Fear Agent Library, Vol. One

Fear Agent’s violent, alcoholic protagonist, Heath Huston, careens from one crisis to another, driven by greed, self-loathing, and a self-destructive lack of insight second only to his capacity to stumble into the center of world-shattering events. A shattered man seeking oblivion in his work, the unshaven, careless Heath, haunted by memories of the war that devastated Earth and the crimes he committed in that war, stumbles into a new plot endangering his home world; easily manipulated, he soon manages to transform a simple alien invasion into a potentially universe-endangering crisis. Clearly emulating the science fiction of the 1940s, with art reminiscent of Eisner and more often of Mark Shultz, Fear Agent rejoices in its retro-pulp sensibilities. While it is true the accidental genocidaire lead is sometimes bothered by the cascading avalanche of unintended consequences to which his decisions lead, the focus remains on breakneck action, alien grotesques, and pin-up girl–style femme fatales. (Dec.)