The Activity #6

Written by Nathan Edmondson
Art by Marc Laming

The Activity has come under a lot of criticism for its lack of character development and a long-term plot, but I am really enjoying this military series which works in a 'done-in-one' format.

This issue is set in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003, and features only one member of the regular cast - the character we've come to know as Fiddler.  She is part of an Army Civil Affairs unit that has been tasked with making contact with a group of Congolese fighters that are enemies of some warlord named Dugare, to share information and coordinate some further action. 

Leslie (who became Fiddler upon joining Team Omaha) discovers that the guy her four-man unit is meeting with has actually allied himself with Dugare, and the Americans are soon pursued as they move towards their exfil site. 

This is a pretty standard story, but it works very well as an exciting war comic.  Is there more going on here than what we see?  I'm not sure - I though that in the last issue the team was being sent to DR Congo, so perhaps the fall-out of this mission will affect the team in the future, but the next issue box says something about Kazakhstan (where they have to assassinate Borat?), so I don't know when or if we'll be returning to this setting.

The art in this issue is provided by guest artist Marc Laming, who as been impressing me on Exile on the Planet of the Apes.  I'm not sure where Mitch Gerads went - this is a creator owned book, so it's odd to see a guest artist, but it's all good, as Laming's art fits with the look Gerads has crafted, and he's a very good artist.  I do want to say that I don't like the digitally added rain effect that is used throughout the comic - for a while I thought that there was perhaps a printing error in my copy, especially since none of the characters look like they are getting wet.