The Highwaymen
January 1st, 2009 by jasonWritten by Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman, art by Lee Garbett
An entertaining action comic, published by DC under the WildStorm imprint, The Highwaymen of the title are secret agents of some sort. Well, ex-secret agents, now mostly over the hill, but with one more adventure left behind by a former president (now deceased). As I said, the comic is entertaining, and a quick read, but you do get the feeling that it was written not so much as an homage to action or buddy films, like Lethal Weapon, as something that the creators could sell to Hollywood. This is Danny “I’m too old for this shit” Glover, paired with Michael Caine as impossible to kill agents, on the run from the sinister head of a government organization, trying to protect and deliver a weapon of mass destruction to the proper authorities. Did I mention that this weapon of mass destruction is in the shape of a hot college girl? Put whichever starlet of the year in that role, and you have a summer blockbuster, full of car chases, car crashes, and car explosions. Again, I want to say that I didn’t dislike this comic, and in fact, it was fun to read, but the sales pitch was pretty blatant. The five issue series came out in 2007, and I just read the trade from the library. I can’t imagine that it would work as well in single issue format, since it is, essentially, an action movie. Reading one issue, having a cliffhanger and waiting for another month would not have worked for me.