Hot off the presses from Marvel's burgeoning Icon line of creator-owned comics comes Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's Scarlet.
Bendis again joins with his Daredevil artist to produce a character that he says will 'spark a modern day American Revolution'.
Scarlet is a twentysomething redhead who's decided to fight back. and do something about corruption and criminals. If she sees something wrong, she intervenes. Usually with brute force.
Scarlet is a twentysomething redhead who's decided to fight back. and do something about corruption and criminals. If she sees something wrong, she intervenes. Usually with brute force.
At base Scarlet #1 is basically an origin story. Like most origins it's based on loss, this one specifically building on the pure senselessness of an individual's actions. The incident, which is both poignant and heartbreaking, propels Scarlet into her new life as a vigilante.
While Scarlet may move a bit slow for some, if you're familiar with Bendis' work (if you aren't go out and do so now... No, really, I'm serious... NOW!) then you've come to expect that something big is going to happen later on in the series. Bendis weaves small stories into great interlocking narratives which build into something big and then rushes into something bigger.
While Scarlet may move a bit slow for some, if you're familiar with Bendis' work (if you aren't go out and do so now... No, really, I'm serious... NOW!) then you've come to expect that something big is going to happen later on in the series. Bendis weaves small stories into great interlocking narratives which build into something big and then rushes into something bigger.
Bendis' forte (for me) is his dialogue and he again produces true to life conversations. That's not to say he can't tell one hell of a story. When the first thing you see in a comic is a full page illustration of a woman garotting a man you know this story isn't going to pull any punches.
The most interesting part though is Scarlet 'breaking the fourth wall'. She talks directly to us. The way Bendis does it is something which I haven't come across in comics. The closest would be Grant Morrison when for example his characters in Seven Soldiers of Victory (and to some extent in Animal Man) look out at the reader. Morrison is more about a comic characters recognising themsleves as characters; that they're trapped inside a story. Scarlet addresses the reader directly and therefore situates both as existing in the same world. But Bendis is also doing more. He (via Scarlet) is asking us to be involved in the story, a collaborator, an accomplice. A difficult task, but if anybody can pull it off, it's Bendis.
The most interesting part though is Scarlet 'breaking the fourth wall'. She talks directly to us. The way Bendis does it is something which I haven't come across in comics. The closest would be Grant Morrison when for example his characters in Seven Soldiers of Victory (and to some extent in Animal Man) look out at the reader. Morrison is more about a comic characters recognising themsleves as characters; that they're trapped inside a story. Scarlet addresses the reader directly and therefore situates both as existing in the same world. But Bendis is also doing more. He (via Scarlet) is asking us to be involved in the story, a collaborator, an accomplice. A difficult task, but if anybody can pull it off, it's Bendis.
Maleev's art is I think, an acquired taste. Like many of my favourite artists he has an individual style that's recognisable as Maleev and that's what you want. Not surprisingly Maleev's art strikes me as a cross-between two other Bendis collaborators - Michael Gaydos (Alias) and David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil, Alias covers).
Scarlet looks like Bendis has got another hit on his hands and should propel him further into the comic writing stratosphere.
Scarlet looks like Bendis has got another hit on his hands and should propel him further into the comic writing stratosphere.
This: Highly Recommended. Forthcoming: Can't Wait.
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