Okay. Straight up, then. Just so you all know:

William "Bullets" Brackeen is a close, personal friend of Unca Cheeks.

Wanted in seventeen states on charges of Cattle Rustling; Hoss Thievery; and Gross and Unnatural Acts Involving Day-Old Dental Floss: the gent other men call "sir" (and women call often) has appeared right here -- on this very site -- on more than one occasion. (You all recall those nifty overviews of the DC/Marvel crossovers, right? Those are Bill's painstaking handiwork.)

Additionally: Bill "I-Fought-The-Law-And-The-Law-Won" Brackeen has always, always been something of an online role model for your cranky and cantankerous Unca, whenever the latter has made one of his increasingly less frequent forays onto the modern-day mouth-breather game preserves known colloquially as "message boards"; displaying both a wholly admirable coolness of demeanor and an all-but-patented sang- froid in the face of provocation which Unca would (doubtless) would do well to emulate, but finds himself (alas) unable to imitate.

So: you see. I'm a fan, then.

All of that being freely and readily confessed, however: Unca hopes you will -- one and all -- accept it as a "given" that none of the preceding plays any part whatsoever in Unca's stating, baldly, that Bill's upcoming independent science fiction comics series, OPERATION: PURGE, looks as if it's gonna be one sweet, eye-popping mama jamma of a book, all told.

OPERATION: PURGE takes place in a dystopian near-future (Unca's very favoritest science fiction storytelling setting, in plain and unvarnished fact), where crime -- both street-level and organized -- has reached nigh-pandemic proportions; in the wake of the brutal slaying of an unnamed city's popular reformist mayor.

Said city reigning criminal element (which -- judging from the black-

and-white "ashcan" edition of the premiere issue -- seems to be the greater portion of the population entire, sans kindergartners and smaller house pets) finds itself under savage and unexpected assault at the gauntleted mitts of a masked, mysterious and self-appointed "task force" operating under the collective nom de guerre of (waaaaaiiit for it, will you?) OPERATION: PURGE; a collection of cutthroats whose idea of "due process" owes rather more to the judicial legacy of Increase Mather, rather than that of (say) the Harry Anderson character from NIGHT COURT.

Mind, now: this is anything but some dopey, blood-caked-all-over-the- walls PUNISHER or CHAIN GANG WAR riff that Bill is strumming, here; no WIZARD-approved guts'n'gore tester of the reader's gag reflex.

The individuals comprising OPERATION: PURGE may be this series' ongoing protagonists, sure...

... but: they're anything but its actual, for-real heroes.

Which makes all the storytelling difference in the world, actually.

What said series has, actually, is a highly charismatic pair of heroines: newly appointed Homicide Inspector Jasmine Shani and -- to a lesser extent -- broadcast journalist Janeane Sanders ; a brave (and fascinating) auctorial choice, in today's considerably less-than-female-friendly comics marketplace.

None of the foregoing, by the by, should be taken as slight (intentional or otherwise) towards series' penciler Patrick David; a name unfamiliar to Unca, up until now.

Mr. David's layouts are -- at this (admittedly) early stage in the game -- rather better than his linework, overall; but what said gentleman may lack in polish, he more than makes up for (in Unca's opinion) in sheerest, storytelling panache. There are refreshingly intelligent and considered placement of black, throughout; and the end result is an appropriately noir-ish one, where the tire meets the storytelling tarmac.

For Unca's hard-earned money, however: it's always concept and story which matter most, ultimately; and -- in OPERATION: PURGE -- it's dear old story (wonderful old nag, actually; too often rode hard, and put away wet, by too may would-be word jockeys who couldn't convincingly fasten verb to noun with a hammer and nails) which is, blessedly, paramount.

Slated to debut in the Fall of 2000, under the self-owned and -operated aegis of Lab Rat Productions, OPERATION: PURGE receives Unca Cheeks' most genuine and enthusiastic online Seal of Approval; and Unca encourages everyone here assembled to make it known, to their respective dealers and/or retailers of choice -- that they wanna see this title appropriately ordered; stocked; and displayed, by jingo and jehosophat!

... because: if you don't read it...

... you die.

William Brackeen can be reached, conveniently enough, at: [email protected]. Unca (sadly) doesn't have so much as Clue One, re: the proper e-mail address for Patrick David; but invites said gentleman to supply same, for proper inclusion herein.