When MI6 wants to solve a case without getting involved, they turn to their best agent, the man called Nobody.
New installment of Alberto Breccia’s library of ECC Comics. Nobody is a series of spies and action created together with Carlos Trillo in search of a less intense and deep work, an action-packed diversion that mixes the adventures of James Bond with the pulp for the enjoyment of readers. Fourteen stories about an unknown international agent solving Britain’s big problems.
In the late 1970s, Breccia and Trillo were big comic book stars with their own projects. But Tit Bits magazine gave them the opportunity to create a series of short stories without as much weight as their main works. With the James Bond movies in vogue, the choice of theme was not difficult, and the two authors signed 14 espionage stories where fun and spectacle take precedence over intensity, but without leaving the quality of these two great firms.
When the British Home Office doesn’t want to be directly involved in a case, they call Nobody. Only one man knows how to locate him, only one woman knows his name, but many owe their cold graves or uncomfortable cells to him. Nobody and his assistant Clown are an enigma to the world, but they have saved him many times. Now, the world is threatened by one of its most formidable enemies, and Nobody is the last line of defense!
The art of Alberto Breccia he had evolved so much that his narrative and compositional capacity allowed him to create works where the void spoke and the shadows created thoughts. But for Nobody that figurative and metaphorical power was not necessary, direct action was necessary, the fast and dry rhythm. Breccia, master that he was, adapted and returned to his old American adventure comic book influences, leaving behind a series of fast-paced, dynamic stories. But without leaving behind that domain of shadow and negative space that he had developed so much. Not so powerful in evocation, No one is a perfect example of how to do action, in the style of her contemporaries Modesty Blaise or James Bond.
Carlos Trillo began this series thinking of short stories, where the action and resolution of its protagonist took precedence over the complexity of the plot. But shortly after starting, he incorporated a well-known villain that I will not reveal (I will only say that his name begins with F), and elements of pulp literature, gaining momentum and interest. Him creating a saga where there was a procedural story. And turning Nobody from an agent unknown to his enemies and to the public, in a three-dimensional character.
Breccia and Trillo did not sign their best work together, but they left a comic that can be read and reread out of pure passion for adventure. No one is the spiritual father of agent 47 from the video game Hitman, from John Wick and many others “hard men” of cinema and comics, and it is always worth remembering that it is not necessary not to have a name, sometimes it is better that your name be that of “No one”.