Review by Ian Keogh

There’s an unusual start to Deep Cuts. Whenever we see the Daughters of the Dragon it’s usually together, but Jed MacKay opens with them on separate assignments. Misty Knight isn’t having any problems, but Colleen Wing is being attacked by giant automated puppets. That’s not the only difference. As we follow Colleen’s journey, it seems like a tripped out film from the late 1960s or early 1970s, and the deeper into it we go, the more it becomes apparent that MacKay’s plot swills in references to that era, not least the phrases.

That impression is increased by Travel Foreman’s art, which is all magnified or exaggerated perspectives and colourist Jordan Gibson even manages to indulge in psychedelia at one point. It’s quite the contrast moving to Joey Vasquez for the second story of three. Vasquez is more of a cartoonist, and brings a lively animated gloss to the action, but he’s not as enthusiastic about the conversations.

It turns out the creepy old samurai in the opener was being coerced by an even deadlier threat, a man so thoroughly brainwashed by Hydra to the point of being an almost invincible assassin. Hydra involvement usually means Nick Fury putting in an appearance somewhere, and MacKay supplies him with meaty and manipulative role, as at home with the villains as with the heroes. It’s a relationship continued in Taskmaster: The Rubicon Trigger.

MacKay brings the Hydra involvement to an unpredictable conclusion, and Foreman’s back on art for the final two chapters, this time drawn more conventionally, and they provide the icing on a very enjoyable cake. Having dealt with business, perhaps it time for a holiday, and a cruise certainly fits the bill. It doesn’t take long, though, for MacKay to reveal there’s something sinister about the cruise. What at first seems bad dialogue plays into the scenario, and that opens out into something weird and wonderful with some great revelations.

There haven’t been that many Daughters of the Dragon solo outings, but this is the best.