The Activity #5

Written by Nathan Edmondson
Art by Mitch Gerads

I've seen this title criticized for being a little too 'television'.  Each issue has basically been structured around a single mission for the covert direct operations team that star in this comic.  We have not seen much in the way of character development, and haven't been given much information about the members of the team.

I agree with this criticism, but have also stuck with this series, as I have the feeling that Nathan Edmondson has a plan for this series, and is slowly building his larger story, while still making sure that each individual issue contains a complete mission. 

We have seen Team Omaha screw up a few times, and have seen that their star is definitely falling in the intelligence community in the US, while they are still being used to attempt ever more difficult missions, as if someone wants the team to fail.

In this issue, we see a little more of this back-room intrigue, before joining the team in Thailand, where it appears they've screwed up once again.  They are in custody, after being captured with a number of illegal weapons and ID that suggests they are Australian.  Choosing not to talk, they are soon tortured for information.  Edmondson works a nice little trick into the story though, so things aren't all what they appear to be.

While this is going one, we are given a number of flashbacks that follow the career of Locke, the team leader, and how he ended up in charge of the team.  It's nice to see his character being worked on.

Mitch Gerads, the artist of this book, has shown improvement with each issue, and much of this one looks amazing.  His pictures of a firefight in the snow in Afghanistan are terrific.  This book is steadily getting better and better.