Icon Comics is slated to publish a series of spy comics with a special guest in the first issue. The Secret Service will a gritty new comics line, featuring some classy British agents.
Writer Mark Millar – who is working with famous Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons – wants the new line to be a break-out comic for spy-stories, a genre which currently gets little play. Millar calls it “James Bond meets My Fair Lady.”
The main plot depicts the adventures of a British secret agent who recruits his nephew, a rioter and street tough, to be trained as a agent in a world where such operatives are expected to maintain a certain amount of class. Clearly, training the young man to be mannered will be as much of a challenge as training him to be an operative.
The point is to take the two main British action film character tropes – the suave secret agent and the cursing street thug – and force them to work together.
The opening plot arc is about an international criminal who routinely kidnaps stars of sci-fi films for an unknown purpose.
The first issue will feature a short opening sequence which includes actor Mark Hamill, famous for his starring role in the original Star Wars trilogy, and more recently as a frequent voice performer for various animated comic book adaptations. The actor has given permission for his likeness to be used in the first issue, and has agreed to play the part of himself in a possible future film adaptation of the comics line.
“(Secret Service) is such a great mash-up of fantasy and relatable reality that my participation is almost superfluous when you take the long view of what a great concept it is,” Hamill said during a recent interview. “I can’t wait to read issue #2.”
The line debuts on April 11th, 2012. You can see a preview of the first issue over on The Hollywood Reporter
