Queen & Country

Oni Press. All written by Greg Rucka.
All Queen & Country and Queen & Country Declassified volumes are also released in matching hardcover editions.
1 Operation: Broken Ground (1-4, Oni Press Color Special [Q&C story only]; a Steve Rolston). [From Oni Press: As part of the Special Section of Britain's Ministry of Intelligence, Tara Chace is one of a handful of operatives they call when they need to clean up a mess, or to make a new one. It's a world of questionable morals. For instance, is it better to assassinate a general in the Russian mafia rather than allow him to peddle more guns and drugs in underprivileged countries? Tara's bosses seem to think so. But the Russian mafia ask their own question—once someone has taken the life of one of their officers, can they continue to let that person live? Greg Rucka peels back the lid on the traditional espionage story to see the nastiness inside, and Steve Rolston brings it to life with stunning clarity. Available in two formats: a special hardcover edition, which is a direct market exclusive and limited to one print run, and a more widely available softcover edition.] ArtBomb review
2 Operation: Morningstar (5-7; a Brian Hurtt). [From Oni Press: Afghanistan is one of the hottest political spots in the world. When the taleban discovers foreign journalists are also serving as covert-agents for the SIS, the Minders are put on a mission to find a secret contact list before the enemy does; however, when Director of Operations Paul Crocker decides to send only his male agents into the field, it doesn’t sit well with Tara Chace. Adding insult to injury, she’s currently required to attend therapy sessions to deal with the effects of previous operations. Not content to sit on her hands, Tara spends her time trying to piece together the puzzle, aiding Minders Wallace and Kittering in their race against the clock. This second collection of the acclaimed series QUEEN & COUNTRY breaks new ground for comics, tackling tough subject matter in a realistic and intriguing way. Written by Eisner-winner Greg Rucka, with art by Brian Hurtt, Bryan O’Malley, and Christine Norrie, chapter breaks by John K. Snyder III, and a cover by Durwin Talon. Available in two formats: a special hardcover edition, and a more widely available softcover edition. The hardcover will have faux leather and an embossed cover (no dustjacket), and it’s exclusive to the direct market.] ArtBomb review
3 Operation: Crystal Ball (8-12; a Leandro Fernandez). [Some (including me) are extremely upset with Tara Chace's transformation in this volume from a normal-looking woman into a generic super-heroine with abnormally large breasts. From Oni Press: Mahmoud Youssef, a Lebanese citizen, walks into a British Embassy in Cairo, declaring himself to be a member of the Group Islamique Arme and claiming to have information about a plot by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad to launch a terrorist attack on British citizens. Tara Chace, the operative designated Minder Two of the Special Section of the S.I.S., is immediately dispatched to meet with Youseff and strike a deal. What follows is a frenetic search across the world for the E.I.J.'s stockpile of Sarin gas and, more importantly, where they plan to unleash it. Sarajevo, Baghdad, Rome, Osaka - the Minders are determined to halt this deadly game before it even gets started.] ArtBomb review
4 Blackwall (13-15; a Jason Alexander). [From Oni Press: British Intelligence operative Tara Chace is accustomed to working in the shadows cast by world governments, but when Colin Beck, one of the Queen's most affluent subjects, is blackmailed by a French conglomerate trying to nab an important business contract with an explicit videotape starring Beck's daughter, Tara's espionage turns to the corporate variety. Little do the blackmailers know, the sex and lies they captured on videotape involved one of Tara's school-time friends, giving the agent extra incentive to foil the company and protect the interests of the Crown. To add to the stress of Tara's job, her relationship with fellow Minder Ed Kittering seems to be deteriorating. She knows in her heart that the relationship can't interfere with her job, and she also knows that if it goes on any longer, it will start to. What does a girl to do when she realizes she is using a man she doesn't love, but who truly loves her back? "This was the story arc that let us see Tara outside of the environment