Bang! by Matt Kindt and Wilfredo Torres

Bang! is definitely familiar ground for Matt Kindt; a secret agent romp with a heavy slice of weird on the side. The story opens with tackling the question of how James Bond manages to still be a relatively young all action hero despite first bursting onto the scene in the 60s, and just why does he look like a different person every few years? We then jump into an almost Morrisoneqsue metatextual team up adventure with variations of John McClane, Miss Marple/Poirot, and an east Asian techno-spy whose homage I'm sure I would be able to explain if only I was a bit better well-read.

The plot races to a somewhat rushed and truncated ending that feels more like a set-up for the next chapter in the story of these characters - indeed, the book finishes with 'to be continued'. The story itself is interesting enough, but the best chapters and the first 4 which focus individually on our cast of characters, where Kindt does a good job of balancing the recognisable aspects of these cultural tropes with new little twists of his own.

The clear and simple animation style art by Wilfredo Torres (aided by the bold colouring of Nayoung Kim and Bill Crabtree) lends an air of a good old Saturday morning action adventure. The collected edition includes characters sketches from Kindt that make you wish he drew as many comics as he writes.

An enjoyable and intriguing comic, Bang! is only let down by the feeling that the initial 5 issue series was perhaps too short to really explore the ideas that flow from its pages.

Title: Bang!

Writer: Matt Kindt

Artist: Wilfredo Torres

Publisher: Dark Horse

Collected edition, originally published as #1-5

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