Tara Chace

Tara Felicity Chace, codenamed Minder Two, is the razor-sharp protagonist of Oni Press's acclaimed espionage series Queen & Country, making her debut in Queen & Country #1 (2001). Created by writer Greg Rucka, Tara stands as one of the most grounded and emotionally complex operatives in comics — a field agent for Britain's MI6 Special Operations section who operates without the glamour or gadgetry typically associated with spy fiction. Her introduction in that landmark first issue is essential reading for any collector, marking the launch of a series that would go on to win multiple Eisner Awards and reshape how the medium approached the espionage genre.

As Minder Two, Tara is defined not by superhuman origin or cosmic power but by an extraordinary mastery of real-world skills — unarmed combat, marksmanship, tracking, stealth, and a near-unmatched capacity to endure. Her missions carry genuine consequence, and Rucka never shies away from the psychological toll that fieldwork takes on her. Story arcs like Operation: Broken Ground, which opens the series, and the harrowing Operation: Crystal Ball thrust Tara into morally ambiguous scenarios where survival and duty are constantly at war with each other. These arcs are collector favorites, praised for their tight scripting and rotating roster of artists including Steve Rolston and Leandro Fernandez.

Queen & Country also spawned a series of prose novels that expanded Tara's world, but it is the original comic run that collectors prize most. The series concluded with 32 issues, and tracking down the complete run — along with the various Special one-shots that punctuated the ongoing — has become a rewarding pursuit for fans of literary, character-driven comics. Tara also appears in the Queen & Country Definitive Edition trade paperback collections, which are an excellent entry point but do little to dampen demand for the original single issues.

For collectors, Tara Chace represents something rare in the hobby: a female protagonist anchoring a critically beloved, award-winning independent series with no relaunches, no universe-wide crossovers, and no dilution of her story. Queen & Country #1 is a genuinely significant first appearance in modern independent comics, and the full run remains modestly priced relative to its critical reputation — making now an ideal time to acquire key issues before the series receives the wider recognition it deserves.