Written by: Ed Brisson
Art by: Michael Gaydos
Published by: IDW
Jack is back. And as those who have been watching the show would know already, Jack Bauer has spent the past few years hiding out in Europe hiding from his government. This series of 24 is titled Underground and takes place between the end of series 8 and before the current TV series.
As a recap to this series, we have seen that Bauer has been laying low in the Ukraine with his girlfriend Sofiya, under the alias of Borys and is living a relatively happy life. This is until Sofiya’s brother, whom works with Borys, gets himself into some trouble with the mob and to pay them back have instructed Petro, Sofiya’s brother, to steal a Meth truck. Jack sees the mob threatening Petro and tells him not to worry and that he has a plan. His plan is that he will be the surprise element when the truck gets handed over and will threaten them. But his cover is blown when he is recognised by one of the gangster boss. While all this is going on, the stealing of the truck has drawn the attention of the CIA who have now started a manhunt for him.
In this issue we see more of the same of Jack on the run with Petro trying to get to his family and Sofiya before the mob does, all while the CIA are tracking Jack’s every move though at this point is at least one step behind him. Being 24 it wouldn’t be so simple for Jack to get to both Sofiya and Petro’s family in time so one of them is captured by the mob boss and this together with the mob calling Jack, on his flip phone, makes him want to give himself over, only what he doesn’t realise is that the leverage the mob may have had over him could all now be lost, but the issue ends on this cliff-hanger.
This really is a fun book for any 24 fan. Every part of the story plays out exactly like any of the TV series so far and the translation from TV to comic book is done excellently and perhaps is my favourite comic adaptation of 24 yet. Whereas previous 24 comic books have gone for the whole real time element as the main emphasis, this book throws that away and concentrates on the excellent dialogue and the story as a whole, the writing for Jack is truly the Jack Bauer, Keifer Sutherland, we all love.
Despite the lack of the digital clock and the real time it is still such an honest interpretation and this is what makes this book feel and read so well. The art works really well too because it is very grey and gritty and the darkness and shadows portray the underworld of the mob very nicely. The only criticism I have is that sometimes it is hard to tell who is who during some sequences and I don’t know if this is the details on the face work or just because some of the sequences are action oriented and this makes it difficult to follow anyway.
My only gripe with the series as a whole though is around the fact that I am not too bothered about the series as a whole and I don’t see the need for it. My reasoning is that we know he is not going to get caught by the CIA and won’t die because we now have a “Series 9” so what’s the point of this story then? Well the answer is is that if you are a fan of the 24 franchise then this is just a great story and you should definitely read it just to have another adventure with Jack getting to know him a slight bit better.
