Review by Ian Keogh

Agent 9 works for the Super Secret Spy Service, or S4, where they’re effective, but unconventional. Incidents like using a cargo ship to stop an armoured truck robbery deal with the problem, but are hugely costly, and they’re now on their last warning.

Creating a lead character whose gender is unknown is smart move on James Burks’ part, and also brings into focus how much gender is an issue in any genre material, whereas it should be irrelevant. The opening scene has the cat-like Agent 9 and small robotic fish partner Fin evading danger in a rocket-paced first sixteen pages. With brief intervals, that pace continues throughout a creative adventure, Burks constantly throwing in wild new ideas as he toys with the expected scenarios of an action thriller. Agent 9 is almost always in action, whether biking through the jungle, battling King Crab’s rocket squid drone, or remembering the past.

King Crab is the threat in this absurdist delight, the type of villain who plans ahead, ordering his nefarious equipment online, then boasts about what he’s going to do with it. As the title tells us, it’s to initiate Flood-a-Geddon, but at no point does Burks take the traditional route on the way to preventing it. Agent 9 is capable, but impulsive, while Fin, whom only Agent 9 understands, acts as the voice of reason, although sometimes not soon enough to prevent an almighty mess. When warnings have been given and ignored Fin becomes the voice of “I told you so”. Cleverly, though, Agent 9 uses their own failings to win the day. Come on, of course they win. The series isn’t King Crab.

A rush from start to finish, drawn with a similar energy, absolutely hilarious across the age groups, and constantly inventive, Burks has raised the game for modern day all-ages romps.