It’s Day 2, and Control is still AWOL. Maggie continues to use every tool and trick at her disposal to cover for him, but the longer he’s gone, the more difficult it becomes. Especially because there’s an absolutely vital mission coming up in Vienna, which Control is meant to handle personally. What’s even more alarming, someone in the Circus is a traitor—and that someone is working to thwart Maggie at every turn.

In the first issue, every step Maggie took was to cover her tracks and make sure nobody found out what was going on. She can’t do everything herself, though, particularly since she’s not trained for field work. So in this issue, she needs to reach out to others in the Circus for help: no easy feat when you’re not sure whom you can trust. But her best friend and her occasional lover should both be OK, right?

As I mentioned in my review of the previous issue, the vibes in this comic are similar to the comic Velvet—which makes it a win in my book. The main difference, though, is that, while Velvet introduced a fair amount of high tech, fantastical gadgetry, The Circus eschews this classic spy trope.

Most things are done with simple paper and ink. When they do bring in computers, it’s all standard, present-day tech—a smartphone, a Zoom meeting, etc. What makes these spies great isn’t their tools, but their training. If you want to come out on top, you need to know the game better than those who are after you. Of course, the game has a lot of different facets, a lot of different departments, and a lot of moving parts. Maggie probably knows more than anybody about the Circus’ inner workings and how things are done—but it’s still not nearly enough.

There’s a fair bit more action in this issue than in the previous one, but even so, this story isn’t about that. It’s not about car chases and gun battles and explosions. It’s about the characters. As the stakes get higher for Maggie, for the people she chooses to trust, and even for Control, wherever he may be, the tension of even the most innocuous scenes is ramped up, until we’re on the edge of our seats. I’m fully invested in these characters and their story, and I’m excited to see how things play out.

Creative Team: Matt Kindt (script), Ibrahim Moustafa (art), Brad Simpson (color art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
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