Titan Comics, out now

After former secret agent Alice Drake is shipwrecked on the shores of the mysterious Village she finds herself caught in the middle of some unfinished business between captor No. 2 and prisoner No. 6.

When Dean Motter’s comic book was first released in 1988 it was something of a big deal, because it was the first published comic book adaptation of the cult 60s TV series. It wasn’t the first attempt – there were abandoned attempts by Jack Kirby and Gil Kane – but this was the first to hit the presses. At the end of the 80s The Prisoner was still enjoying a Renaissance following its screening on Channel 4, and fans were desperate for any new material.

I picked it up on release day for four months and thoroughly enjoyed both the art and story by Motter, the cliffhangers being suitably tense and enough of a hook to ensure your return (like that was ever in doubt) but all was not well in Prisoner fandom. For every person who appreciated the clever references and callbacks to the original, there was a naysayer criticising the motivation of the characters, but the biggest issue was the revelation that the activity in the finale, Fall Out, was all part of a mind game.

Thirty years later, and hot on the heels of Titan’s releases of the abandoned comics and Peter Milligan and Colin Lorimer’s four-part The Uncertainty Machine, Shattered Visage gets a re-release as a single volume (I bet you won’t be able to resist reading it in one go) with new artwork, and intro by Leo (No. 2) McKern’s daughter, an afterward by Motter and some original character sketches. Importantly, now that any perceived hysteria has died down, the story still works well, the Fall Out issue for me being a non-starter.

Verdict: A welcome and timely addition to Titan’s library of Prisoner content that feels as contemporary and relevant now as it did 30 years ago. If you don’t already own it, this handsome edition is a great release. 9/10

Nick Joy