Cold War #1

Leave it to artist/writer John Byrne to turn a genre on its ear. The master of taking an old idea, or character(s), and reengineering/re-imagining them has always been a John Byrne specialty and he proves he stills has the chops to pull it off as evident in his new title from IDW: Cold War.

Set in the 1950s during the height of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Cold War follows the adventures of British spy Michael Swann as he deals with defectors, beautiful women, sinister villains and secrets in “The Damocles Contract”.

Things start out with a bang in East Berlin, as a top Soviet official inspects the coffin containing the body of Swann. The only problem is Swann is not dead and when the official opens the coffin, Swann swiftly kills him. Taking the dead man’s cloths, Swann manages to escape to West Berlin after a series of maneuvers and dodges that would make James Bond green with envy.


After a short recuperative period Swann confronts his bungling superior who he believes blew his cover and promptly quits. Two years later Swann accepts an assignment to investigate a possible defector and what he gets is far more than he bargained for.


John Byrne is at the top of his form. It’s nice to see the old Byrne magic as strong as ever. Everything clicks: the art, the story and especially the characters. Bravo!


Included, as an extra bonus, is a sneak peek of IDW’s new series Memorial about a young woman who remembers nothing of her past that has some very unusual connections.