Red Wing #2 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman (writer), Nick Pitarra (artist) & Rachelle Rosenberg (colors)

The Story: A temporal war in which both father and son are key players is fought at multiple points in time.

What’s Good: We get a lot of Hickman’s big concept stuff as this story takes place in several decidedly different times:  We see the son (“Dom”), in what seems like the era in which the story is anchored, then we see the father marooned in the pre-European Central America hanging out with a bunch of Native Americans and finally we have a jump into a third (and unexpected timeline).

It is this third timeline where the magic in this issue happens.  There is a startling reveal on the final page in this timeline, but that isn’t really the cool thing.  What makes me interested for the next issue is that by playing a little bait-n-switch with the reader’s sense of the timeline, Hickman has really jiggled our expectations.  In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the final reveal in Pax Romana where you think you know what year the final scene takes place in, but couldn’t be more wrong.

The fun for the rest of the series will be to how the puzzle pieces fit together.  How did the father and son come to end up in their “current” positions?  Can we ever truly nail down the whole story when a temporal war is keeping everything in flux?  Surely that Central American diversion for the father will be important, especially with the Native American chief saying that they have no word for “war”.  Hickman is a strong enough storyteller that he should bring this story home strongly.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week:  The Punisher #1 – One of my favourite writers, working in one of my favourite genres, in a new comic starring one of my favourite characters, all in the style of one of my favourite comics ever (Gotham Central)?  How could this not be my favourite book of the past week?Greg Rucka offers a really fresh take on the Punisher.  Go in with an open mind and expect to be blown away.

Most Anticipated: Detective Comics #881 – It’s the grand finale to one of my favourite Batman-related runs ever and, in my opinion, a defining moment for the best new writer in mainstream comics.  I can’t wait to see how it ends and it’s clearly something that’s been well-thought out and built up to since the very start of the run.

Other Picks: Fear Itself #5, Amazing Spider-Man #667, New Avengers #15, PunisherMAX #16, Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #3, American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #3, Vertigo Resurrected: Jonny Double

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Severed #1 – This was a close call, but this was a really creepy comic.  We’ve come to know that Scott Snyder likes to bring the creepy and apparently he isn’t being mellowed any by his co-writer, Scott Tuft.  What they do so well in this comic is build a sense of foreboding as we know that bad things are about to happen, but artist Attila Futaki just won’t quite let us see what is going on.  It’s really well done and if you missed this first issue, run out and get it or save a tree any buy it digitally when it comes out (next week probably).  Runner-up: Scalped #51

Most Anticipated: Detective Comics #881 – A pretty easy call even with some other nice comics coming out this week.  This is the finale of the Scott Snyder/Jock/Francesco Francavilla three-way that has given us such excellence since last fall.  Who can wait to see how this story turns out?  And, it has some sentimental value as the final issue of the old Detective numbering before everything goes back to #1 issues in September.  This should be an outstanding end to one of the better Bat-stories in recent memory.

Other Picks: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #3, The Unwritten #28, Morning Glories #11, Red Wing #2, Amazing Spider-Man #667, Criminal: Last of the Innocent #3, Spider Island: Cloak & Dagger #1