As C.I.A. agent Alpha and his lover Assia try to escape Moscow, the net of betrayal draws ever tighter around them. Assia is a pawn meant to be sacrificed to her husband’s greed, and Alpha’s investigation into the link between Russian mobsters and the governments of Russia and the United States is getting too close for someone’s comfort. Meanwhile, the Russian mafia is experiencing an upheaval of its own as a son makes a power play against his father.

Double-cross piles on triple-cross, which piles on quadruple-cross in this final chapter of Alpha’s Russian storyline. It’s enough to make your head spin. Fortunately Mythic lays out the entire plot in one clear, comprehensive, and well-done scene near the end of the volume. However, even if he hadn’t, I still would have enjoyed this book.

Wolves’ Wages is a Hollywood summer blockbuster on paper. Though their personalities are only briefly sketched in, Alpha and Assia are an appealing couple. The plot holds the attention. The main villain is charismatic. The action is non-stop, and there’s a satisfying (if bittersweet) ending. What more could you want?

The main focus of this volume is on the struggle between Russian mobster Bogdanov and his son Igor. Because Igor is such a pivotal character, this plot isn’t the sidetrack that it would seem to be at first glance. Igor is the third leg in the love triangle involving Alpha and Assia, and his moves against his father are complicating the plans of the story’s bigger fish.

While Igor is capable of subtlety, he’s also more than willing to take out his frustrations on a human target. He’s a dangerous, albeit charming at times, villain.

In contrast, Alpha gets very little to do. Basically he runs around with Assia. He has a couple nice human moments with his lover, and a role in the dénouement, but that’s about it. It’s somewhat surprising that Mythic pushes the nominal hero of the story into the background, but it’s hardly noticeable since the cast is so large and colorful. Wolves’ Wages is an action-thriller that relies more on the power of the story than it does on its characters to carry it.

Y. Jigounov does a superb job illustrating the material. His style is realistic without trying to be photo-realistic. He’s an artist who’s extremely talented at presenting the world around us. Yes, it’s a romanticized vision, but it’s grounded in the everyday details. The cars, the DVD players, the pictures on the wall--Jigounov takes the time to make them all authentic. He’s not going for style points; he’s grounding the story so readers can immerse themselves in it, and he easily moves from illustrating urban settings to rural ones. There’s a sequence of four panels showing a wolf running through the woods that’s just beautiful.

Jigounov is equally adept at composing an action scene. The book opens with a shoot-out and chase, and the artist cuts between the viewpoints of the two factions, moves in close to the action, and then pulls back. He constantly changes the angle from which he and the reader are looking at things, but it’s never confusing. It flows smoothly and quickly, and the reader can follow the action without difficulty in understanding what’s happening to everyone.

Jigounov doesn’t go for cool shots that he can use in his portfolio; he’s telling a story.

The coloring is gorgeous. Something I especially appreciate is the palette used for the night scenes. Using grays, browns, drab greens, and blues, they shadow the panel so that it’s obvious that it’s occurring at night, but it’s never so dark you can’t make out what’s happening. There’s always a lighter color in the panel to contrast with the dark.

Alpha: Wolves’ Wages is the perfect beach-read for fans of fast paced thrillers.

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