I had heard an awful lot about Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber’s comic series, Whiteout, before I ever saw the film based on it. That was way back in 2011, as you may recall, so if you want to check out my review, you can have at it. Critics absolutely loathed the film and audiences stayed away en masse, so it sank pretty much without a trace. I found it sometimes hard to swallow, but otherwise quite good, so clearly opinions vary. Such is also the case with this trade paperback of Whiteout, fully titled Whiteout, Vol. 1: Definitive Edition.
Before I talk about the things I didn’t like about Whiteout, I need to give credit to writer Greg Rucka for the things he did right. In the first place, I have to say that his choice to set a murder mystery in the Antarctic was a brilliant one. He took a highly obscure bit of trivia — there is essentially one lawman (or -woman) for the entire continent, and so far no killings — and spun it out into an intriguing tale. Before watching the film of Whiteout, or reading the comic, I had no idea of such things and I always enjoy learning something new, particularly when it’s that interesting.
What interests me probably the most about Whiteout is that virtually all the criticisms laid at the feet of the film version, starring Kate Beckinsale as US Marshal Carrie Stetko, are fully present and accounted for in the source material. This is not a case where Hollywood took a perfect piece of creativity and mangled it beyond all recognition. Yes, there’s a touch more action in the movie than in the comic and the MacGuffin has been changed, but I actually feel as though these are improvements and not areas of valid criticism.
For those who chose not to read my review of the film, I will give you a rundown of the basic plot of Whiteout.


