Queen and country definitive edition

Get A Copy. Paperback , pages. Published May 12th by Oni Press first published February 18th More Details Original Title. Queen and Country: The Definitive Edition 4. Other Editions 1. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Queen and Country , please sign up. Lists with This Book.

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Dec 28, Sesana rated it liked it Shelves: comics. It seems this will be the last of Queen and Country in comics format. A shame. A bit of a shame also that this volume doesn't advance Chace's storyline from the previous volume. Instead, we have three stories from early in the careers of Crocker, Wallace, and Poole.

I was glad to read Crocker's, because I'd been wondering exactly what had happened with Karpin back in the day. Wallace's was decent enough and had a good backdrop the handover of Hong Kong from the British to the Chinese but didn' It seems this will be the last of Queen and Country in comics format. Wallace's was decent enough and had a good backdrop the handover of Hong Kong from the British to the Chinese but didn't thrill me.

Possibly because I'd never been terribly interested in Wallace. Quite a change of scenery and pace from the average Queen and Country story, but for me the most riveting story in this collection.

Not the best Queen and Country, to be sure, and I would have liked to have seen more of Chace in comics format, but still a nice way to send the series off. Jan 25, Matt Smith rated it liked it Shelves: read-in , comics , spies-and-espionage. Ops in the main series. His story tells the story of a particularly dangerous operation he undertook as a Minder like Tara Chace during the Cold War. To be honest, this was the greatest thing ever. It has bite, it has intrigue, it had excitement, and it made me ache for Rucka to write an 80s era spy thriller about Crocker as a Minder.

This was everything I wanted and was so good. Tom Wallace The second arc centered on an operation that took Tom Wallace to Hong Kong on the eve of the British Empire reverting said territory back to Chinese control. Needless to say, because this was also written by Rucka, this was also insanely excellent. Rucka is one of the smartest writers out there right now and his work is always symbolized by every character having a distinct and specific perspective on every situation they find themselves in.

Placing Tom in the where and when of the Hong Kong handover means that Rucka gets to play in a gunpowder sandbox. Which brings us to Nick Poole This was going to be the hardest sell.

Nick Poole is a character introduced at the very end of the second volume so he's more of an unknown quantity as far as I'm concerned. I am excited to get to know him more, but doing this story this way is not the way to do it. For one thing, Rucka didn't write it. Storywise, it is a mess of seemingly random nonlinear storytelling.

The characters are one-dimensional and poorly defined. If you wanted to do a story about a soldier in the SAS who got tangentially involved in some IRA activities in the early s then maybe this would be for you. It's doesn't have the deep politics and political intrigue. It doesn't have the electric spark of exciting spy action. It doesn't have the good characters. And I know why it's last. But the last story took me days and days to read.

And it was 80 pages. So really. That sucks. Regardless, anyone reading these reviews should still check out these graphic novels. Because they are wonderful. I will confess that I am rather fond of Definitive Editions of Greg Rucka's over all very well crafted spy series, which I took to from a strong opening in the first volume and only saw sharpened to its finest in the second one. As such, it I will confess that I am rather fond of Definitive Editions of Greg Rucka's over all very well crafted spy series, which I took to from a strong opening in the first volume and only saw sharpened to its finest in the second one.

As such, it left that final, main volume lacking in resolution as well as in actual set-up of that final arc within the volume itself. This actual final volume in some sense lets go of all that, as it collects three miniseries each three issues long , focusing on the back stories of some of the characters. As such, we do not see Tara Chace at all in these arcs, but they nevertheless add things to the overall story of the series.

First out, and possibly the best of the three, is Declassified Vol. This tells the story of the failed Karpin extraction in Berlin in , when Crocker was an active operative. The event has obviously been referenced previously in the series, which makes it all the sweeter to see the story fleshed out.

And Hurtt really makes the divided city of Berlin come to life in his art. While not as directly tied into the main series as Crocker series, it still serves to present some solid background on Wallace.

Finally, Rucka hands over the writing to Antony Johnston with whose other work I am as of yet unfamiliar , who teams up with Christopher Mitten to produce Declassified Vol. Nicholas Poole. The story which is mainly set in Northern Ireland in with flashbacks to is solid and presents events from Poole's days as an SAS man in Northern Island, as well as tying in with the events in , when his father was killed in the line of duty.

