10 Best Comic First Issues This Week (Dec 19th, 2018)
7. Hardcore #1
The Hardcore Program is a Department of Defense program designed to turn humans into mindless piloted drones. When the project is attacked, Agent Drake is trapped at the pilot seat of one of those human drones with 72 hours to stop the infiltrating force or have a brain aneurysm when the controlling implant degrades!
Talk about a ticking clock! For a high concept series, this is one of the best foot forwards. Though a standard first issue, that doesn't make it a bad issue; it does everything to set up for the thriller to come, starting with Agent Drake on a mission, an official breakdown of how these drones are targeted and made, and finally the climax being the strike against the Hardcore Program.
Created by Mark Silvestri and Robert Kirkman, Andy Diggle writes this with all the intensity that the creators are known for. Agent Drake is charming and within only 20 pages, when he goes "I have 72 hours to save my life" to wrap the issue, the reader wants him to survive.