Review: Alpha Volume 4 Sanctions
When I was growing up, morals in the movies and TV shows, were certainly not complicated. They made clear distinctions of who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Take TV shows like GI Joe, where there was no questioning that Destro and Cobra Commander were evil and Duke and Flint were good. They even made it clear with the ninjas, but wearing opposite colors, as Snake Eyes wore black and Storm Shadow wore white.
AS the audience became more intelligent, the movies and TV shows became more complicated in their dealings with morality. One of those movies which started to question the status quo, was Rambo: First Blood, which did not play out as an action thriller but more like a horror movie. A recent movie, brought back the questioning of those morals once again, in The Iceman, where Michael Shannon’s character, plays a contract killer, who lives a double life. Both characters remind me of the arch nemesis must face in the fourth and final volume of Alpha, Sanctions.
In this volume, Alpha and his partner must escort a high valued foreign official while in country, but little do any of them know, a retired killer, for the former KGB is in Washington DC. As sanctions take place, between both governments, bodies on both sides start to drop all over the Capital Beltway. Alpha starts digging into this retired bogeyman, and finds many unresolved problems, as he is starting to understand his motivation. By book end, Alpha exposes a massive coverup, which puts everyone in check and leaves Alpha, the moral hero.
Overall, a great conclusion, to an enticing spy series, which leaves the reader, reaching for their old copy of their favorite Tom Clancy novel. The story by Youri Jigounov has all the flash and bang that makes these spy thrillers a must read. The art by Mythic is alluring. Altogether, a morality tale in a world filled with shadows that proves everyone must suffer a consequence.
Story: Youri Jigounov Art: Mythic
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy
The way we realize we are aging, is remembering certain events that are recorded in history. My grandparents, on my mother’s side, used to tell us stories of how cruel the Japanese were, during their occupation during World War II, which is now literally last century. My parents, both were new to New York, during the “Summer of Sam”, where everyone was scared to walk the streets. During my time, there a fair number of events that have marked my life.
The 1980s were fertile ground for filmmakers, as some of the best films ever made was during this era. Yes, there were a ton of movies, that were just plain cheesy and doesn’t hold up today, no matter how many viewings. To me, that was part of their charm, their innocuous disregard for anything that makes sense, as Honest Trailers would have a field day with any number of movies. This was also one of the very last times, that a movie star’s name was enough to guarantee ticket sales.
Organized crime is one of those subjects that people both fear and love at the same time. Who can watch the Godfather or Goodfellas, ad not fall in love with these characters and their lifestyles. Even in real life, such figures as John Gotti and Al Capone are pretty much immortalized in the public sphere. What most of the media sometimes fails to realize, is just about every culture has organized crime.