The latter does lend itself to a more personal story line, and as such less tied into the job itself even if it does go to show some of Poole's character and also makes for a good story in its own right , leaving it a little bit of an odd creature in the collection, and even the series, as a whole.

The collection is rounded off with some behind the scenes material consisting of sketches and some interviews with some of the artists, as well as with Johnston, conducted by Rucka himself.

These offer an interesting insight into the work on the series. All in all, it is a good final volume for now and all three stories are resolved within these pages, so there is nothing left hanging. Nov 13, Arun rated it really liked it. The panels and story is so detailed and so cinematic that I'm sure if it were taken for screenplay we will have one hell of a good spy story.

Full credit to the illustrators for bringing the story to life. And the black and white art perfectly adds the suspense, grit and all the things you would want in a tale of this sort. Three amazing arcs detailing the before lives of three important characters is what this volume is. It just adds more depth and history to the series. But the thing I like The panels and story is so detailed and so cinematic that I'm sure if it were taken for screenplay we will have one hell of a good spy story.

But the thing I liked the most about this volume is not in the story part stellar as always but the extras. The conversation between the writer and artists were an eye opener into how such amazing stories come to life. Hearing them discuss the subtlties and details of the drama they are trying to portray gives the reader an appreciation for the craft. We might learn something new like a detail that went over our head, maybe a significantly huge detail that was easily missed but upon revision you are like, f how did I miss that.

Not all readers are meticulous enough to catch such fine details but these conversations between the creative crew sheds light on it and the thought process,which we rarely get to see. Overall this series was a revelation for me. Who knew diplomacy and politics in a spy thriller will be so darn fun to read.

Greg Rucka and the roster of talent he chose definitely knocked this one out of the park. Apr 03, Michael rated it really liked it Shelves: loeg-archives. Tense thrillers, I love this series. I've read most of it, except only the last Tara book Red Panda and the last two Declassifieds, but I liked this format better and I wanted to finish reading it. Anyway, it's really smartly written and mixes politics with the personal, emotional turmoil incredibly effectively.

Most of the art is solid to good. Mitten's art was too rough in comparison to the other ar Tense thrillers, I love this series. Mitten's art was too rough in comparison to the other artists, and the script was good though more than a bit cliche in the delivery of the ending , but clearly not up to Rucka's standards.

I didn't need a story about Nick Poole, a character I like quite a bit, so much that I couldn't have waited for Rucka to write it himself. Jan 20, RavenT rated it really liked it Shelves: thriller. This series is a must-read for fans of the espionage genre and hard-hitting thrillers.

A grownup version of James Bond, with the seedy underbelly showing that is merely winked at in the movies Sep 10, Cathy rated it it was ok. Just some unrelated and IMO not very good stories. May 30, A. Nixon rated it it was ok Shelves: borrowed , graphic-novel , spy-thriller , series-sequel.

Let me just start off by saying that I shouldn't have let so much time elapse between reading volume 3 and reading volume 4. I was so lost, it's not even funny. Now, this volume had a lot of the same problems that I found in the previous three books. There were some spreads that I didn't notice until halfway down the page and some I thought was a spread and it turns out that it wasn't.

I find that seriously annoying because I find myself reading the pages two or even three times to try and foll Let me just start off by saying that I shouldn't have let so much time elapse between reading volume 3 and reading volume 4. I find that seriously annoying because I find myself reading the pages two or even three times to try and follow the thread of the conversations.

My other problem, especially in this volume, was that there were so many significant chronology jumps that I found myself lost. I couldn't keep track of what was happening when, who was involved in what particular scene, and what was even going on.

This was especially a problem in the last story where the switched every other page and yet the characters still looked too similar from one time to the next. It was frustrating. I really wanted to like this volume, because I was looking forward to learning the backstory of some of the main characters but at the same time, Tara wasn't even in this volume!

