The Activity Volume 1 Paperback – June 19, 2012

In a world of fantasy dominated books this is a fresh break from the mundane. A great fictional tale of an actual secretive government agency. Superb writing by Nathan Edmondson and sharp, standout illustrations by Mitch Gerads. There have been several attempts at television and movies focusing on military groups like the ISA but this book completely and very accurately catches what others have attempted. Far too many times have slick covers tempted people into buying a book only to be disappointed. This book completely delivers. Wonderful covers matched only by the same detailed incredible artwork inside. Mitch Gerads is at the top of his game in this book! The story line isn't some run of the mill shoot them up. Nathan Edmondson does a great job in making the reader get completely engrossed in the story. I love the cross over of characters in the story, several times I have re-read the book to find more of his web of a story. I love any book that makes me think and not just an escape into fantasy.

Take one of the most secretive and mysterious units in the entire United States military, put in the time to do the proper amount of homework, seek out the opinions and advice of the right people, and use all of that as a springboard to tell fictional stories tied intimately to reality... Yeah, not a bad way to assemble a compelling new title.Most impressive writing, research, and characterizations on the part of writer Nathan Edmondson, while an equal amount of credit has to go to artist Mitch Gerads for his storytelling chops, attention to detail, and absolutely killer design sense.

I arrived at The Activity by way of this team's work in The Punisher (which I highly recommend), and they exceeded expectations. The art is stylish, the actions of the characters and scenes are easy to understand without being simple. The writing is engaging and while including plenty of jargon I never felt important points of the plot going over my head. If this is a concern, there is a helpful glossary in the back of the book. The characters are intriguing, their missions exciting, and this comic simply works.

I'm not normally a comic reader but I do enjoy the military fiction genre novels. This flowed really well and I found it was over too fast.

I really enjoyed the read - it is actually rather accurate in terms of the story line - some things are stretched, but it's a comic after all. I love the writing style and graphics quality - overall I am hooked on this series.

I'm familiar with the ISA and what they do, and was kind of surprised that there's a series of comics related to it. The 'authenticity' lends some interesting aspects to it, the artwork is very well done, but the story is... kind of bland. A bit slow. Not particularly compelling. It's interesting, but it's not exactly a relentless page-turner.

These two volumes are indeed more factual than the average reader would ever know. We need to have units like the ISA and now the DCS, but we need them to be highly SECRETIVE.

A graphic novel about the Intelligence Support Activity, one of the most secret special operations forces in the world. Fictional, but inspired by real unit and events.