“The Losers GN came into my reading orbit after I saw previews from the movie. (I know, for shame!) But I'm glad it did. Although I did enjoy the movie, I couldn't help feeling like a lot was left out.
Sure enough, thanks to a recent LA Times article, writer Andy Diggle said the movie version of The Losers was "a lot lighter, less grim and a lot less political". Naturally, I had to check out the original source material.
Ante Up begins right in the middle of the action after the black Ops team calling themselves The Losers plan on getting back the CIA for abandoning them on a prior mission. Clay, the head of the team, isn't keen on letting the agency go so quickly. So when he discovers all the underhanded shenanigans that the agency is involved in, he sees the prime time to get his and his team's identities and lives back. All with the help of the mysterious Aisha who may or may not be on their side.
I really enjoyed Ante Up. The mature rating is spot on with the amount of violence and cursing but the story is pretty awesome in dealing with true to life issues surrounding the government. Issues such as arms dealing and drug operations:
Jensen: So they're selling sh-- to the American people to raise money to protect the American people from the guys who produce the sh-- they're sellin' them in the first place. That is f-- up on so many levels, man...
Clay: Don't kid yourself. Only people they're protecting here are their lobbyist buddies in arms and oil.
Pooch: It's there right on the dollar bill, man--In G.O.D. we trust...
Roque: What the h-- does God have to do with it?
Aisha: Guns. Oil. Drugs. The holy trinity.
With an allusion to the Iran Contra situation of the 1980s, Diggle makes this series grounded with some interesting commentary that I wish was kept in the movie.
The strength is in the characters and how they interact with each other. Each 'loser' has his and her own personality and way of talking which bounces off their comrades well. Having a soft spot for awesomely deadly heroines, I loved Aisha even though she terrified me sometimes. I wish her character was more developed from the comic to movie translation.
In any event, although this may seem like another shoot-em-up conspiracy comic series, definitely check out The Losers for some great characters, epic action movie style storytelling and humor. I'm definitely hooked and will be checking out the rest of the books! ”
Rae Lori wrote this review Wednesday, May 19, 2010.
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