I found that a little disorienting and, given how long it's been since I read one, I'm left wondering what really happened to her. It feels like this can't possibly be the last volume because it doesn't wrap anything up. I know it's not always possible to have that "and they lived happily ever after"-type epilogue but, dagnabit, sometimes it would be nice. And I didn't get any sort of a feeling out of this book.

Oct 20, Courtney rated it really liked it Shelves: portland-authors , nw-authors. Instead, we flash back into the past to learn how some of the men she's worked with became the people we meet later on. The first chapter introduces us to Paul Crocker, now head of operations for Chace's unit, as a young man on a s mission under the Iron Curtain.

The more I've read of this series the more it's grown on me. Rucka has envisioned a rich world. I'm planning to track down more of his work, including the two non-visual novels he's written about the world of Tara Chace and also some more of his comics.

May 13, Gregory Gay rated it really liked it Shelves: read-in , graphic-novel , spy , oni-press. That said, it doesn't really matter. Volume 4 actually collects three different side stories, filling in the earlier lives of certain main characters. I took off half a star for Leandro Fernandez's art. I wish Steve Rolston could have pencilled more of the book instead.

As far as story goes, it kept me entertained though. Jan 07, Saif Saeed rated it liked it. It's interesting insofar as the art and writing style can be at times captivating, and at other times off-putting. I think it's the inconsistency in the style that's sort of turned me off a bit.

That and the shoe horned love story between two characters I just met. I don't think I'll pick up any of the other volumes of this just because it's a long series and it didn't really charm me enough in the first volume to keep me wanting to read more.

Decent spy thriller, definitely read this if you want a decent comic book without any superheroes and capes but ultimately not for me rn. Jul 28, David Dalton added it Shelves: comic-book-prose , thriller , violent , isolated-location , suspense , action , spies , intense , assassin-s , female-lead. I am a Greg Rucka fan and a fan of the Queen and Country novels all 3 of them.

I decided to give this Definitive Edition a shot. Glad I did. They remind me a bit of the Strikeback cable series. A woman minder assassin is a tad different type of character from over 17 years ago.

The art seemed all over the place, from cartoon like to big noses and big breasts later on. Still the stories were all realistic. Apr 12, Cee. Elizabeth rated it really liked it. Really enjoyed the story, as I always do when Rucka is writing. However, I did find the change in art slightly jarring. Especially Tara, I can't say I enjoyed her 'enhancements' in the last arc very much.

Oct 25, Rob rated it liked it Shelves: graphic-novels , i-own-it. Queen and Country. A look into SIS, their operations and their agents, better known as Minders. The series focuses on Tara Chace, aka Minder Two. Book one was a good introduction to the characters and the inner workings of the team.

Jul 11, Vincent Stoessel rated it really liked it Shelves: woman-protagonist , spy-vs-spy. Very cool spy adventure with a strong and flawed female lead by Greg Rucka.

Will be reading the rest of the series. Jan 04, Sugarpunksattack Mick rated it it was ok. The first two stories were good spy stories, but the third one leads into a boring love story that just over sexualizes the main character. Sep 07, Tony rated it liked it Shelves: short-stories , graphic-storytelling. I like graphic storytelling and I like a lot of espionage stories be they fiction, film, nonfiction , so when the four-volume collection came out, I figured it was high time I sample this series.

In "Operation: Morningstar" illustrated by several artists an agent is I like graphic storytelling and I like a lot of espionage stories be they fiction, film, nonfiction , so when the four-volume collection came out, I figured it was high time I sample this series. In "Operation: Morningstar" illustrated by several artists an agent is sent to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to retrieve a list of pro-Western contacts that are in danger of falling into the wrong hands.

The focus of the books is not on the "action" of each operation although there's enough of that to keep things lively , but on the covert ops team and their London handlers.

In trying to be as realistic as reasonable, a great deal of time is spent on various bureaucratic argy bargy concerning the operations. Lots of venomous bureaucrats with barely contained anger and loathing with each other plus the inevitable involvement of the CIA station chief in London.

As realistic as this may be, the various suits snarling at each other gets old, and there's altogether too much of it. Somewhat better and more interesting is the limited glimpses we get into the non-work side of some of agents, especially Tara Chace, who probably has the most page-time of any character, as she battles her inner demons.

