Red Robin #13 – Review

By: Fabian Nicienza (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy and Mark McKenna (inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: The Hitlist, Part One: The Domino Effect: This tale opens on three brothers, Dick, Tim and Damian, who have reconciled and become family again. However, their chosen vocations pull them apart once more, Batman and Robin after one set of criminals, Red Robin after the Lynx. Tim struggles, not only with first contact with the Lynx and some weird coincidences, but with his whole life. He’s got five questions to ask: Where to live, what to do, how to do it, who to do it with and who to do it against. Red Robin #13 answers three of those questions.

What’s Good: Chris Yost steered the first twelve issues of Red Robin through a roller coaster of adventure as Tim Drake sough to prove himself. Fabian Nicienza, with issue #13, assumes the role of worthy successor. The dialogue is crisp, the characters vibrant, the situations fun (Tim is engaged!) and the hero has a plan. Actually, that last part is not new. Red Robin, if nothing else, has proven himself to be the one superhero that walks around with pockets stuffed with plans. This is what makes him so successful and engaging as a character. Tim is driven, not by something so amorphous as crime, but by specific, strategic plans. And he’s obviously cooking up a big one now, thanks to some fine plotting and writing by Nicienza.

To, McCarthy, McKenna and Major turn in some fine artwork. The facial expressions and level of textural detail are a bit understated for my tastes, but To picks the camera angles, panel compositions and postures that make this story materialize. The quick shift in camera angles, whether watching Tim shake down one of the golden dragons, or when following Tim manage his fiancé, make the panels breeze along. The double splash page is dynamic, and even Tam’s ridiculed humiliation is penciled into a life that is moving and happening. That dynamism counts just as much in the fight scenes, and the color work, whether dark and sharp or blurred and surreal, give the panels an extra dimension.

Red Robin #11 – Review

By: Christopher Yost (writer), Marcus To (penciller), Ray McCarthy and Mark McKenna (inkers), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Collision, Part Three of Four: Red Robin, Batgirl and Pru are getting their hats handed to them by the seven deadliest killers of the League of Assassins. In the meantime, Ra’s al Ghul is making his play to hurt Red Robin real bad, by striking at the 10 people most important to him. Batman and Robin show up, but a whole different set of conflicts messes that up, and this becomes a story about trust.

What’s Good: Get back on the roller-coaster! Red Robin is back in the zone! What a fun issue! Red Robin lost a bit of its momentum after issue #7, but baby, it’s back! You want assassin-superhero slapdowns? You want a sausage-shaped torpedo bike running over people? You want snipers and ninjas? Shuriken, staffs, whips, guns, batarangs and grenades, oh my! I’ve got that summer blockbuster feeling again. Thank you, Chris Yost for the action, the great conflict, the boiling tension and awesome dialogue.

Contract #1 & #2 – Advance Review

Garan Madeiros, Charles Shell, (Writers) Dave Ross, Sal Vellutto, Kevin Sharpe, Mark McKenna, Ariel Padilla, (Artists) and Mad, Fuzion (Colors)

Issue #0 On Sale: Now
Issue #1 On Sale: 7/30/08
Issue #2 On Sale: 8/27/08

For whatever reason, I tend to have a soft spot for mercenaries and the stories that involve them. For example, Deadpool, “the merc with a mouth” is one of my favorite Marvel characters. Also, I consider Firefly to be one of the greatest television shows of all time. Outlaw Star was an anime favorite for a while as well. I say this because Contract, a new series from First Salvo Productions, has potential to be a solid, unique entry into science fiction mercenary genre.

Contract tells the story of Jess (the leader), Tsumi (the brains and swordsman), and Panzer (the brawn) – members of the mercenary team, “The Stellar Rangers”. These guys take a wide variety of jobs in a technologically advanced future society. To be honest, Contract doesn’t really bring a whole lot new to the table in the way of team dynamics, however, the characters are entertaining enough. Tsumi was, for me, the standout character of the group because, let’s face it, the technological brains are rarely the sword wielders. He just has the “it” factor. Jess is a fairly generic, sexualized team leader that uses her smooth talking and sexual nature to get the job done. Panzer is the only member of the team I had a real issue with as his ridiculously written accent and lame action movie dialogue/”humor” annoyed me within a couple of pages. Seriously, they tried to hard to make Panzer funny and it just comes across as irritating.

The missions the team goes on are pretty entertaining and I enjoy the fact that they’re episodic in nature. Each could be told as a stand alone story, yet still fit within a larger on-going arc as well. While nothing particularly groundbreaking, the story elements work to good effect. Programmed cybernetic warriors, technological implants, and underground crime rings have all been done before, but they are good plot elements both for the story being told and for the futuristic nature of the society.

The writing featured in Contract leaves a lot to be desired. As I mentioned before, Panzer comes across as an extreme action movie cliché (“funny” accent included!) and much of the humor feels forced. It felt as though the writers would rather go for a joke before they went for storytelling. That said, I did like the team interaction and chemistry. Also, props to whomever came up with the cybernetic warriors that were programmed to see things a certain way. The scenes featuring Crechebaby V.R. are hilarious and extremely unique. Basically the warriors are programmed to see things as though they’re warriors living in a high fantasy world filled with elves and such. This is a great idea and acts as a standout concept in the seriess. The humor in these scenes are spot on and it shows that the writing team can do humor when it comes naturally to the story itself.

I really enjoyed the artwork in both Contract books. A number of artists worked on the project, but each brought something unique to the table. While some stories featured better art than others, as a whole this an attractive comic. In particular, the black and white artwork in issue #2 really stand out and I believe Ariel Padilla to be an artist worth keeping an eye out for. Simply put, Contract is a good looking series.

Keep an eye out for this series when it hits stores over the summer. While there will be some growing pains, it has a lot of potential. If the writers can scale back the attempts at humor a bit in favor of a more coherent story, I see good things in store for those willing to give this a chance. If you like mercenaries or are a fan of team books, check out Contract. Issue #0 is in stores now and Issues #1 and #2 are slated for July and August, respectively. For more information on Contract or how to order the books, head over to First Salvo Production’s site. (Grade B-)

-Kyle Posluszny