Written by Mark Millar
Drawn by Matteo Buffagni
Published by Image Comics
PREVIOUSLY: THE AMBASSADORS #4
This issue features a most unusual new selection for Choon-He’s program. Bob Taylor is a 72-year-old man from Australia. He used to be Deputy Prime Minister and has a history of Far Right policies and hypocritical behavior. Despite this, he reveals a personal secret that convinces Choon-He that he’s the right person to empower to become Codename: Australia. And, unlike the others, his identity is made public.
We see Bob in action, rescuing some lost mountaineers in Siberia. This is a bit more complicated than Bob expected due to only being able three superpowers at a time, and only the ones that other Ambassadors aren’t using at that time, but Bob relishes the challenge, especially since before he was empowered he was wheelchair-bound and suffering from a myriad of physical ailments. But just when you think this is a standard new-superhero-in-training issue, Mark Millar pulls out one of his classic plot twists.
First, Bob meets a man Jamie, who is not part of Choon-He’s program, but has superpowers of his own. I think he’s supposed to be the South African man we saw being hunted by soldiers in the first issue, but it’s hard to tell for sure due to there being different artists drawing him. In any case, he warns Bob about what’s coming next, before suddenly disappearing. And then in the end we see Choon-He’s ex-husband Jin-Sung, and the group of people he’s been giving powers to with the info he’s managed to steal from her, and they are one nasty bunch. It looks like a budding superhuman war is brewing…
This has been one of my favorite comics from the beginning, and I’m loving this world that Mark Millar is building. Matteo Buffagni, who previously worked with Millar as the artist on Prodigy: The Icarus Society, does a fine job here on the artwork.
If you want exciting superhero action with a compelling backstory, you need to be reading this series.
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