Ayre Force follows the adventures of super spy/billionaire playboy Calvin Ayre and his team of likewise super spies. Co-written by adventure journalist Adam Slutsky and Joseph Phillip Illidge, best known for his work on the Batman books, Ayre Force has a perfect balance of drool-worthy scifi weaponry and real-world manliness to keep the reader very happy. Yes, this a good comic.

The team of Illidge and Slutsky build an incredibly engaging story, which is quite the challenge when most comics come prepackaged with decade old characters that everyone loves. Sure, it can sometimes feel like a Nick Fury comic at times, but Arye Force is a surprisingly original read. And yes, the dialogue is a bit cheesy at times, but the well-paced plot more than makes up for that.

But I have to say that the best part about this book is the artwork by Shawn Martinbrough. I tend to steer clear of action-oriented title from small publishers because, frankly, the art tends to be terrible. But that’s not the case here. Take, for instance, when Calvin Ayre blows the fuck out of the owners of a bear bile farming factory for being evil dickheads.

Very pretty.

Okay, now what I’ve established that this is a good comic, I must tell you that something bugged me the whole time while reading this. Here is the panel at which my unease firmly set in and sadly it was only on the second page:

Yes, you read that correctly. Bif Naked. This Bif Naked:

Here’s the deal, Bodog, the publishers of this comic, is not a small, up-and-coming comic company like I had thought. Turns out it is a multi-billion dollar corporation specializing in music, gambling and fighting entertainment. And all the members of Calvin Ayre’s crack spy team are real-life employees of the real-life company. And Calvin Ayre happens to be the actual founder of Bodog.

So, having found that out about a quarter of the way through, my reading experience of the book was severely soured by the idea that I was spending my time reading what seems to be little more than an elaborate branding experiment. An advertisement. No matter how much I enjoyed the story and artwork and general craftsmanship of the book, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being sold something the whole time. (But the same can be said for any DC comic in the past year.) A billionaire envisioning himself as a badass spy, getting top talent to produce it, having several corporate money-makers written into the story and then selling it as a $20 hardcover has to be the biggest case of corporate wankery I have ever seen in my life. But, truth be told, if I were filthy rich I’d do the exact same thing.

And then I read the page in the backmatter on how all the proceeds of this graphic novel are going to the Calvin Ayre Foundation to fight the inhuman trade of bear bile farming and promptly felt like an ass. So instead of this being one company’s celebration of itself, it is an incredibly awesome means of raising funds, complete with celebrity cameos, kick-ass fight scenes and card game-related puns.

I’m afraid that most comic fanboys will ignore this book for not being a “serious” comic and that’s a real shame. Yes, the heavy corporate branding is awkward at times, but once you take it for what it is, a balls-to-the-walls spy spectacular for a good cause, it hard not to love it. With solid art, great plotting and fun concepts, this graphic novel should not be discarded for more of the same old crap from the same old publishers

So, if you’re looking for a good read and you’ve Googled bear bile farming by now and know how much it sucks, you can order a copy of Ayre Force from the Bodog website.

And with that, I leave you with perhaps the greatest panel I’ve read this week.