Velvet Templeton is on the run, with friend and foe alike seeking to bring her back in from the cold. Friend and foe alike are underestimating her greatly… Your Major Spoilers review of Velvet #7 awaits!
VELVET #7
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve Epting
Colorist: Elizabeth Breitweiser
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Eric Stephenson
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
Previously in Velvet: Velvet has been betrayed, and now she’s going to found out who and why. If she’s going to prove her innocence, she has a lot of ground to cover. Good thing she’s been paying attention all these years…
“THIS IS WHY I HATE HUNTING SPIES…”
After the events of the last couple of issues, I’ve been wondering how the creative team is going to top themselves, but this issue answers the question easily. We find Colt, super-secret agent, tracking the fugitive Velvet around the globe, finding nothing but blind alleys and hornets’ nests. The first half of the issue finds him repeatedly being led into dangerous situations by her trail, and even the seasoned spy is a little bit stunned by her skills. Artistically, this whole issue is amazing work, opening with a high-speed cinematic combat sequence including a several story drop onto a parked car by our hero. Colt meets up with Sergeant Roberts, and they have a conversation that is at once very revealing (great use of exposition by Bru) and the second half of the issue follows Roberts in his efforts to catch Velvet. The first-person James Bond voiceover (or Wolverine captions, if you’re an old-school comics fans) are great, especially in how different each man’s “voice” is during their portion of the issue. With the exception of flashbacks by Roberts and Colt, Velvet isn’t actually *IN* the issue, but it’s unequivocally her show, especially when they piece together where she is headed, leading us to a wonderfully shocking last-page reveal that shows just how skilled Velvet is at playing the games of deceit and death.
VISUALLY STUNNING
This comic has, from day one, been really impressive work on the art front, but this issue ups the ante, with gun-battles, high powered weaponry, taking Colt & Roberts all over the world to track down the protagonist. A two-page sequence that is nothing more than Roberts reading Velvet’s file on a transport plane is beautifully rendered and detailed, and provides detail and versimilitude in shots of nothing more than a man sitting and reading, quite an impressive achievement. Brubaker’s plot has a lot of moving parts, but builds tension up until the final pages, and gives me an unexpected yet perfectly logical cliffhanger. As the second arc heats up, it seems that Ms. Templeton won’t be able to return to the life of a retired secretary, which brings me to wonder what kind of cool mischief might be in her future (assuming that this storyline doesn’t end with a fatality.) I’m hoping not, because the structure of this issue is a master class in story-telling, and more amazingly, it’s done without the main character in focus for the whole issue.
THE BOTTOM LINE: REALLY ENJOYING THIS…
There are a lot of comics on the stands that have a “superspy” motif, but most of them are focused on the big, dumb spectacle or James Bond notions of such tales. This book has a much more personal tone, a fascinating hero (who, it can’t be forgotten, is a female character over the age of 25, fighting a number of conventions), and the Brubaker take on morality and espionage, and the tolls it takes on the characters involved. Velvet #7 is an excellent story, with excellent art, another fine chapter in the life of Velvet Templeton, earning a very impressive 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. You really should check this book out…
