Scarlet #1 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Alex Maleev (art), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: We meet Scarlet, our protagonist, a girl who’s had enough with a broken world.

What’s Good: As a concept, Scarlet should be applauded.  It’s a bold move on the part of Bendis and Maleev and a pretty big creative risk.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comic so completely disregard the fourth wall, as protagonist Scarlet literally talks at the reader for more or less the entirety of the book.

The result is that a certain connection is fostered between reader and Scarlet that carries a strong intimacy.  I found Scarlet to have a strong voice and I felt privy to the various nuances and complexities of a rounded, fully realized personality.  It’s also neat how all of this dialogue between reader and character leads to a sort of relentless stream of consciousness.  This led to greater immersion and an increased humanity and vulnerability on the part of Scarlet.

Without a doubt, this unique form of narration is at its very best when Bendis steers a bit from just having the character talk at us, and has her instead narrate a flashback of her life.  The fact that it’s not just straight, traditional narration but an intermingling of textboxes and Scarlet talking to the reader directly makes the flashback feel more involved and laden with emotion.  When we see Scarlet, in telling her story, speaking lines of dialogue from the flashback, it’s clear that Bendis is onto something special.

As always, Maleev’s work is slick and realistic.  His take on Scarlet helps as well.  She truly stands out and feels very much alive.  Maleev take on the environments also mirrors Scarlet’s mindset: in the present, it’s dirty and grey while in the flashback, it’s golden and sunny.