Woman of A.C.T.I.O.N. #1!

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Heads up, Action Agents!

 

 

After three months of promotion (and ten of development), the first chapter of Woman of A.C.T.I.O.N. #1 is finally up for your reading enjoyment at the Action Age!

This week, it’s the first ten pages and the cover, by me, artist/letterer Chris Piers, and colorist Steve Downer, with the other fifteen pages, the letters page, and two THREE amazing pin-ups to be revealed on the next two Wednesdays. And honestly, I think everyone involved did a fantastic job with this one.

Of course, I might be a little biased on that front. But like I mentioned, I’m interested to see how this one goes over, as it’s slightly–slightly–more serious than readers might expect from me. But for me anyway, it was fun to write, and I’m looking forward to bringing Penny back for a whole arc of adventures as soon as I can.

So go! Read! Hopefully you’ll enjoy it, and if you do, pass it along to your friends and neighbors, and show ’em I meant it when I said that 2009 is the Year of the Action Age!

36 thoughts on “Woman of A.C.T.I.O.N. #1!”

  1. I dug the story, Piers’ & Downer’s art was very good (particularly the facial expressions), Ricky was hilarious, and I’m looking forward to read more.

    You’re off to a great start!

  3. “It looks like her one woman war against tourist attractions has finally ended.”
    Best. Line. EVER.
    Loved the story, looking forward to the next chapters!

  4. Very well done, all around.
    But I’m writing because I loved the #6 nod. Thank you.

  5. Man, a superspy who talks like Bertie Wooster sets my teeth on edge, but a superspy who talks like Bertie Wooster and has a gentleman’s personal gentleman looking after him in the field? That is a Sensational Character Find, brother. Looking forward to next week!

  6. Okay, having just right now read the Chronicles of Solomon Stone, Action Age is my new favorite thing ever.

    But this is my most favorite of all.

  9. Holy Christ, is that Destro playing the slots? And did somebody just mention a super spy who talks like Bertie Wooster? Someone please tell this site to stop making me want to buy things all the time, I can’t afford it…

  13. *applause* Awesome stuff! Now I’m excited to see not only the continuation, but the other Action Age stuff too, especially Hard Ones.

  14. Sims, as an Englishman, I can say that you should keep your friggin’ hands off of our landmarks! Don’t make us burn down the White House again.

  15. Entirely brilliant and wonderfully drawn (seconding the love of the dead-on facial expressions). Eagerly awaiting part two!

  18. Read it, loved it! And that’s saying a lot given how I feel about spy stories.

    The writing is great (of course), the scenes flow nicely and I could hear each character’s voice distinctly which isn’t an easy thing to do. Loved the artwork too. Seeing The Doctor was a nice surpise! That’s a stonkingly great cover, too.

    I liked the fact that the male lead (so far) is Penny’s brother, neatly side-stepping the will-they, won’t-they, of-course-they-will dance.

    Looking forward to the next chapter!

  20. skizello, it is the Canadians who burned down the White House, even if we didn’t know we were Canadian yet. Please do not use our only insult so freely, I’m sure you can find others in your country’s long and illustrious history.

    kiragecko

  21. I have to say it… I always thought the ideas coming out of Action Age would be good, but maybe the story telling would be so-so given the inexperience.

    I was wrong.

    You are awesome.

    The end.

  22. Man, amongst all this praise, I feel silly offering some constructive criticism, but here goes. It’s always good for there to be a dissenting voice.

    1) The cover is a lie. It promises “Women of ACTION” to the reader. The action never occurs in ten pages, other than a guy getting a coffee pot shot out of his hand. You really need to start out on a high point, then slide into all the dialogue, and then pick back up at the end with the promise that something exciting is coming. Talking about what the character has done and actually showing it are two different things.

    I really think you could have made those first four pages some sort of gratuitous, over-the-top action sequence, and had it end with her getting a call and being told she’s suspended.

    2) Page 1 is an old lady talking for six panels. You really missed an opportunity there to grab the reader. First of all, why an OLD lady in a catsuit? Why not a hot, middle-aged lady? But second, I would advise against ever having a single character talk for six panels. It’s visually uninteresting, especially for page one.

