Written by Matt Kund
Art by Gonzalo Ruggieri
Letters by Noah Ray
Published via Kickstarter

“In the early 90s glam rock is fading but the Cold War is raging! The CIA creates a band “Metal Eagle” as a front to rock out and spy!”

What’s not to love about a story whose premise revolves around rock music and spies? This story is a ton of fun to read and issue one builds up the premise and delivers some metal action. Metal Eagle is a bit of a what if the CIA created a metal band to spy and counterspy on soviet entities and a bit of pure rock’n’roll fun. Metal Eagle combines the action and intrigue of spy stories with energy and excitement of metal music, creating an engaging and visually interesting story.

Gonzalo Ruggieri’s artwork is stellar and so fitting for a world of dark corners and shady characters as he leans into the shading of environments and brings a diverse palette of colors into the mix. I love the colors as they often have a watercolor-esque vibe to them, while still bringing a grungey feel to the art. The character design of Metal Eagle is perfect as it matches the vibe of 90s rock. One interesting part of the art that is different from some comics is there are sound effects drawn by the artist versus using a traditional lettering approach.

In issue one we don’t get a lot of character development in the main story, but in the backup story, which is also written by Matt with art by Wilson Gandolpho, we get a bit of an origin story for Mitchell Morton, lead singer of our titular metal band Metal Eagle. One thing that is certain with this cast of characters is that they are all ready for action, be it music or stopping a global conflict.

The plot in this story is just as wild as the overarching concept and I love it. This is perfect for people who love zany 90s spy films that are just wild enough to believe could happen but so wild that you are thoroughly entertained. I’m excited and ready for this book to launch on Kickstarter in April!

Rating 8.5/10

Metal Eagle #1 is up for pre-launch on Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattkund/metal-eagle-1-those-about-to-rock