In the 1970s, New York City was a dirty, dangerous place that seemed on the edge of ripping itself a part with sex, drugs, violence, and racial and class tensions. It was a far cry from the relatively orderly city that it is today. Chaykin and Thompson ably capture this, creating an atmospheric historical drama, while dropping everyone's favourite smart aleck cop, John McClane into the mix.

The plot, thus far, involves two dirty cops helping a political radical pull off some, as of yet undisclosed, scheme. However, as this issue opens, the two dirty cops just killed a dirty civilian and were witnessed by a relatively clean young woman from the heartland. While the two cops spend the rest of the issue running around after their witness, McClane is around on his training day as a rookie cop, so you know he'll eventually get mixed up in this.

While there's a certain amount of pleasure in watching McClane arrest flashers and generally try to maintain peace in the Big Apple under the tutelage of an incompetent superior officer, the real fun from Die Hard: Year One comes from the faithful and detailed recreation of the New York of 40 years ago. Chaykin and Thompson bring us the big stuff--police brutality, political strife, racial tension-- but the little stuff as well--Farrah hair, men's short shorts, questionable sexual mores. Yes, the standard Die Hard trope of McClane being in the wrong place at the wrong time as an extraordinary criminal plot unfolds is there, have no doubt die hard fans, but the book has a great more to offer than spoon feeding readers regurgitated ideas.

The only downside of issue #2 is that it doesn't feel like readers get to see a lot of McClane, not so much because of a lack of space on the page, but because he has to restrain himself due to his position as new recruit. However, this provides plenty of space for the Die Hard team to show readers the rest of the crew, which they do incredibly well without overdoing it. Readers are shown the cops are dirty, not because they twirl mustaches, but because after their murder is discovered they don't argue about whether to kill the witness, but whether it's worth the effort to track her down. The witness doesn't faint away, but is pushed into a kind of shell shock, which also serves as a great lens for the reader to view NYC from the outside. The political radical doesn't swing banners or post signs, but shows us a sinister side as certain actions he takes just show that he feels he is superior to everyone else.

The plotting is a bit slow here, so readers expecting upfront action should be forewarned. Two issues in and what exactly the main plot is has yet to be disclosed. However, both of these traits, it should be remembered, are inherent to the original (and superior) Die Hard. If you enjoyed the first movie, but prefer to pretend that the latter ones didn't happen, it's time to take a trip back to the beginning with Die Hard: Year One.

If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at http://madbastard.hypersites.com

---

What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!

---