Queen & Country
The OpsRoom examines the Sandbaggers-inspired comic, Queen & Country.

Great television shows never die. They get reincarnated as comic books. The Prisoner was revived in a DC Comics sequel called Shattered Visage in 1989. And now you can relive The Sandbaggers.

Sort of.

In a new ongoing homage called Queen & Country, a comic book series published by Oni Press.

Written by long-time Sandbaggers fan Greg Rucka, he is well-regarded in the comics world for his writing on issues of the Batman title Detective Comics and many other comic books. He also has written several novels in the mystery and thriller genre.

For those who know and love The Sandbaggers, Queen & Country is a homage, a shameless rip-off, and a love letter to the series all in one. Everything in the comic is inspired by the show from beginning to end. ‘There don’t seem to be many of us who know the glory of The Sandbaggers but those who do and read the comic ... well, it’s my sincere hope that they’ll smile a bit and nod a bit, and recognize the debt I’m trying to pay.’

In Issue 1, SIS officer Tara Chace goes on a mission to Kosovo to assassinate a former Russian general. Issues 2 through 4 will deal with the consequences of her mission — Sandbaggers-style. Issue 2, for example, is ‘predominantly people talking,] Mr. Rucka says. ‘There’s a three- or four-page sequence of a guy firing a rocket, but other than that, it’s people moving in and out of offices talking.’ Issue 1 went on sale on March 21, 2001.

Most comic book stores, even those outside North America, should be able to special-order the title, if they don’t already carry it.

Here are pages 13 and 16 from Queen & Country Issue 1. They feature D-Ops Paul Crocker, who wears a three-piece suit. Crocker oversees a bigger, more modern ops room, and in this sequence he is summoned to see the SIS Deputy Chief, Donald Weldon.
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