When it comes to the action, it's generally drawn and thought through pretty well -- except when it isn't. For example, in the first story, one of the team is set up with a sniper rifle to kill an arms dealer -- from a building about 75 feet from the target. The whole point of having sniper training and weaponry is to kill stealthy from afar -- like hundreds of yards.

Here, the close range action naturally results in a tension-filled foot chase and the enemy identifying the sniper, all of which propels the plot further along -- at the expense of realism. In another story, two agents are running around Afghanistan looking for a canister hidden by another agent, apparently completely obvious to the notion that they may be being followed.

There are too many examples of this kind of unreality for a genre that only works on either the hyper-realistic level such as John Le Carre's George Smiley series , or the completely unreal level such as the James Bond films. The three black and white stories were all drawn by different artists, resulting in some very disconcerting stylistic differences.

Steve Rolston draws in a very realistic mode, wherein everyone looks like normal humans, and the main character, Tara Chance comes across as a rather mousy, drab agent. On the flip side, Leandro Fernandez draws in a hyper-exaggerated more "heroic" style, whereby Tara has a Barbie-doll figure and is clad in either skintight or see-through clothing. This wild divergence in styles keeps things fresh, but at the expense of the reader really being able to settle in with a character for the long-haul.

Due to those swings in style and some of the storytelling flaws, I doubt I'll go out of my way to read the next volume in the collection. Jun 25, Jarrah rated it liked it Shelves: comic-books. The first volume of Queen and Country collects three stories with the same characters but very different artwork. Rucka's spy stories are so gripping that it's sometimes hard to make yourself slow down and look at the art; you just want to find out what happens next.

Compared to some of Rucka's other protagonists, Tara Chace isn't as much of an open book, but we can tell she's tough, smart, deeply committed to her job, and struggling to process the emotions that come with her work. The big swings The first volume of Queen and Country collects three stories with the same characters but very different artwork. The big swings in the art style between the stories is a bit jarring.

Overall I most appreciated the second arc with art by Brian Hurtt. Moving away from Steve Rolston's more cartoony style, Hurtt's work adds great character and atmosphere to the story. The third arc, "Operation Crystal Ball," with art by Leandro Fernandez, swings too much into superhero comic style, complete with ridiculously disproportionate women's body shapes.

Fernandez' Chace is all lips, boobs and ass - there's one particular panel where each buttock looks larger than her head. It's made even more annoying by Fernandez' choice to show her hair down and hanging in her eyes, even on dangerous missions. Overall I'm looking forward to the rest of the volumes for the stories, but so far I prefer Rucka's other work with other artists, especially the ones like Stumptown and Whiteout that centre even more on the woman protagonist. Jul 02, Ezekiel rated it did not like it Shelves: graphic-novel , fiction , couldn-t-finish.

Content Notes for this book: guns, shooting, murder, torture, islamaphobia, ptsd, alcohol Nah. Add in that this Content Notes for this book: guns, shooting, murder, torture, islamaphobia, ptsd, alcohol Nah. Just nah. Jan 16, Jamie rated it it was amazing Shelves: graphicnovels. I was an editor on the original series, but kudos to Oni for making a sharp new collection of one of their best books.

Feb 29, Brent rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: fans of these fine creators, spy fiction, and great comics. Recommended to Brent by: Oni Press. Shelves: favorites , comics , war , fiction , crime. I never get tired of this. Upon rereading, it's even better. Highest recommendation. Apr 29, Skjam! Shelves: british-isles , adventure , heroines , published , author-r , backlist According to writer Greg Rucka, this series was heavily inspired by the British television series The Sandbaggers and borrowed the organizational structure for SIS from that show, but the geopolitical situation of the new millennium drastically changed the kind of missions the agents are sent on.

There are a few hitches, but she successfully completes the mission and escapes. However, during the escape, enough clues were left behind for the Russian mob to identify Agent Chace and order a hit put out on her and British Intelligence.

This is bad, but they by accident? So Tara is sidelined while Minders One and Three go in to try to find the list. Tara Chace is sent to make contact with a possible turncoat from a terrorist organization. He claims to have knowledge of a chemical weapons factory to sell, and his initial information seems almost plausible.

