Dynamite Entertainment; $19.99

Steeped with characters such as Operator 5, the Green Hornet and Kato, The Spider, and Green Lama, the first three issues of the mini-series collected in this volume did a great job building the mystery and setting the stage for the characters and a riveting story.

And the concluding two chapters paid off on that build-up in strong fashion.

In the midst of long-simmering Cold War tensions, unknown forces have deliberately moved to heat up a conflict on a global scale, replacing leaders on both sides with doubles. A young secret agent joins the desperate effort to uncover and stop the unknown menace.

That young agent is the man who will become Captain Action.

Writer Chris Roberson and artist Jonathan Lau have given us a rich, densely packed graphic novel – and it reads much more like an original graphic novel than merely a collection of individual issues. It is very tightly written.

If you’re a Captain Action fan of long standing or someone new to the character, this is a very compelling, easily accessible origin story that will reward the readers who give it a try.