Written by Mark Millar
Drawn by Matteo Scalera
Published by Image Comics
PREVIOUSLY: THE AMBASSADORS #5
This is it, the big finale (yeah, I know I’m months late on this, but I have a life, sue me). Choon-He personally leads The Ambassadors to the cost of South Korea, where they gather to stop a massive tidal wave that could trigger an explosion at a local nuclear power plant. The team succeeds in stopping the wave, but then Choon-He’s ex-husband Jin-Sung appears with his own team of super-powered billionaires.
What follows is an extended fight scene between superheroes and supervillains with the type of brutality that Mark Millar writes best. As exciting as it is, there are a couple of plot twists that Mark Millar has used before.
Yeah, here come some spoilers.
We learn how Jin-Sung had managed to hack Choon-He’s work. As we’ve seen in previous issues he’s had his people trying to bribe the various Ambassadors to no avail (apparently none of them told Choon-He about that). But he did manage to find a traitor, Choon-He’s assistant, Oksana. The traitor-in-the-midst is a Mark Millar staple from books like The Ultimates, Nemesis, and Starlight. And, just like in Nemesis, when the traitor reveals themselves, the villain double-crosses them and kills them.
Jin-Sung also acts like several other of Millar’s Big Bad protagonists. Going back to the Evil Doctor in The Authority, Red Skull in Ultimate Avengers, and the Marquis of Death in Fantastic Four. The Big Bad is seemingly invincible, clearly stronger than the heroes, but instead of just wiping them out immediately he decides to play and taunt them as he hurts them, which enables one of them to get the drop on him. That’s what happens here.
So The Ambassadors win, there’s a big celebration where new members from Italy, Scotland, and New Zealand get introduced, and Choon-He ponders whether they should pick an American member, which is a question we see addressed in Big Game #1.
Matteo Scalera, who previously worked with Millar on King Of Spies, drew this issue. I have to say, the gimmick of having a different artist draw each issue of this series worked out better than I thought it would. And it kept the series coming out on time.
The Ambassadors is a fun action adventure worth reading.
iBLOGalot 