she was trained to be in," said series editor James Lucas Jones. "This is Tara without the danger and guns. This is Tara in London helping a friend who is being blackmailed by the French government and also dealing with a relationship that she knows needs to end. But will she end it, or will she and Ed stay in a relationship that compromises their job?" "This arc was what I was building up to." Rucka said. "In previous arcs, Tara and her colleagues were put through the wringer. Here, it's the calm after the storm. The climax of Tara and Ed's relationship, the seediness that goes on behind the scenes of our governments without the high-octane action of the earlier arcs, and the Minders trying to live normal lives outside of their work and the field that they are thrown into when a new mission arises for them are all found within these pages." To go along with the format of the previous collections, Blackwall will have simultaneous trade paperback and hardcover editions. The contents will be identical to one another, but the hardback will have a faux leather cover, no dustjacket, with embossed lettering. It will be strictly limited to initial orders, with the same design as other volumes to match each other.] Book of the Week 10/22/03
5 Operation Stormfront (16-20; a Carla Speed McNeil). [From Oni Press: When an agent dies in the field, it's his fellow spies that are always hit the hardest. When the agent that doesn't make it home is an ex-lover, "hard" doesn't begin to describe it. As Tara Chace and the rest of her department reel over the demise of one of their own, a ghost from Director Paul Crocker's past has him sending his Minders into danger yet again. But will this operation free Crocker from his ghosts or merely create new ones?]
6 Operation Dandelion (21-24; a Mike Hawthorne). [From Oni Press: Every job has its office politics, but when you're a spy in service to your queen and your country, the politics in play take on a much larger scale. When the chief of S.I.S. is forced into retirement by a stroke, Head of Operations Paul Crocker is forced to play a new game in order to keep his good standing and his job. But are agents Tara Chace and Tom Wallace prepared to be Crocker's pawns in this new match? And how will it be for Poole, the new Minder who has to step over two dead bodies in order to take his post?]
7 Operation Saddlebags (25-28; a Steve Rolston). [From Oni Press: Still recovering from the death of her co-worker and lover, Tara Chace is granted a brief reprieve from London's rain and MI6's bureaucracy. This emotionally charged vacation takes Chace to the slopes of Switzerland for a visit with old friends and family. But being an agent for Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence leaves little time for rest and Chace is quickly thrown into another mission of national importance. A junior minister with close ties to the Prime Minister appears to be selling state secrets to the Russians, and the Minders are assigned to quietly investigate. Tara is forced to walk a tight rope between the violent dangers inherent in the field of espionage and the discretion inherent in the bureaucracy of the government, all the while assuming the new position of Minder One and field-testing a new agent.]
8 Operation Red Panda (Contents unknown; a Chris Samnee). [From Oni Press: Operation: Red Panda has the Minders being deployed to the war-torn streets of Iraq to investigate and potentially "terminate" an Iraqi bureaucrat who is suspected of giving allied secrets to local insurgents. As the old saying goes, all plans goes out the window once the first bullet is fired. And when things go from bad to worse for Tara, years of trauma and abuse come violently forward.]
Definitive Collection
Volume 1 (1-12; a Steve Rolston, Brian Hurtt, Leandro Fernandez). [From Oni Press: Queen & Country, the Eisner Award-winning and critically lauded espionage series from acclaimed novelist and comic book author Greg Rucka, is back in a new series of definitive editions collecting the entire classic series in just four affordable soft covers. In this first collection, readers are introduced to the thrilling and often-times devastating world of international espionage as SIS field agent Tara Chase is sent all over the world in service to her Queen & Country all the while Director of Operations Paul Crocker walks a narrow tightrope between his loyalty to his people and the political masters that must be served!]
