Phil’s off to the Arabian desert this story, which does give Williamson a chance to draw some fantastic scenery and action scenes. Goodwin plots a lot of action into the same relatively short period, but it works out since Phil’s character development has taken another break.
Goodwin gets in an opening action scene with Phil in the States, discovering the arms smuggling going on in the fictional Middle Eastern country (they have oil, of course). Then he fends off some assassins once he gets there, has a chase sequence, a fist fight, a gun fight and then another gun fight. Goodwin also gets in some backstory on the villains. It’s a lot of stuff.
The great art helps the story pass smoothly, even when Goodwin gets a little too goofy with the bad guys. He never makes them believable (though his take on Arab politics is more thoughtful than not).
