Scarlet #3 – Review

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

The Story: Scarlet finds a new ally and declares war on Portland’s police department, taking on its chief.

What’s Good: I really feel as though the ball got rolling with this issue.  The story moves at a decent pace and, finally, I’ve gotten an overall impression of what this series is going to end up feeling like and what the overall concept is.  It’s great to get an understanding of the series as a whole and the type of story it’ll be pursuing.

More than anything, we get a little bit more of Scarlet as a central character and protagonist in action, an actual character, as opposed to someone relegated to flashbacks, or someone attempting to sell us on the comic in the present.  She truly feels like an action hero this month, and that makes the comic feel more solid in its being anchored around her.  There’s a mix of insanity, vulnerability, gleefulness, and sadness to the character, but unlike past issues, all of this is shown as opposed to simply told to us by Scarlet herself.  We’re able to observe a little more.

Much of this is due to Bendis’ reigning in the breaking of the fourth wall a bit.  While the narration still often speaks to the reader, we don’t get anywhere near as many panels of Scarlet staring at the reader and talking to him/her.  While it’s a cool concept, it took up valuable page-space and slowed the comic down far too much.  I’m glad to see it under control.

This also means fewer panels of Scarlet talking against a bare background, which allows Alex Maleev to do some solid work here.  Great scenery, a fun sniper sequence, and another of those great montages spice up the goodness we’ve come to expect from Maleev.

All told, the comic got across its “one against many” theme and feel a bit more than it has in previous months, mostly because there was less talking and more doing.  I’ve always been a sucker for that old story, and thanks to that, this issue gave me something good to grab a hold of.

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.