Slugfest!

Greg Rucka opens his story of immortal warriors by quoting General Douglas MacArthur ("Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.") and sets the tone for his new series from Image Comics. The Old Guard is lushly illustrated by Leandro Fernandez, who shares a wonderful visual style and vocabulary similar to his Argentine compatriot, Eduardo Risso.

The story centers around Andromache of Scythia ("Andy"), who is phenomenally exhausted with the repetition of events and scenarios she has experienced as an immortal; nothing seems new or different. While in Barcelona, Andy and her team of mercenaries (Nicky, Joe and Booker) receive a tip for a job from Copley, an independent contractor working security and intelligence for different clients. The team has worked for Copley before when he was with "The Company", and they debate the danger of working for the same client. Ultimately, the lure of money decides their course of action.

When Andy and Nicky go to Paris to meet Copley, he tells them of a situation in North Africa in which seventeen girls were abducted from a school and time is critical. Andy reluctantly accepts the job and relays the information to the rest of the team.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, a squad of Marines is searching a town looking for a specific target. After entering a home, a gunfight erupts as the target is acquired. One of the marines named Nile becomes a casualty of the operation.

Andy and the team are geared up when they arrive in South Sudan. As they enter the bunker to rescue the hostages, it initially appears to be empty, but suddenly they are assaulted by a company of soldiers who hit them hard with a rain of bullets. After the smoke clears, we see Andy and her team's wounds heal immediately and set about evening the score. Andy "gets medieval" when she breaks out an axe to finish the job. Afterwards, they search the bunker only to find it truly empty. They realize they have been duped when the only thing they can find is a digital camera which has been transmitting the entire battle to reveal the team of immortals secret.

The issue ends as we return to Afghanistan and find that Nile has completely recovered from her seemingly fatal wound.

All in all, a very satisfying issue of a new promising series. This issue raises many questions: Is Copley responsible for the assault on the team and the recording, or is Copley being played by one of his clients? What is Nile's connection to the team? In what seem to be a sly tip of the hat to Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's series, 100 Bullets, one of the characters (the Marine who holds Nile as she bleeds out) is named Dizzy (like Isabelle "Dizzy" Cordova..."The Girl".) Looking forward to the next issue!