Velvet #10

For only the second time since the series' opening issue Velvet Tempelton gets played, and it almost costs the secret agent turned secretary turned fugitive on on the run her life. Betrayed by Damian Lake who, as he admitted to her, is playing his own far more dangerous game, Velvet is forced to jump from a moving train and try and avoid an entire unit of Arc-7 agents in the French countryside who were tipped-off to take her down (although not for the reasons she initially suspects).

Wrapping up "The Secret Lives of Dead Men," Velvet #10 offers plenty of action and some nice twists as Velvet finds herself on the defensive, Damian Lake proves to have a darker agenda than even she guessed, the vast conspiracy the traitor hinted at last issue is, at least in part, corroborated, and major supporting characters meet their untimely ends.

I don't know what writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting have in store for the comic's third arc, or where the conspiracy will lead Velvet from here, but sign me up! Must-read.

[Image, $3.50]