Vanguard Comic Review
Vanguard is the creation of Dan Butcher, he of The Awesome Comics Podcast and the Viper strip in the Awesome Comics Anthology. It exists in multiple formats, a twice-weekly-updated webcomic, digital issues on the comichaus app or as collected trade paperbacks. This review is of the first two of these TPBs, Books One and Two, which collect issues 1 to 9. This comprises the initial arc of the series, and while it has a decent wrap up of its own, self-contained storyline, it also plants the seeds for the next arc.
This review will contain spoilers, but I’ll try and keep them to a minimum.
So what is it?
Vanguard is a quite gloriously violent superhero team up comic set in the UK! In a not too distant future, superheroes teams are employed by various countries and corporations to not only conduct dangerous missions, but also to act as human propaganda machines. As a result teams are kitted out with costumes and names that proclaim their national allegiances, or corporate sponsorship. Vanguard are the elite superhero team supported by the UK government.
I love the way Vanguard changes from a straight up superhero comic to a full on espionage thriller. It reminded me of shows like Strike Back or Deep State. Gung ho action up front with all that tradecraft, secret spy stuff working against the heroes in the background. Snivelling civil servants scheming to line their own pockets at everyone else’s expense.
It’s not all flashy costumed meta-human stuff though. Vanguard has an excellent human streak, most obvious in the guise of Godiva, aka Janine. She is a staunch part of the team, but she is constantly distracted by how the events taking place are impacting her family. It’s a very important plot point that pays off heavily towards the end of book two.
Best bits
One of my favourite moments (yes, I’m aware this may sound a little psychotic) is the Eagle5 team massacre streamed live to 8.5 million viewers via nano-cams. It’s not only a cracking action set piece worthy of some movies, but also a sly nod at our obsession these days with reality TV. Likewise in book two, XBow’s carefully curated social media profiles. Everything carefully engineered for maximum profit. It’s also a little ironic given that Vanguard first sees life as a webcomic, promoted via social media.
Another of my favourite things, slightly less psychotic this time, is the use of the “ads” in each chapter. It reminded me of the comics I read as a child. Paging through Thundercats or Transformers comics filled with ads for their action figure counterparts.
I must confess I was slightly gobsmacked by how the second volume ends. It’s clear that Dan was setting it up for the next arc but I wasn’t expecting such a dramatic conclusion. I am really excited to carry on with the story now, so I think I’ll be hopping on to the comichaus app to pick up from issue 10.
