It seems that since the Watergate scandal, which plunges the Richard Nixon presidency, shook American public opinion, the obligatory ticking point on any successive public administration's "success list" has been a minor or major leak or scandal. Today, at a time of record low levels of public confidence, the tone of the Global Band remains as relevant as it was when it was originally launched.
The title organization is a global rescue agency, crypto dedicated to hopeless matters – its members clean up the remains of Cold War experiments carried out on the gray borders of morality, and also intervene where, due to the atypical or too high level of risk, the problem cannot be dealt with by conventional services. It consists of one thousand and one agents scattered around the globe, specialists in various fields – from biological weapons to parkour. They are all subordinate to Global Band founder Miranda Zero and her right hand, liaison Alef, who follows every action from the secret operations center.
The proposal published by Egmont is a collective volume containing all twelve issues originally published in the years 2002-2004. At the same time, it is a series that is partly anthological. The missions presented in the following chapters are short, closed stories, diverse not only in terms of topics (from a potential terrorist attack in central London, through a village inhabited by religious fundamentalists somewhere in the Arctic Circle, to Cronenberg’s almost amalgamations of human tissues, both terrifying and grotesque), but also visually – a different draftsman is responsible for the illustrations of each notebook. The payroll is impressive: Simon Bisley ( Hellblazer ), Karl Story ( Batwoman ), David Lloyd ( V for Vendetta ) or Lee Bermejo ( Joker) – these are just a few names of the real who’s who of the American comic book. Particular attention is drawn to the deviating from the standard aesthetics of the comic book “Big Heaven” illustrated by Jon J. Muth, “The Chair of the Lungs” of the aforementioned Lee Bermejo and the closing volume of “Harpoon” by Gene Ha.
Unfortunately, the narrative itself does not follow the high artistic level. The originator of the series, Warren Ellis, is responsible for the scripts of all notebooks. And, as is often the case with anthology, the history of history is not equal. It might seem that the lack of the need to consistently develop a linear narrative will give space to create small pearls. Too many stories, however, give the impression of intense stuffers, which with the galloping pace of the action is not that big of a problem again, but makes the overall Global Streak more of a one-off experience.