Novels
A Gentleman's Game (Bantam Books; prose novel). [From Bantam Books: Tara Chace may be the most dangerous woman alive. She can seduce you into believing she’s the woman of your dreams—or kill you with the icy efficiency of an executioner. As the new head of Special Operations for British Intelligence, she no longer has to court death in the field—she wants to. Throw away the old rules, the old school, the old-boy network. The world of international espionage is about to learn the hard way that spying is no longer merely…A GENTLEMAN’S GAME. Greg Rucka’s electrifying thrillers have pushed the boundaries of suspense fiction to where few have dared to go. Now, in A Gentleman’s Game, one of the genre’s most fearless writers brings readers of international espionage his most fearless heroine yet: a no-holds-barred woman who’s as lethal as an assassin’s bullet. When an unthinkable act of terror devastates London, nothing will stop Tara Chace from hunting down those responsible. Her job is simple: stop the terrorists before they strike a second time. To succeed, she’ll do anything and everything it takes. She’ll have to kill again. Only this time the personal stakes will be higher than ever before. For the terrorist counterstrike will require that Tara allow herself to be used as bait by the government she serves. This time she’s turning her very life into a weapon that can be used only once. But as she and her former mentor race toward destiny at a remote terrorist training camp in Saudi Arabia, Tara begins to question just who’s pulling the trigger—and who’s the real enemy. In this new kind of war, betrayal can take any form...including one’s duty to queen and country. Based on the graphic novel series that won the coveted Eisner Award, A Gentleman’s Game is an electrifyingly realistic, headline-stealing thriller with an unforgettable protagonist—one who redefines every rule she doesn’t shatter.]
Private Wars (Bantam Books; prose novel). [From Bantam Books: Only Greg Rucka, the thriller genre’s most fearless writer, would dare create a spy so edgy, so explosive, so extreme, she should be rated X. Tara Chace was once the most dangerous woman alive. And now that the international spy network thinks she’s as good as dead, she’s even more dangerous than ever. Only one thing could coax Tara back into the game: a chance to vindicate herself. The torture and execution of Dina Malikov has set off a cutthroat grab for power in strategically crucial Uzbekistan. Tara’s job is to slip into the country and extract Dina’s pro-Western husband and their young son before they are murdered–by his ruthless sister. But there are a couple of wild cards in the deck, including a missing mobile weapons system that can bring down a commercial airliner, not to mention powerful political careers. Now, as she vanishes into hostile territory with a man who may or may not be what he seems, Tara is going to find out that the war on terror is more terrifying than anyone knows. For in a battle where betrayal is a conventional weapon, loyalty is a weakness, and anyone–even a child–is a legitimate target: it’s every spy, every woman, for herself. Combine a thriller that defies every expectation with a heroine for whom nothing is out of bounds, and the result is Private Wars, a suspense novel so explosively realistic, it should be classified. ]

Queen & Country: Declassified

1 [Untitled] (3-issue mini; a Brian Hurtt). [From Oni Press: Before Paul Crocker was head of British Intelligence's special section, he paid his dues as an agent in the field. After an attempt to extract a political refugee from Berlin ends in colossal failure, Crocker is immediately sent to carry out a similar assignment in Prague. Racked by guilt and shame, this time he is determined to succeed at all costs. Leaving his new wife and the quiet home they dream of behind, Crocker commits himself to the double-edged world of espionage once and for all. Declassified provides a unique look back at the beginnings of one of the most popular characters in the award-winning Queen & Country comic book series, written by novelist Greg Rucka (A Fistful of Rain). Illustrated by Queen & Country alumni Brian Hurtt (Gotham Central, Three Strikes), this volume illuminates the past of espionage of planting seeds for the future of Queen & Country.]

2 [Untitled] (3-issue mini; a Rick Burchett). [From Oni Press: Tom Wallace was the confident and poised Head of Section in the first six volumes of the critically acclaimed Queen & Country series, but that wasn't always the case. Declassified looks back at his first days as an agent when he was sent to Hong Kong to investigate the murder of a British National.]
3 Sons and Daughters (3-issue mini; w Antony Johnston; a Christopher Mitten). [From Oni Press: A conflict in Northern Ireland has the S.A.S. racing to prevent a terrorist bombing which may or may not be an ambush, while at the same time trying to thwart the assassination of a politician who¹s calling for peace. But can there be peace as generations of conflict continue to exact a fatal toll on the sons and daughters of those that came before?]