RED WING #1 (OF 6)

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

638
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.2
 
Users who pulled this comic:
story JONATHAN HICKMAN
art & cover NICK PITARRA & RACHELLE ROSENBERG

Size: pages
Price: 3.50

I love image comics. I probably buy 80% of their no #1 issues and then continue with issue #2 for about another 40%. I do this because Image is the home of creator owned books and because of this, most of what they publish would never appear under the banner of the big two comic publishers. Unfortunately that doesn’t always mean that they are good comics, and believe me, I’ve bought some stinkers. So will I buy #2 of The Red Wing? Well read on to find out. Or, you know, scroll down the page to the end of my review, I don’t care.

The Red Wing got a bit of a buzz around it online just before it came out, probably due to the writer; Jonathan Hickman. Among comic fan’s he’s known as a name that you can trust and its been a little while since he strayed away from Marvel, so it’s no surprise that people were excited to see what he can do when let loose on his own book. The concept is quite interesting as well. The story is set in the future (and the past) when we’ve invented time travel, and instead of using it for good, wars are now waged throughout different time periods. This makes for some mind bending ideas and potentially opens the doors to completely original plot ideas. Unfortunately though, the characters fall a little flat and occasionally I found myself not reading the book, but instead just trying to understand how the rules of time travel work in this world. That’s fine though as it’s a first issue, I just wish I’d been allowed to grow attached to some of the cast. I can’t even remember their names and I only read this book last night.

When I saw previews of this book online the main thing that made me consider if I was going to buy it or not was the art. It’s just so disappointing. The character designs all so similar, the time travel fighter plane things are really, really, ugly, and the colouring is bland. That’s a shame because there are a few pages that really stand out, such as one where a fighter pilot turns to dust as he is thrown from the time machine and a nice splash-page reveal at the end. It’s that splash page that will probably get me to read issue #2. Overall though, this art is rarely a treat for the eyes and is more often than not, downright ugly.

I’m guessing that I will buy issue #2. And that’s because I believe that this story could develop into something really interesting. But for the $3.50 cover price, the art better improve quickly, otherwise I might not buy #3

Art 2/5

Story 3.5/5

Story: 3 - Good
Art: 2 - Average

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