You’ve probably heard of the Extraction movies on Netflix, and it’s not hard to see the appeal: Chris Hemsworth delivering bloody retribution upon scores of foes is definitely an attention grabber. Did you know that the films were based on a comic book series? Long before they produced Extraction, Joe and Anthony Russo joined forces with Andre Parks and Fernando Leon Gonzalez to bring the graphic novel Ciudad to life, telling the story of elite mercenary Tyler Rake and a rescue mission taking place in a city where everyone wants him dead. Now Parks is laying out how Rake got to that point in Tyler Rake: An Extraction Story #1.
Winding the clock back to 2017, An Extraction Story #1 finds Rake in São Paulo, Brazil. He’s the head of security for a nightclub, keeping the good times flowing and putting the fear of God in anyone who dares to step out of line. But his new life is disrupted by a mysterious woman who wants him to return to his mercenary ways…even though he’s sworn off that life due to it costing him his family and his home in the U.S.
Parks’ script has a good flow, setting up Rake’s current life and predicament within a couple of pages. Whether or not you’ve read the original Ciudad comic or seen the Extraction movies, you’ll walk away from this comic with a good feeling of who Rake is and what he can do. I do feel that taking an entire issue to set up the inciting incident is a strange choice, especially considering how quickly the previous stories got to the point.
Equally as confusing are the lettering choices that Parks and Andworld Design make. Throughout the issue, captions indicate when someone speaks Portuguese and when someone speaks English. Maybe it’s the long years of reading Chris Claremont’s run on X-Men, but there’s an easier way to denote this: just put the other languages in parentheses and English in regular font. Much simpler to keep track of.
Despite the slow pace, there are a few action sequences in the comic, and Ronan Cliquet draws these sequences with the brutality you’ve come to expect from the world of Extraction. It is also a great showcase for how rusty Rake’s gotten; when fighting against a trio of foes, one of them manages to get the drop on him with a well-placed bottle throw, and another nearly drowns him by forcing the seltzer gun into his mouth. Drowning by overpriced seltzer is probably on the list of “Most Embarrassing Ways to Die,” but damn does Cliquet make it look cool.
Cliquet also gives Rake a signature look, consisting of a black suit, white shirt, and clean-cut features. It’s nondescript, but it helps him stand out from the James Bonds and the Jason Bournes of the world. It also hides that he’s a very deadly fighter, which stays true to his introduction in Ciudad. While Tyler Rake: An Extraction Story #1 might be slow to start, there’s enough in there to hook fans of the Extraction movies or those who love a good action story.
