Queen & Country

Queen & Country
Publication information
Publisher	Oni Press
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	, spy, techno-thriller
Publication date	March 2001 - August 2007
No. of issues	32
Creative team
Created by	Greg Rucka
Written by	Greg Rucka
Collected editions
Broken Ground	ISBN 192999821X

Queen & Country is an American comic book published by Oni Press and written by Greg Rucka with various artists illustrating.

It was inspired by the British television series The Sandbaggers (1978-1980), which was created and primarily written by Ian Mackintosh. Mackintosh is heavily praised in an essay by Rucka in Issue #1 of Queen & Country.

Publication history

The first series began in March 2001 and ran for 32 issues, finishing in August 2007.

Three Queen & Country: Declassified spin-off mini-series have also been published, the first two written by Rucka and the third by Antony Johnston under Rucka's supervision. They deal specifically with the past missions of various characters. Events of the first Declassified miniseries in particular influence what happens in later issues of the main series; it is best read before "Operation Stormfront".

Translated editions of the collected volumes are available in Polish, French and German, and several volumes are available in Spanish.

Plot

The series is centered on Tara Chace, an operative of the Special Operations Section of SIS, colloquially known as the Minders. It attempts to portray the bureaucracy and politics with which the agents deal with realistically, as well as including the dangerous missions typical of the spy genre.

Other recurring characters in the series alongside Tara Chace include Director of Operations Paul Crocker, Deputy Chief of Service Donald Weldon, Chief of Service Frances Barclay (known colloquially as "C"), Mission Control Officer and Main Communications Officer Alexis and former Head of Special Section Tom Wallace.

Storylines

• Operation Broken Ground

(Queen & Country #1-4)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Steve Rolston.

• Operation Morningstar

(Queen & Country #5-7)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Brian Hurtt, Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Christine Norrie.

• Operation Crystal Ball

(Queen & Country #8-12)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Leandro Fernández.

• Operation Blackwall

Queen & Country #13-15)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Jason Shawn Alexander.

• Operation Stormfront

(Queen & Country #16-20)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Carla Speed McNeil.

• Operation Dandelion

(Queen & Country #21-24)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Mike Hawthorne.

• Untitled

(Queen & Country #25)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Steve Rolston and Mike Norton.

• Operation Saddlebags

(Queen & Country #26-28)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Mike Norton and Steve Rolston.

• Operation Red Panda

(Queen & Country #29-32)

Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Chris Samnee.

Collected editions

• Queen & Country:
  • Broken Ground (collects Queen & Country #1-4 and Oni Press Color Special 2001 #1, 120 pages, April 2002, ISBN 192999821X)
  • Morning Star (collects Queen & Country #5-7, 88 pages, October 2002, ISBN 192999835X)
  • Crystal Ball (collects Queen & Country #8-12, 152 pages, January 2003, ISBN 192999849X)
  • Operation Blackwall (collects Queen & Country #13-15, 88 pages, November 2003, ISBN 1929998686)
  • Operation Stormfront (collects Queen & Country #16-20, 168 pages, April 2004, ISBN 1929998848)
  • Operation Dandelion (collects Queen & Country #21-24, 128 pages, August 2004, ISBN 192999897X)
  • Operation Saddlebag (collects Queen & Country #25-28, 144 pages, May 2005, ISBN 1932664149)
  • Red Panda (collects Queen & Country #29-32, 144 pages, June 2007, ISBN 1932664653)

• Queen & Country The Definitive Editions:
  • Volume 1 (collects Queen & Country #1-12 and Oni Press Color Special 2001 #1, 376 pages, November 2007, ISBN 1932664874)
  • Volume 2 (collects Queen & Country #13-24, 376 pages, April 2008, ISBN 1932664890)
  • Volume 3 (collects Queen & Country #25-32, 264 pages, July 2008, ISBN 1932664963)

• Queen & Country: Declassified:
  • Volume 1 (88 pages August 2003, ISBN 1929998589)
  • Volume 2 (96 pages May 2006, ISBN 1932664289)
  • Volume 3 (96 pages May 2006, ISBN 1932664351)

Awards

• 2002:
  • Won "Best New Series" Eisner Award
  • Nominated for "Best Continuing Series" Eisner Award
  • Nominated for "Best Serialized Story" Eisner Award, for Queen & Country #1-4: "Operation: Broken Ground"

• 2003: Nominated for "Best Serialized Story" Eisner Award, for Queen & Country #8-12: "Operation: Crystal Ball"

• 2004:
  • Nominated for "Best Continuing Series" Eisner Award
  • Nominated for "Best Serialized Story" Eisner Award, for Queen & Country #13-15: "Operation Blackwall"

Other media

Novels

A Queen & Country prose novel, A Gentleman's Game, was published in 2004, also featuring Tara Chace and making reference to the events of the comic book series. A second Tara Chase novel, Private Wars, was published in 2005. The novels tie in the comic series; issue 29 to 32 depicts events immediately after A Gentleman's Game. Private Wars takes place a few months after the end of the comic series and ends the first volume of the series. Greg has stated that a second volume of Queen & Country will start sometime in 2009.

Film

A film adaptation is under development, but has been stranded in development hell for some time.

References

• Queen & Country at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Queen & Country Declassified (2002) at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Queen & Country Declassified (2005) at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Queen & Country Declassified Volume 2 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Queen & Country Declassified Volume 3 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)

External links

• Greg Rucka's Homepage
• Oni Press Homepage
• Greg's Blog