Steed and Mrs. Peel are once again needed in “An Ungentlemanly Act: Steed Takes a Holiday Emma Takes the Strain,” a playful, punning title reminiscent of the show as is the opening sequence between Steed and Emma where the words “Mrs. Peel, we’re needed” appear in an unlikely fashion.
Edginton captures the tone of the show well—somewhere between humor and serious. Steed describes the man they are meeting as “The spies who spy on the spies who spy on the spies” before being shocked to find that a former colleague and friend is dead. Puns are frequent. The tale moves from a dispassionate observation of a corpse to a confrontation in the streets in record time. As ever, Emma holds her own in any fray, mental or physical, and Steed’s umbrella gets well-used. As this issue is the the first of three, it ends in a cliffhanger that is both amusing and tense.
Cosentino plays with perspective, zooming in and out of a dollhouse so the figures appear grotesquely out of proportion to their surroundings, at first gigantic and then tiny. Emma and Steed are distinctively stylish, each in her or his way. Their faces are quite expressive close up, but move to suggested features once they are at any distance. Popov makes plenty of use of bold contrasts in the coloring. Often, the background is merely suggested while one or two shades of color fill in. It works well with the story being told, and both Steed and Peel are colored to stand out boldly against their backgrounds.
Steed and Mrs. Peel is a good choice for people who still shake their fists at BBC for burning the early episodes. It’s also recommended for people who have never seen the show but who like some light humor along with their spycraft.
Writer: Ian Edginton
Artist: Marco Cosentino
Colors: Vladimir Popov
Letters: Ed Dukeshire
Cover: Stacey Lee
Variant Cover: Babs Tarr
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