Gun Honey Doubles Down #1 Review

 

Gun Honey Doubles Down #1 Review

Writer: Charles Ardai

Artist: Ang Hor Kheng

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Cover Artists: Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, Adam Hughes, Ang Hor Kheng & Yasmine

Also Available: Cosplay & Rare Tempter Wraparound Variants

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: June 17, 2026

 

While the world's attention focused on Paris, Joanna Tan mingled among the athletes. But as they competed in events to earn medals for their countries, Joanna sought to prevent an assassination. The intended victim was so grateful that she commissioned Joanna to do the impossible. Now, Alexis Stern, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, wants Joanna to do it again.

 

This time, the stakes are higher. Another ten million doesn't cut it. Still, Joanna must kill a dictator to save her friend. But can Joanna sneak back into the Kremlin? And even if she succeeds, can she protect Olga and her father from the repercussions of her actions? Let's leap into Gun Honey Doubles Down #1 and see!

 

Story

Dmitri Vulapin may call himself the president of Russia. But he’s still a repressive dictator who crushes anyone in his way. The US Director of National Intelligence doesn’t know if his replacement will improve life in Russia or worsen international relations. Still, Alexis Stern wants him gone. Unfortunately, Joanna woke the beast when she snuck a gun into an interrogation room. The person debriefing his former spy wasn’t the hands-on dictator, but one of his impersonators.

 

In Gun Honey Doubles Down #1, Joanna returns to finish what she started. When Vulapin recovers from the shock of Joanna's actions, he will send his agents after her. Joanna Tan may be used to a life of danger, but Olga isn't. She greeted Joanna with a gun and was reluctant to let her into her apartment. Olga may have helped Joanna sneak into the Kremlin the first time because of what Vulapin did to her brother. But this time, Olga must play a larger role in the operation to ensure her future and protect her father from Vulapin’s recriminations.

 

Charles Ardai’s story shows the lengths to which Joanna Tan will go to complete her mission. When her reputation is on the line, and her friends’ lives are in jeopardy, nothing is off the table. As she remembers the acts and conversations that propelled her on this second mission into the heart of the Vulapin’s dark operations, Joanna stays focused on the present. Despite her carefully laid plans, Joanna doesn't lose heart when things don't go to plan. Instead, she takes inspiration from her surroundings and improvises on the trot in the action-packed Gun Honey Doubles Down #1.

 

Art

When Joanna Tan emerges from the crowd of holidaymakers on the beach, she approaches an armed guard standing before a padlocked gate. After handing him her phone, Joanna drags his unconscious body into nearby foliage. Glimpses of her secreted underwater gear appear in flagstone-shaped panels as Joanna dives off a cliff into the wave-tossed sea.

 

As Joanna swims across the middle of a page, a trio of images above her portrays her briefing with Alexis Stern, and the three images below reveal her revelation to Olga. As she slips inside Vulapin’s home, Ang Hor Kheng contrasts the fortress rising along the cliffs with Gelendzhik rising beyond the bay. Yet while tens of thousands of people inhabit the resort town, the fortress plays home to one man.

 

As Asifur Rahman lavishes his palette on Gun Honey Doubles Down #1, red competes with blue, green, and flesh tones for dominance. Alexis’ maroon shirt links her with the outfit Joanna steals inside Vulapin’s fortress. The furnishings in Vulapin’s living quarters echo those in Olga’s apartment. And while red hair tumbles around the face of the dictator’s masseuse, Olga’s short pink hair reminds us she is another victim. Vulapin may not drink his subjects’ blood. Yet as scenes of intense emotion and violence play out against red backgrounds, the gray mansion rising from the greenery, surrounded by the blue sea and sky, suggest the president’s vampiric nature.

 

While David Leach shares Joanna's thoughts in blue narrative boxes, he places black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons. The letters grow bold for intonation and swell for volume. But as Joanna risks her life to save Olga's, pounding fists, wailing alarms, thundering gunfire, and roaring engines accompany her heedless charge into danger. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Joanna Tan doesn’t fight for God or Country. But she’ll put her life on the line to save others. When a power-hungry rich man grinds others beneath his feet so he can stand a little taller, there is no fortress strong enough, and not enough Human shields to hide behind, to prevent Joanna from extinguishing his warped and abusive life in Gun Honey Doubles Down #1.

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Gun Honey Doubles Down #1.

 

For what happened last time, see my review of Gun Honey Doubles Down #0.

For what happened before that, see my review of Gun Honey Collision Course TP. 

For more cover options, see my cover preview of Gun Honey Doubles Down #1.