RED WING #2 (OF 4)

Review by: TheNextChampion

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678
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Avg Rating: 4.2
 
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story JONATHAN HICKMAN
art & cover NICK PITARRA & RACHELLE ROSENBERG

Size: pages
Price: 3.50

I would love to somehow go into the mind of Jonathan Hickman for one full day. A Being John Malkovich approach if you will. Because I have a distinct feeling that Hickman knows exactly what’s going on in each title he writes even though it never feels like it when reading it. It’s a bit awkward to point this out but…..I have no idea what’s going on in this title.

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the issue by no means. Hickman goes somewhat philosophical with this issue, especially in the beginning with the unnamed pilot stuck in Mayan times explaining the concept of War to his new friends. It’s an interesting discussing and I like how those pages turn into almost full text with only one image by Pitarra accompanying them. The rest of the issue though, it feels like stuff is happening behind the scenes and Hickman doesn’t want to show us them. When reading the issue I think to myself ‘Well okay these characters are talking’ but then I think ‘Why should I care?’ Other then this Time War being mentioned I can’t see why these particular group of characters are who we should be following. Add in the twist at the very end of the issue and you got yourself even more confusion on top of the confusion I already had.

What isn’t confusing is the absolutely gorgeous artwork by Nick Pitarra. I said it again last issue but he’s got the fully detailed style of Frank Quitely but the bizarre layouts of Seth Fisher. The sequences in the past are the biggest highlights of the comic because the scope of Pitarra’s details are in each panel. It’s like Pitarra literally went into the past, got some pictures, and got an actual portrayal of the land and the people at the time. While I’m not saying the stuff involving the present (or in this case the future….) doesn’t look great too, it’s the coloring once again spoiling an otherwise flawless artist. Rachelle Rosenberg’s colors are way to muted for what’s going on in the pages. It seems to be fine enough during the Mayan sequences but the stuff involving the cadets at the training camp is too dull of colors. Maybe the future is going to be a sterile environment but if the brightest color you can use is beige then we got a problem. The coloring also seems to smush the characters sometimes, with case in point being the unnamed soldier in the past. His face changes so many times because of the coloring I got confused at the end who that was.

Aside from the messy coloring, this is a pretty damn good looking book. Nick Pitarra is a great new(ish) talent that everyone should look out for in the future. These pages are so detailed but also so wacky it’s a great mix to give us some gorgeous pages. However, the story is so far non-existent so just like Hickman’s other book, SHIELD, this book is definitely a must buy for art first and the story second.

Story: 2 - Average
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

  1. Seems fairly straightforward to me. There is a war being waged across time. A father, Robert Dorne (your “unnamed pilot”) gets lost in the relative past. His son catches up to him (we don’t know why yet), but it’s not a rescue. For some reason the Father is to be punished for a crime or grievance the reader has not yet witnessed.

    I agree with your comments on the art though do not revere quite as highly as you do.

    I’d give this a 3 and 4.

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