It was the late, great, and overweight Winston Churchill who said, “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.” He uttered this right before he entered into a shaky truce with Stalin to defeat the German forces during the explosive sequel to Europe’s first World War.
RELATED: ‘Beer & Bullets’ #1 Review – The Slugs Fly While The Suds Flow In This Action-Packed Indie Crossover
There’s another saying about how politics and crime make strange bedfellows, but I highly doubt the American in this story would have any complaints about that.
Set in the year 1963 on the Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait, these two rocky islands act as a Russian military base (Big Diomede), while the American side (Little Diomede) is inhabited by a small population of Iñupiat natives. Not that it’s relevant to the story, but it’s not like that information is going to kill you.
Retiring FBI Agent Collins is sent by Washington to investigate what looks to be a ritualistic murder of an unidentified young woman in the neutral “No Man’s Land” section of the Ice Curtain. It’s a frozen path which appears every year for three months, and people can (theoretically!) walk the ten-mile strip that connects the United States and Russian territory.
Agent Collins is met by the much younger (and much hotter) Agent Sonia Fiodrow of the KGB. They enter into an uneasy alliance at the height of tension between the two nations. The threat of nuclear war between the superpowers hangs overhead while a disturbed killer lurks in the shadows, and every clue they find leads to an even more shocking revelation than the last.
The four-issue story was written and illustrated by Szymon Kudrański (Spawn, One Man Art, The Punisher). It’s a political thriller in the vein of David Fincher, and the bleak atmosphere makes the reader feel like they’re in that isolated, frozen tundra with the two agents from warring factions. The artwork and tone of the story are top-notch, even if the exposition gets a little winded halfway through, but that’s par for the course when it comes to this particular genre.
Otherwise, it’s an entertaining read, and highly recommended to anyone looking for deeper isolation this winter. No Man’s Land #1 through #4 are available over at the Image Comics website, and the trade paperback copy is coming to a comic book shop near you on May 19th.
