MAYDAY #5
MINI SERIES FINALE The end of the affair. Bullets and betrayal as Rose and Felix play out their endgame in the bloody aftermath of the May Day riots.
A comiXologist recommends…sex, drugs, and violence!
MAYDAY #1 by Alex de Campi, Blond, and Tony Parker
Mayday #1 is difficult to explain, or even review. It is part Cold-War-thriller, part erotica, and part psychedelic drug trip. It sets up a story similar to the show The Americans, with two deep cover Russian intelligence agents on duty in the United States. As with any type of “spy thriller,” there was a sense of intrigue and danger along with a deep ideological divide. But there is more to Mayday.
This story begins with the archetypical spy elements, but quickly becomes a more primal cat and mouse game. Unlike most Western-produced spy fiction, the protagonists are Communist Russians, although being embedded in the United States allows the author to craft personas that feel American. Any sense of them being Russian is somewhat lost, their mission of bringing down the “capitalist devils of the United States” is lost. They come off more as lost and disillusioned American teens.
Halfway through this first issue, things take yet another turn. Explicit nudity and drugs take the forefront. Pinks, greens, and blues begin to twist and merge in odd shapes on the page like hallucinations. The book goes from classic thriller, to something unexpected and entirely different.
I recommend this title for the sole reason that it took me away from my comic-comfort-zone. So, if you are looking for something very different, read Mayday #1 – you just might like it.
Dane Cypel is not a deep cover Russian agent, or any type of secret agent, much to his chagrin.