High Crimes

Following a disgraceful wipeout during competition, former Olympic snowboarder Zan Jensen makes a living as a guide on Mount Everest, with a sideline in retrieving and identifying the bodies of climbers who met their fate on the unforgiving mountain. When her elder partner unwittingly identifies the body of a long-missing and sought-after espionage operative, a clandestine group of "strange agents" is dispatched to recover the corpse and the dead spy's journal of volatile secrets, and eliminate anyone possessing knowledge of both. Utterly relentless, and unhindered by a conscience, the agents have Zan in their crosshairs, so she flees to the mountain. In this taut and riveting exercise in cinematic storytelling on the page, Sebela's tense script and Moustafa's clean, detailed art dramatize the action perfectly. This is must-read stuff that Hollywood would be advised to adapt as an alternative to the glut of superhero cinema. (July)