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Winter Men #1 Review posted: 29 Aug 2005 Writer: Brett Lewis Artist: John Paul Leon Publisher: Wildstorm Comics  4.00 out of 5 Stars Reviewed by Adam White

I picked up Winter Men #1 on a whim, mainly because I saw that John Paul Leon was doing the art. I’d never heard of Brett Lewis, though, so I was iffy on the potential quality of the writing, but after reading it I will now assuredly be following his career.

Winter Men #1 came out of nowhere, with little fanfare or hype.

Winter Men #1 came out of nowhere, with little fanfare or hype (as most good series do — the hype is reserved mostly for the crap with no quality to rely on), and genuinely surprised me with the superbness of the issue. Lewis focuses on Kris Kalenov, a former Russian hero now working as a cop for the mayor of Moscow. Kalenov eases his way through multiple crises showcasing the thorough corruption in the new Russia, and remains interesting, funny, and human throughout. There are quite a few characters introduced, but all have distinct personalities. Lewis has apparently done some actual research on the topics he presents (a rarity), avoiding the typical Russian stereotypes that permeate American consciousness. Some of the dialogue slips towards those notions, but often to a comic effect. The main thing that impressed me was the mystery Lewis creates; it genuinely piqued my interest and made we want to read on. Most cop-type series are bland carbon copies of generic cop plots, but Lewis has drummed up a genuine mystery/thriller, the best I’ve read since Brubaker and Lark’s Scene of the Crime (and that’s high praise).

I always jump at the chance to pick up anything John Paul Leon draws, but he usually gets stuck on dismal offerings such as the abominable Earth X, so it’s nice that he finally gets another project worthy of his talent. His heavy, moody line work perfectly compliments the writing, and his storytelling makes the book flow easily throughout. I can’t think of any artist better suited to draw Winter Men than Leon, and that’s something that can’t be said about a lot of other books.

Really, Lewis and Leon are about the best new pair of creators I’ve seen teamed up on a book in a long time. Great teams on great books are often a rarity anymore, so a discovery such as this always brings a new spark of hope in an often pessimistic industry atmosphere. Recent weeks have offered very few solid offerings as far as new comics go, but Winter Men #1 slipped through and made up in quality where quantity was lacking.