The Losers: Ante Up

By Alex De-Gruchy
December 28, 2005

Collecting the first six issues of the DC/Vertigo ongoing series by Andy Diggle and Jock, The Losers: Ante Up is the opening chapter in a story of a group of ex-CIA black ops soldiers, who want nothing more than their lives back after being betrayed by the Company. However, with the conspiracies, intrigue, violence and further betrayal that these six issues contain, it looks like it's going to be easier said than done for The Losers.

Plot

Clay, Pooch, Roque, Jensen and Cougar are five men who have been betrayed by the government they have fought for, for years. As a team of CIA black ops foot soldiers, they learned just how dirty the Company was. So soon enough, in their chopper, they go down in flames. The Company records it as a tragic accident - just another team who went down in the line of duty.

Except that The Losers aren't dead. Even though the Company believes otherwise they are very much alive, and now that they've been stabbed in the back, are officially dead, and have seen some of the things that the CIA is really involved in, they figure there's only one course of action - payback. And they know exactly who their ultimate target is - Max. Max was their handler in the CIA, a man none of them have ever met, but who is very real and is the architect of the attempt on their lives. These five men want their names taken off the death list - they want their lives back, and they will do whatever they have to do to destroy the Company and ensure they get what they want. They are also joined by an ally in the form of Aisha, a woman who is an active agent of the CIA, but who is secretly aiding them in their mission.

And so with this set-up we see The Losers put their skills to good use - hijacking military vehicles, intercepting and destroying a CIA shipment of heroin, infiltrating an insurance company for information, and assaulting an oil terminal that is secretly filled with CIA-owned weaponry. The story rolls along at a good pace, whether the characters are gathering information or pursuing an escaping plane on a runway, guns blazing. The revelation of a traitor within the team is also a nice twist that sets up some interesting story possibilities for future issues.

Characterisation

The Losers is very much an ensemble title and Andy Diggle has done an exceptional job in creating a group of unique and interesting individuals, rather than simply a group of interchangeable soldiers. Clay is the leader, an intelligent and cunning man who the others respect, and who, more than any of the others, wants to see Max burn for what he did to him and his men. Roque is the scowling hard-ass who doesn't have faith in Clay like the others do, and doesn't actually seem to like anyone. Pooch is reluctant to go along with Clay's plan, as all he wants to do is go back to his family, but the only time he can do that is when his name is taken off Max's hit list, so he figures he doesn't have much of a choice. Jensen is the joker of the group, the smart-ass with the mouth who lightens many of the otherwise serious scenes and who - unlike many other "comic relief" characters - is genuinely amusing and doesn't grate on the reader. Cougar is the silent one - he barely says more than a few lines throughout the entire six issues - but his skill with a sniper rifle is shown on more than one occasion and certainly does the talking for him. Aisha is deadly as well as beautiful, and has grown up with war and death as constant companions since she was a child. She works for the CIA, but is also helping Clay and his men at the same time - they are unsure where her loyalties lie, but Clay trusts her, so the others go along with it.

Art

The pencils and inks for the story are supplied by the artist known simply as Jock. He has a style that suits a book like this - one set in the real world, without a superhero in sight (although recently he has been contributing covers to the monthly Batman title). Jock's style brings to mind that of Sean Phillips, whose work I looked at in my previous review of Sleeper: Out In The Cold. However, it also seems to be influenced by artists such as Bill Sienkiewicz, with definite overtones of that scratchy pencilling style, although presented in a much more realistic way.

Much like Sean Phillips's style on Sleeper, there is a tendency by Jock to use too many blacks, particularly on the characters. The backgrounds don't seem to suffer the same problem, but from time to time the characters - particularly Clay - have their faces almost completely covered in shadow. While this can be used for a stylish and dramatic effect, it is still slightly excessive in some cases, especially when it occurs several times on one page. However on the whole, Jock has done a nice job of differentiating between the main characters so that each one stands out as an individual, which is extremely important when you have a title with an ensemble cast, as The Losers does.

Overall

Though I'd heard the buzz on The Losers since it was originally launched nearly three years ago, I still had low expectations from my own personal taste. But I'm glad to say that I was wrong, and that these first six issues exceeded my expectations in many ways. Revenge is always an interesting foundation for a story, and even though this is primarily what motivates Clay and his men, there is much more to this title than a simple revenge tale. The scenes of character interaction and ongoing plot points are just as gripping as the big action scenes - of which there are many. With its fantastic mix of political and military intrigue, fully-rounded and interesting characters and thrilling action scenes, The Losers: Ante Up is a title that definitely deserves a place in any comic book fan's collection.

Publisher: DC/Vertigo
Writing: Andy Diggle
Pencils & Inks: Jock
Colours: Lee Loughridge
Collects The Losers Issues #1-6