GEEKS REVIEW: Simon N. Kirby, The Agent #1

https://vocal.media/geeks/simon-n-kirby-the-agent-1

by STEVEN LEITMAN

The Agent is the story of FBI Agent Simon N. Kirby and the world of G-Man Comics. In his world, all superheroes are registered with the government. As part of the Super Hero Registration Act, superheroes may be pressed into service to protect their country as needed. Simon N. Kirby is the man in charge of the FBI’s superhero team, the G-Men. It operates in a “mission impossible” style, where he selects the right agents for the right mission.

I love when new, to me anyway, companies send me stuff and want me to review their books or that I have discovered and asked to review their work.  This is an amalgamation of what we already know and yet because of its very nature it still manages to feel fresh and new which I adore. I think that this is a smartly done story that introduces us to this team of characters and leaves so much about them completely open that it engages the reader beautifully.  It makes me want to know and see more of them and their place on the team.

I am enjoying the way that this is being told.  The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented really well.  I like how we see things unfold as the story for this segment is told and we get a chance to see just how this team operates a little bit.  The character development is a little weak but then again it suddenly bursts with a lot of characters and what we do get does make us want to see more and learn more so we can tell if the characters we like or dislike are real feelings.  The pacing is solid and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story its really nice to see.

How this is being structured and how the layers within the story are coming to life is well conceived.  I do think that the robbery is odd and it throws me off as a reader as to if its happened or will happen or what the heck is going on?  That could’ve been explained a tad bit better but hey it is a great opportunity to get to see this white power style group.  The way everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is well executed.

I really like the interiors here.  The costumes can be a bit overwhelmingly patriotic but the fact that they are consistent throughout is utterly impressive.  The linework is great as its strong and laid down beautifully and with the varying weights the detail work we see really stands out extremely well.  With the composition within the panels, including the backgrounds, we get some great depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story.  The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stupendous eye for storytelling.  The comic book style art really fits extremely well with the book and the story and it does wonders with adding extra characterisation.  The colour work is solid stuff.  How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is smart and interesting.  That more than one technique is utilised in laying down the colour means we get different looks and feels for what is happening and I’m impressed.
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This is the kind of book i’d find at a small press booth at a convention and get totally excited about.  So please do them the service of checking out these books they’ve got.  It’s a new world with a familiar feel but a totally fresh perspective to it and that’s what I love about small press books.  You can find them here, https://g-man-comics.com/ , so check em out and let me know what you think!