the comics biz, but I definitely heard the name thrown around as a big, huge, promising debut series. Well, it is a big, huge, promising debut. Igor Kordey, as usual when he has more than a weekend to draw a series, does a terrific job. Lots of detail, very cinematic sequences. I've never been to London and know little about guns, but those aspects looked extremely accurate to my untrained eye.

De Campi really did a terrific job. The script could've been a Bourne Supremacy-style screenplay. The characters are believable, and I like that the history between some of the characters was somewhat sketchy - doing so allowed the reader to remain in the present. All of the history that we got was relevant to the situation at hand. I found it interesting that De Campi chose to basically validate De Havilland's lifestyle with the old "there are opinions, not truths" argument. It was convincingly done, but I was a little distracted that De Havilland turned out to be such a good "father" to his operatives. It seemed a tiny bit too convenient.

The plot - involving kidnapping, OPEC, terrorists, secret government agencies, shadow cabinets and economic manipulation - was terrific. I always felt engaged, and De Campi left enough information to keep the reader up to date without bogging him/her down in needless minutiae. Overall, a terrific first book. I'm looking forward to more work from both Alex and Igor.
+++++++++++
Reread this, and I still enjoy it. The action scenes don't grab me like they apparently did 14 years ago and the plot is a bit indecisive in the end, but Smoke is still a solid action thriller. Kind of shocking no one's made a mediocre film of it yet.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Governos corruptos, conspirações sangrentas, organizações que controlam o mundo nos bastidos: num futuro próximo distópico, um assassino ao serviço do governo de sua majestade mergulha fundo numa conspiração ao investigar a morte do seu antigo mentor. Em causa está a luta entre a velha guarda e um aspirante ao controle de bastidores que manipula a OPEP e o primeiro ministro britânico, convencendo-os que a melhor forma de salvar o reino unido de intervenção pelo FMI é orquestrar um falso rapto do representante da OPEP, provocar um bloqueio petrolífero e apostar em futuros a curto prazo dos preços de combustíveis para lucrar enormemente durante a duração do bloqueio.

A premissa é intrigante, e Smoke tem alguns elementos verdadeiramente curiosos, como um grupo terrorista de pessoas obesas que luta pelo direito a operações plásticas que as deixem próximas do ideal de beleza, mas como distopia tecno-urbana é impossível não o comparar a Transmetropolitan, e aí este comic sai a perder. É curiosa a forma inconclusiva como termina, sem querer apontar para novos desenvolvimentos mas, talvez, a reflectir que as maquinarias do mundo vão rodando sem parar e nada, nunca, termina verdadeiramente.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Smoke brought to mind a less-memorable version of Transmetropolitan. There were a lot of funny asides and in-jokes about our media-saturated culture, as well as some pretty awesome battle scenes—but at the end of the day the story was lackluster and difficult to follow.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Edición española. Colección El Día después #8.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ejemplar con las portadas dañadas pero perfectamente legible. Colección El Día Después, tomo 8.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed the first half. but the ending confused and didn't compelte. lleft feeling unfinished...

[Frank McGirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unexception, but entertaining conspiracy story.

With super assasins.