Jonathan Hickman unfiltered can definitely be a bit of a mixed bag. This coming from an uber-Hickman fan by the way. Sometimes his own creative owned work can be compelling like Nightly News or Pax Romana. Other times it feels like the ideas were certainly more better in his mind, then what’s put on paper. So far, Red Wing has fallen under the latter with virtually no character development with only two issues to go. Nick Pitarra’s art though has certainly saved this mini from being a trade-wait to a must buy. Can the momentum keep going with the penultimate issue?

I’m not lying when I say there is no character development in this story. I still know very little about these three cadets then I did before. It certainly doesn’t help that with Rosenberg’s ugly colors, it’s hard to distinguish any of them (including the lone female surprisingly) with no features wearing the bland uniforms and equally uniformed chins. I still enjoy a good time travel story though and the thoughts on the subject is perfectly represented here. It’s a shame that the actual story being told here is hindering the best parts of the issue. However, bland coloring aside, Pitarra is still killing it with this mini. There is so much detail in this issue it’s hard where to start. How about that amazing four page sequence of the ‘Wings’ attacking the base? Or that lovely image of someone disintegrating by not using their ship properly? Seriously I could see endless amount of pages of that drawing. There’s also some nice touches like seeing individual wrinkles on (visible) faces of characters or the tiny pieces of debris floating in space. The art is definitely the one big reason to keep reading this mini to the end.

It’s a shame that Hickman seems to really not have thought out a decent story out of this. The philosophy on time travel is compelling enough but it’s bogged down by characters I could care little about. If it wasn’t for the horrible coloring by Rosenberg then Pitarra’s art could shine fully here. But his pencils are more then enough to warrant a read here even with said coloring. I doubt we’re going to get much satisfaction at the end of this mini except for Pitarra’s art.