On the run, superspy Jahan Cross has to turn to some unlikely allies to help him uncover the Iron Eclipse plot in this week’s issue of Agent of the Empire #3.
After the tuxedos, women, and fancy parties of the second issue, Agent of the Empire #3 switches gears to high-speed chases and cops as intelligence agent Jahan Cross is wrongly wanted for murder and needs to beat the heat while tracking down those who have set him up – and kidnapped IN-GA 44, his droid assistant.
Escaping by stolen speeder bike from the Stark mansion, Cross ditches his ride in an explosion over a waterfall. Believing Cross had survived, local detective Myrsk smartly tracks down the pair he saw with Cross the previous day on the street, Han Solo and Chewbacca. After Myrsk’s departure, Cross emerges from Solo’s secret smuggling compartments and hires the two to fly him to the site of the Iron Eclipse on the following day. Breaking into the Imperial embassy, Cross confronts the traitorous Emesh Nar in his quarters, but Nar reveals nothing before having a slow draw. After a call to report to his boss, Armand Isard, Cross steals a shuttle, but ends up being forced back down to the planet and pursued through the streets in it, before diving into the path of a train to crash his ride yet again, and glide away on his escape wings. But Myrsk and his men haven’t given up on catching Cross yet.
John Ostrander continues to keep the secret agent action going in this issue, using popular Bond tropes: the agent cut off from all his official resources, having to do deal with traitors in his midst, running afoul of the local law enforcement, and trying to fake his death in fiery explosions, not once but twice! While these plot items aren’t original, Ostrander assembles them well, and inserts some new things: Cross’s flashback when confronting Nar’s “date” and calling her a name from his own past. Setting the story in the Corporate Sector fits well to allow for CorSec law enforcement to act independently and differently than the Empire would handle things – I’m enjoying the hardboiled detective.
In this issue, artist Stephane Roux takes a break and lets Stéphane Créty, a newcomer to American comics, take over the penciling. While there is a bit of a difference in art, it isn’t that noticeable, except Sgt. Myrsk has a bit more spittle, and some slight differences in hair style (Han’s mop at times reminds me more of young Boba’s haircut). But since the overall style change is minor and mostly seamless, it doesn’t cause a disjoint in the storytelling.
Overall, I’m hooked.