Pigs #4

Written by Nate Cosby and Ben McCool
Art by Breno Tamura and Will Sliney

Pigs is a very interesting comic.  It's about a group of Soviet sleeper agents who were hidden in Cuba to wait for orders.  The original members of the cell raised their children to carry on their mission, which has now actually begun.

The core members of the group have come the United States to carry out their mission, which so far has remained shrouded in mystery, except for some scenes in the first issue which are finally picked up on again in this fourth issue involving one of the original members of the cell being interrogated about the whereabouts of the President.  They have his hand it seems - it's just the rest of them that's missing.

Anyway, most of this issue continues from the last, where the cell have attacked the vacation home of an American senator.  Felix, the one member who had left the cell and made a life for himself in the US, before being forced back into this mess, is still reluctant to use lethal force (despite the fact that we have been led to believe that he killed a gun shop owner last month).  There is tension in the group, and we learn that the Senator may not have been targeted for information, but for another reason.

It's all very mysterious, this book.  What is clearest are the flashbacks to Cuba in the early 90s, where Felix and his associate killed some boys who were picking on him, despite the fact that it led the cell exposed to discovery.  Each issue lately has been showing us more about Felix's unhappy childhood, and it is clear that the writers are expecting to make a lot of use of this character.

I like the way so much is being played close to the vest, while enough information is being dribbled out to make the reader continue their interest.  Tamura's art is looking stronger with each issue, the Will Sliney-drawn flashbacks work nicely, and amazingly, so far this book has kept to a monthly schedule (check out Ben McCool's track record on his other titles, if you are curious as to why I think that is remarkable).  Also, this month's issue has a Becky Cloonan cover, so you know it has to be cool.