Like Mission: Impossible? Try These Comics Out

The super-spy genre is a natural to comics.

In television and the movies, the high-tech, fancy-car, big-explosion type of storytelling is bombastic and exciting, but limiting. Special effects are expensive, the cars and technology are generally limited to what you can afford, etc.

Comics, of course, don't have that issue. Budgets, as often noted by people discussing the pros and cons of the different media, are a non-issue as it pertains to the story being told on the page.

Maybe that's why, even though spy fiction has never really become a dominant genre in comics like horror or superheroes, there's a mountain of good material waiting to be discovered.

With a new Mission: Impossible movie on the way and a newly-released trailer generating buzz this week, what comics did we decide we wanted to dig out and thumb through again?

Read on...

The obvious stuff

Now, here's the thing: Mission: Impossible isn't the most complex spy stuff around, and doesn't pretend to be. It's more about the characters, the big action set pieces and the creative uses of the premise.

But, yeah, their premise, their mysteries and the spy plots are generally fairly thin, relying instead on being an enjoyable ride that deals in the tropes of the genre.

Nothing wrong with that, of course, but since most really good spy comics don't actually feel that way, we figured it was worth differentiating the first couple -- really great books that feel like a fairly straightforward "if you like this, try this" -- from the batch that come after, which stray from the formula a bit but are amazing books in their own right.

Red

Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner created a series premised on the idea of a retired spy who finds himself in the crosshairs of his former employer.

It's a fairly straightforward story of revenge, with the lead character being an ex-CIA operative whose tasks were so many and terrible that new leadership at the organization orders him killed to prevent the possibility of his secrets ever getting out. It's also a terrific read, and thanks to a (pretty loose) Hollywood adaptation, it's been in print more or less nonstop for the last ten years.

The Secret Service

Again, we get a story that's been turned into a movie -- this time, the 2015 hit Kingsman: The Secret Service.

The comic comes from Kick-Ass co-creator Mark Millar and Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, who teamed to tell an absurd, ultra-violent spy story filled with celebrity cameos and OH MY GOD THEY KILLED MARK HAMILL!

A little more...complex

These are the ones that feel like espionage insta-classics, and have a little more commitment to the genre and, therefore, less similarity to Mission: Impossible.

We're sure we've missed some that are a little older, since these are mostly brand-new and creator-owned. So feel free to chime in in the credits to let us know!

Queen and Country

A series of novels and graphic novels from writer Greg Rucka, this one has a lot of high tech embraces a lot of pop trappings that feel a little M: I, but really it's inspired more by a U.K. TV series called The Sandbaggers.

It also centers on a single character, allowing for more low-key moments, introspection and genuine twists and turns since Rucka can spend more time on those things since he doens't need to service the needs of quite so many leads.

Who is Jake Ellis? and The Activity

Nathan Edmonson is really, really good at this stuff. If there's one comic on the list that feels like it fulfills the promise made by Mission: Impossible, it's probably The Activity, which similarly blends paramilitary and high-action set pieces with a special operations team that has a fairly narrow mission.

So why include Jake Ellis on here too? Becuase it's great, and you should read it. There are few better spy comics out there, so Edmonson can have two spots.

Zero

Ambitious and ingenious, the recently-concluded Zero from Image Comics was a spy techno-thriller set in the near future. It became an instant fan- and critical-favorite in no small part because it captured the brutality and violence of the spy genre without either obsessing on it as so many lesser works have done, or making it a parody.

Velvet

A beautifully-drawn book by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, Velvet brought the former Captain America collaborators over to Image to work on a story that incorporated so much of the espionage-flavored material that had made their Cap different from many that came before it.

Centering on a retired spy who is drawn back into the game, Velvet manages to feel perfect for a film or TV adaptation without feeling too mainstreamed or dumbed-down to accomplish it.

The superhero stuff

...And of course, it's comics. So there's superhero stuff that plays in this pool, too. Some of it quite good.

Black Widow

Recently, Edmonson took on Black Widow for Marvel Comics with artist Phil Noto, turning that series into an instant favorite. Of course, as with most Marvel books lately, it's on hiatus for Secret Wars and so far, it doesn't look like the character will have an All-New, All-Different title in the fall.

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Jim Steranko's take on Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. may be set in the Marvel Universe, but it wasn't filled with needless cameos or pointless references. Instead, it grew organically to be the standard-bearer for spy comics and, even in the case of some of the more haughty indie stuff above, still serves as a point of comparison for creators and reviewers alike.

Honorable mention:

Chuck

Really, it's more the TV show that was really memorable, but the comic book miniseries that spun out of it was fun, underrated and...well, yeah, really Mission: Impossible-inspired. Because it was Chuck.

The project, which came from Red publishers WildStorm, is cheaply available digitally if you want to give it a try -- and the trade paperback exists...but it's pretty expensive, since it's been out of print for a while and Chuck fans are pretty hardcore.