It’s always a good time to re-read a Greg Rucka graphic novel, in my opinion… and to prep for the release of the film adaptation starring Charlize Theron? That may just be the best time of all. If you are on this site but have not yet watched The Old Guard, which stars Theron as Andromache of Scythia, the leader of a team of immortal mercenaries, then you, my friend, should make your way directly to Netflix—as soon as you finish reading this review of the comics where Andy’s story begins.
The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Leandro Fernández, describes itself as “a fairy tale of blood and bullets.” It’s the story of a group of people who cannot die—except that’s not quite true. Andy and her compatriots seem to be immortal. They survive their first deaths, usually in battle; they survive bullets and explosives and car wrecks and drowning and whatever the world throws at them. They don’t age. And then, one day, they die. They don’t know when. They don’t know why. All they know is that until their time comes, they just keep going.
Andy is the oldest of them; she’s older than recorded history (and older than labels—she cheerfully and/or crankily fucks her way through people of any gender. Just don’t ask her to remember their names…). Joe and Nicky met during the Crusades. Known as Yusuf al-Kaysani and Nicolò di Genoa back then, they discovered they couldn’t die because they kept killing each other and then getting up to do it again. Eventually they fell in love; who wouldn’t, with that kind of meet-cute? Sebastien Le Livre—Booker—was hung for desertion when Napoleon’s army invaded Russia. He’s the baby of the group at only a couple centuries. At least, he is until Nile Freeman of the U.S. Marines gets her throat slit in Afghanistan and wakes up without even a scar.
The Old Guard: The Immortal Edition Volume 1 (out July 15th) collects the first two The Old Guard graphic novels, Opening Fire and Force Multiplied. Opening Fire introduces us to the immortals, who’ve survived by being nomadic: they work as guns for hire (or whatever weapons happen to be in vogue at the time) and move on before anyone notices they don’t age. That’s getting harder and harder, though, in an age of digital records, surveillance cameras, and electronic footprints. So when a pharma bro uncovers their secret, he decides they might hold the key to unlocking immortality for the entire human race—or at least close enough to make him a whole lot of money. Andy, Joe, Nicky, and Booker have to figure out how to cope with being hunted at the same time as they discover a new immortal, Nile, needs their help.
In Force Multiplied, another immortal pops up, but she’s not new. She is, in fact, very old. Noriko was Andy’s partner, lover, and constant companion for more than two millennia, until she was lost at sea in the 1500s. Far, far out at sea. Andy, Nicky, and Joe thought she was dead—hoped she was dead. But Noriko drowned—and revived, drowned—and revived, over and over again for centuries. When she finally washed up on land, she came back… a little wrong. While Andy and her crew try to help humanity, Noriko wants to punish them. Oh, and she also feels like Andy abandoned her, so she’s out for revenge. Toxic exes, amirite?
The series is full of action and intrigue, but it’s also a sharp philosophical meditation on death, human connection, depression, technological progress, love, morality, and, well, life. At times it’s reminiscent of The Good Place—if Chidi had known Socrates, probably slept with him, and then lived through all the centuries since his death whilst watching the world continue to struggle with ethics. Andy and the others heal from physical wounds, but emotional pain is a different story. If you like deeply complicated women, history, and/or questioning the meaning of life, this might be the story for you!
Visually, the series is arresting. Fernández’s art is not my usual thing: it’s a little more sharp and angular, a little less realistic, than I typically respond to in comics. However, for these characters and these stories, it works beautifully. Everyone is distinct, their faces unique and expressive, even—especially?—when they’re half-destroyed by a shotgun blast. Fernández sells the emotional connections between the immortal crew, the violence, and the off-kilter humour that pervades the book. Getting to journey through time with him as we occasionally flash back across millennia of history is a stylistic treat.
Colours by Daniela Miwa provide an immersive sense of place, at times deliberately overwhelming, at times drawing our attention to a pinpoint. I love the way violence often visually underscores the entire narrative, escaping the boundaries of the panels to take up all the available space on the page. Jodi Wynne’s lettering is artfully evocative of different languages and methods of communication.
Rucka is one of a very few men who write female characters that I love. Of his creator-owned work, Andy might be my favourite. He describes her, in the back matter to Force Multiplied #1, as “the crankiest grandmother… the whole damn world needs to get off her lawn,” and I adore that about her. She has done it all, seen it all, suffered through it all, lost almost everyone she has ever loved. She’s tired; she still wants to keep fighting for what’s right. I really want to get the promised third chapter of her story, so grab this book and let’s show the publishers there’s an audience out here waiting.
The Old Guard: The Immortal Edition Volume 1 is available from your local comic shop and wherever else graphic novels are sold as of July 15. Preorder to make sure you get a copy! The Old Guard is on Netflix now and The Old Guard 2 comes out July 2. (Be aware that there are some differences between page and screen, but Rucka wrote the screenplay for the first film and co-wrote the second.)
Content warnings: graphic violence, suicidal ideation, nudity, the occasionally-crushing weight of the atrocities of human history.
Kathryne Slant (she/her) is a queer Canadian writer and general pop culture enthusiast. She wants to spend less time online and more time at puppy yoga. Find her @SapphosHands.bsky.social.
