Review by C.J. Bunce

In the spirit of The Prisoner, Clue, Sneakers, Ready Player One, Dispatches from Elsewhere, and Kingsman, Cutting Edge is a new series by fantasy author Francesco Dimitri and award-winning Italian artist Mario Alberti arriving in comic book stores this week.  March 2012.  Dozens of the greatest minds, the world’s elite, receive letters from a mega-finance corporation inviting them to an event in London, with no further information.  Among them, Joshua Malinot, a painter, Hiroshi Itou, a noted genius in physics, Stella Orsini Del Giglio, a post-scandal heiress, Jirakee Walker, a prize-winning National Geographic photographer working in Australia, a suave playboy who goes only by the name Delroy, and Mark Underwood, a social psychologist and expert in information.  What do they all have in common?  Someone believes they are the “Cutting Edge” of society.

Why are they here?  They are offered to compete in a dodecathlon, 12 challenges across the globe to test their limits.  The prize?  Bragging rights, and if that’s not enough, 35% ownership in the largest financial institution in the world.

But this isn’t just a game, and they all might not make it to the end of the challenge alive.

The mystery of The Prisoner, the aura of Clue, the stakes of Sneakers, a test like Kingsman, a team like Dispatches from Elsewhere, in a challenge like Ready Player One.  With layouts and artwork by Dimitri Alberti, reminiscent of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the first 49-page issue arrives this week at comic book stores everywhere.

Here is a look inside the first issue of the first chapter in the series, Cutting Edge: The Siren’s Song:

And here’s a trailer for the comics series:

This is a great start to a new fantasy series.  If you’re a fan of any of the series or movies I’ve mentioned above, you may want to dig into Titan Comics’ first English version of Cutting Edge.  Add Cutting Edge: The Siren’s Song, Issue #1 to your pull list at Elite Comics or your local comic shop.  It arrives this Wednesday.