Please read this book!  Don't get me wrong, it's already cancelled and nothing can be done to save it.  But please read this issue if nothing else, as it competes with the one-and-done issue of Scalped a couple of months back for best single issue of the year.  Dysart tells the story of a single AK-47 as it changes owners and wars, along with a brief biography of the weapon itself, and it blew me away (no pun intended).

The timeline shifts from Kalashnikov's first thoughts of the ubiquitous weapon in the midst of WWII, to the birth of his creation and down into war torn Africa where it has been used in too many wars to list.  Finally this specific gun finds itself in the hands of a man intending to kill the Unknown Soldier, slamming the weapon into the heart of our ongoing story.  The narrative is told in the imagined voice of the gun itself, which may sound a little silly, but ultimately works.  The discourse takes in details of the wars themselves, but also examines bigger ideas behind the incredible familiarity of the AK47 and guns in general.  Dysart talks of the ultimate irony that we seem to leave in a world where vast numbers of people need guns to survive, and yet the objects themselves are designed to do nothing but kill, and this message resonates really effectively.  The tale ends with a quote from Kalashnikov himself, where he ruminates on his creation and laments the fact that he couldn't come up with a lawn mower instead.  After all, it's the most recognisable gun in the world.  He apparently designed it simply to save Russian lives on the battlefield, yet his name is totally synonymous with modern ways of death. 

The art is from veteran Rick Veitch and it's really nice stuff.  I love the regular Ponticelli work, but have no problem with fill in artists on standalone stories like this.  The colouring and layout are as always excellent, conveying that dusty African landscape brilliantly in a style that marks this out as a book with a definite look of it's own.

When all is said and done this is going to be a fascinating 25 issue run, and I'm trying hard not to think about what might have been if Dysart was allowed to keep going.  As for this one issue, could it be my pick of the week?  Well, I'm not there yet, but it might well be...