But is he for real, or a scammer, or is this a deadly trap? Thousands of lives may hang in the balance as SIS attempts to decipher the truth. We also see the complications of office politics in conflicts between agencies and even between managers within the SIS. We see Agent Chace in her underwear several times, and a nude photograph of her is a plot point in the first story.

Due to the changing artists, her figure is anywhere from conventionally attractive but plausible to unlikely. She has on-page sex with a random guy she picked up at one point, and later pursues an affair with Minder Three. Perhaps more of an issue is the sometimes quite gory violence.

At the end of the volume is a section of concept art, character portraits by the various artists, and some page breakdowns, as well as bios of the creators. The politics may be a little America-centric for a series set primarily in Britain. The art ranges from good to overly stylized, with a couple of characters nearly unrecognizable from their other appearances. Sep 20, Chad Jordahl rated it really liked it Shelves: graphic-novels , fiction , uploaded I loved that!

I hated that! I liked that! I thought the first "Operation" rocked -- "Operation: Broken Ground. New art team on the middle section, "Operation: Morningstar. And it's so frustrating! Not the right word. It's not "bad", it's actually cool in its way: kinetic, dynamic, with good angles, framing, composition.

But there's crap too Fernandez decided to completely ignore the earlier style choices and draw Tara Chase like a stereotypical 'sexy' 90's-style female comic character with plump, pouty lips, big boobs, tiny waist, arched back. Thanks Liefeld. And it's SO wrong for the character. On top of that, Fernandez draws a bunch of male characters with highly exaggerated facial features and over-the-top cartoonish reactions, like caricatures.

The stories were all pretty good. Aug 02, Elizabeth Miss Eliza rated it did not like it Shelves: library , comics. This just really wasn't my thing. With a title like Queen and Country I was expecting something more in the style of The Avengers and instead got Homeland, albeit written a decade before that show even hit the screens. And I'm honestly not even the biggest fan of Homeland.

The real issue I took was with the rotating illustrators. It was a real gamble with no real consistency and the third arc, "Crystal Ball," This just really wasn't my thing. It was a real gamble with no real consistency and the third arc, "Crystal Ball," was not just badly drawn, but it was over-the-top. The terrorists were cartoonish terrorists with long noses and they came off as so damn racist. Then there's the hyper sexualization of Chace.

She was a normal girl for her previous adventures, and here she has balloons for boobs, kind of ironic given how the Sarin was going to be transmitted. Also what was with all the leather and kink? Also none of the illustrators got the drape of a trench coat right.

Always too lumpy and heavy. Not a series I think I will be continuing. Aug 25, Paul Grose rated it it was amazing. This was so good. Well worth the effort. An Intriguing spy story different from the James Bond stereo type, but just as exciting. Focusing on a female protagonist the story is visually exciting and suspenseful. Trace is strong, independent, brave and intelligent, a great role model for young readers.

Not a perfect person, but a good person. The material has not dated since its publication, it is just as relevant and reflective of todays international situations.

The art work is a treat. You can This was so good. You can see the interpretation change of the characters as the story progress and different artists take over the role, moving from a light sketch look at the beginning of the story, to a more hard line and detailed representation by the volumes conclusion as the charters are established.. This title has won multiple awards and praise throughout the industry and today is reflected upon as a landmark publication in graphic novel story telling.

After reading the first volume, I can see why. A great read. If you have already read this title, read it again Mar 01, Theediscerning rated it liked it. An espionage procedural comic that convinces, up until, that is, someone says Kabul is West of Mecca. The lurch in the character's style is really quite risible, but so is the charge that this is a book full of Islamophobia. Anybody who thinks it is needs to get their trigger-happy heads out the sand.

The self-styled religion of peace has been responsible for just the kind of activity featured on these pages, and some of us might want to read about it.

I'm happy I did, but it's not really my genre, and however smart this can get I do predict it's my only foray into this series.

Readers also enjoyed. Graphic Novels Comics. About Greg Rucka. Greg Rucka. Other books in the series. Queen and Country: The Definitive Edition 4 books. Books by Greg Rucka.