Customer Reviews

Whiteout: Melt

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Whiteout: Melt exceeded my expectations for a "sequel". It's a great story about Carrie; an U.S. Marshall assigned to the coldest territory on Earth. While it is a cold and gritty spy/crime story, there's actually a little romance for our female Marshall. Greg Rucka (Keeper, Finder, Batman: No Man's Land) again does not fail to turn up the heat in this mesmerizing tale of cloak-and-dagger against a tundra backdrop. Steve Lieber's black-and-white art accentuates the hard-boiled mood and sense of cold in this espionage thriller. Highly recommended for anybody who likes great crime fiction or action/adventure.

The sequel to Whiteout finds US Deputy Marshal Carrie Stetko on vacation in New Zealand, but still stuck in professional exile in McMurdo Station in the South Pole. When a Russian base blows up suspiciously, her bosses promise to bring her back to civilization if she'll cut her vacation short to go poke around the debris. Although Article I of the Antarctic Treaty prohibits any military use of the continent, the Russians are suspected of using their base as a weapons cache and her bosses want her to see if she can find anything out. While the first volume was a suspenseful procedural, this is a more standard thriller with higher stakes. Soon, Stetko finds herself pursing a team of elite Spetznaz troops gone mercenary who are fleeing across the ice with stolen nukes. Upping the cliché factor, Stetko teams up with a Russian GRU agent to track the rogue Spetznaz and recover the nukes.The art is quite good, and the story is pretty absorbing and filled with tidbits about the South Pole, but isn't quite at the level of the original Whiteout.

Greg Rucka, <strong>Whiteout, vol. 2: Melt</strong> (Oni Press, 2000)

One of the reasons I recommend <em>Whiteout</em> so strongly is because once you've read it, you will be prepared for its sequel, <em>Melt</em>. Carrie is back in the world, but convinced to go back to Antarctica and take one more case, which involves shipments of weapons (weapons are illegal for the general populace to have in Antarctica). Rucka seems to have a slightly more solid handle on his characters here, and he puts them in some very interesting situations. A truly good book, this, well worth checking out for lovers of crime fiction, whether it's in graphic-novel mode or not. ****