    3) The writing is smart, but it’s too expository in those first four pages. Again, don’t tell us what she’s done… show us. That would fit the promise of the cover better, and it would also bring us to a point where we can better understand what’s going on.

    From a characterization point of view, you can really do some interesting things with the character:
    A) Misunderstood, unlucky angel: She does everything by the book, but accidents seem to happen.
    B) Rageaholic: She has to learn to control her rage, maybe with the help of a suspended spy support group
    C) Crazy eyes: She’s fine until her crazy eyes ignite. Then you don’t know what she’ll do. The hardest part is getting her to come down once she’s set off.

    Some positive things: the brother is an interesting character who seems to be a modern-day Bertie Wooster, which is interesting. The dialogue itself is great when it’s not trying to be expository, and the character exchanges are good. The artwork is nice. Penny reminded me of Lady Jane from GI Joe and Ricky looks a lot like a certain Doctor we all know and love…

    So… there’s my critique. I’m sure I’ll get beaten up by some of your fans, but as I said, it’s good to hear a dissenting voice every now and then. Good luck with the rest of the story!

  23. Thanks for the critique, Sean! Hopefully you’ll stick around to find out more about Penny to see if she fits your characterization, but as for your first point, the lack of… well, action was something that I was a little worried about when putting up these pages.

    These are, however, just the first ten pages of the first issue, and while you know I lean heavily towards liking the punch-outs, I felt that introducing a new character (and her attendant supporting cast and world) required a bit of setup. In fact, it may be obvious, but looking at it from the standpoint of the three-act structure, the first “break” was originally intended to occur at page 6, when she leaves A.C.T.I.O.N. HQ, but since it’s pretty heavy on the talking in the first part, I expanded the first installment to where it is now.

    I can assure you, however, that over the next two weeks, you’ll be seeing plenty of action. We’ve still got fifteen pages to go, after all! Hopefully you’ll stick with it, but thanks for your time and the thoughtful response.

  24. Very cool. Love the Jeeves and Wooster version of James Bond, as other people have said. I sense a spin-off.

  25. kiragecko: Canadian born, British ruled. C’mon, can’t we both take incredibly diluted credit for burning down the White House?

  28. I dig it, but (like Sean), I could’ve gone for a little more action to hook me in. You could’ve just as easily titled the story Woman of J.U.M.P.S.U.I.T., and it would’ve read just the same.

    Granted, I know your style well enough to foresee what is to come, just something to consider when releasing stuff in small batches like this.

  29. Seanjjordan: I just wanna drop the line that I don’t at all mind a character talking for six panels, even from a single perspective. You have to really work on the expression to make it work (and while the expressions in A.C.T.I.O.N. are good that character is meant to be stoic), but it can absolutely work and many books have made it work – even action books, yes. Just off the top of my head, issue 5 (I think) of Immortal Iron Fist has Jeryn Hogarth talking from a single perspective for nine panels in the middle of a huge fight and it works fine.

  30. Also, on A.C.T.I.O.N. rather than words…the expository track, a lot of the time, can work as well. It’s all about approach, and as Chris says these first ten pages are more about firmly introducing the characters than hitting the ground running, and done well that can be just as interesting.

  32. I should probably read some Wodehouse and come back to this so I can be impressed even more, but I liked what I saw in my current, culture ‘tarded state pretty well, too.

  33. Hmmm…Monsieur Alouette doesn’t have middle name does he? “Terence”, perhaps, or “Trevor” or “Tiberius”, maybe? Penny’s boss…Mrs Peel? Even if all this is wrong, enjoyed the story, though I’m sorry he Health and Safety issues of discharging a weapon in the workplace weren’t addressed. I’m sure there’s a proforma for that.

  35. Hmmm…Monsieur Alouette doesn’t have middle name does he? “Terence”, perhaps, or “Trevor” or “Tiberius”, maybe?

    Thierry, actually, but yes. You got it.

  36. I don’t know if Sims intended that to be a Prisoner reference, Matt. I decided to make Ricky do that little thumb to forefinger circle thing that Patrick McGoohan invented, mostly to amuse myself.