RED

[RPG Post]

RED, the comic book and movie

I don't feel like I am qualified to critique art. I know what I like, but I do not have any formal training or background in visual fine arts. So I can say Cully Hamner's artwork for the graphic novel Red is serviceable without being inspired, but I can't back it up with a slew of comparisons to other artists or a discussion of technique.

Warren Ellis' writing I feel a little more qualified to wax rhapsodic on, both for Red, and in general, but I don't want to turn this into a post for a book review site either. This is not his best work: I found Scars more moving, Crooked Little Vein (his first prose novel) wildly inventive and Transmetropolitan more insightful.

But Red has something. More a feeling, a sense of wish fulfillment—a John Woo protagonist, isn't-he-cool vibe, I-want-to-be-James-Bond (without the martinis, and suave demeanor) pull.

Red is a simple story. A retired CIA agent is labeled a threat to national security by a political appointee, and he is ordered terminated. The target is given some depth and humanity but the villains are all failures of the platonic ideal of “manhood” and the women are, or rather woman is, painted two dimensionally. The book is simple and adaptable enough that the movie Red (reviewed at Chud) has not one but multiple agents reactivating and, apparently, a lighter feel than the graphic novel, which is not a happy tale in any way. It is the simplicity of the tale that does it in, as it seems too quickly ended, more like a teaser than the complete tale the author meant to weave.

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I am a sucker for gritty, pulp, film-noir feeling books and comics. Warren Ellis combines, at times, any from a list of

• Spillane
• Hammett
• Harlan Ellison
• Hunter S. Thompson
• Jim Thompson
• Vachss
• and John D. McDonald.

These can be melded with a childlike (and occasionally childish) sense of wonder, glee and scatological obsession to produce works unlike anything else being produced today. Whether it is private eyes, superheroes or geriatric spies, his protagonists are people of strong ideals, deep feelings and soul-twisting conflicts.

His superhero comics, at least Stormwatch, The Authority and Planetary, bring a... a reality... to superheroes, not in the sense of Kick-Ass but adding the drama and conflicts that super powers, control and power would bring to a life. The mention of Kick-Ass is not without warrant as Mark Millar took over writing when Ellis left The Authority, adding a certain anti-authority vibe to The Authority.

But Red. My recommendation is to borrow it from a friend or the library. I did. It's worth reading but so light as to probably not call for a second look. You might want to read it so you can lord it over others when you see the movie. “That's not like the book” you say knowingly. Or maybe that's just me.