Polar: Came from the Cold Review: Retired, Not Dead

Being a retired spy is a royal pain in the neck. It’s an even bigger pain when you are marked for murder by other agents. Victor Santos’s “Polar: Came from the Cold” is an action noir thriller that takes this idea and runs with it in glorious fashion.

The story is about a former spy named Black Kaiser who is forced out of retirement when a group of agents decides to assassinate him. Now he has to try to try to survive and to take of those who want him dead.

The story, though there’s very little dialogue, is incredibly fast paced and will keep the reader turning the page to the end. The reader is constantly feeling the tension that Kaiser’s life is in danger. It is.

What little dialogue there is is mostly exposition. Luckily these expository lines do not hinder the pacing of the story in any way. The rest of the dialogue is your typical action movie fare where it’s the characters barking orders or a one-liner. Once again, these do not hinder the story.

When a comic has little dialogue the artist needs to convey it through well placed panels that not only show action but progresses the story. Santos manages to succeed at this task in a very stylized way. The comic is drawn in a noir fashion that is reminiscent of Frank Miller’s “Sin City.” As with “Sin City” the females have this super sexualized design to them that almost takes away any reason to take them seriously, even the main antagonist, Vian. The first sex scene did have a point, but the other ones and Vian being semi-nude is encroaching into Frank Miller going crazy territory.

There are only three colors in this comic: Black, white and orange. Using orange for blood, lips and other items is a new idea but the execution looks a bit odd. It seems out of place in areas where red would’ve worked fine. The times where it’s used for artistic purposes does work, however.

“Polar: Came from the Cold” is a wild and enjoyable ride despite some technical issues. The fast pace and the skilful use of dialogue-less panels makes the comic much grander than what it really is.