Man I wanted to wait until, like, Netflix came out with Old Guard 2: 2 Old 2 Guard but I just couldn’t. And now I have to wait until Rucka comes out with Old Guard 3 before I can figure out where this story will go!
The characters remain engaging and vivid and visceral in a way that beautiful actors on screen can’t be–in particular, Booker has this exaggeratedly sad face, all drawn jowls and drooping nose and sagging cheeks which adds additional pathos to his desperate life. Movie Booker might not be A list Charlize Theron level attractive but he’s nothing close to what you can do in a comic setting.
In any case, the story continues from where we left off in Old Guard #1 (the comic, that is, the book is much different–Andromache hasn’t lost her powers, for one). Booker was sentenced to time alone, the one thing that they can do to punish one another.
And then there’s Noriko, doomed to live centuries trapped in the worst type of hell that can befall an immortal being–constantly drowning, reviving, drowning again. And now…she’s back. She cannot believe that Andy would have abandoned her (no matter that she didn’t, that she spent ages trying to find her) and sets up a fun foil for the rest of our immortals.
I will admit that the final twist reveal of Andromache landed a bit flat–but I’m willing to buy it for the sake of the plot.