Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • So Ya Wanna Write Comic Books?

      Danny Djeljosevic
      July 5, 2004
      Busted Knuckles
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Planetary #13: Turning the Century

      Danny Djeljosevic
      December 10, 2015
      Big Two, Columns, DC Comics, The Full Run
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • Valiant Makes Its WonderCon 2020 (Remote) Panel Available For All

      Danny Djeljosevic
      May 21, 2020
      News, Valiant
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 4.5

      ADVANCE REVIEW: Gladstone's School for World Conquerors #4

      Danny Djeljosevic
      August 16, 2011
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Going on Instinct: An Interview with cartoonist Garry Brown

      Danny Djeljosevic
      June 30, 2014
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Small Press Super-Heroes of the '80s: Miracleman

      Danny Djeljosevic
      October 31, 2014
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Comics Bulletin Exclusive Preview – Batman '66 # 50 from DC Comics!

      Danny Djeljosevic
      December 22, 2014
      DC Comics, News, Previews
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • 'The Art of Fantasy, Sci-fi and Steampunk' is a Lush, Beautiful History of Fantasy Art

      Danny Djeljosevic
      May 23, 2018
      Books, Reviews
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Reviews

ADVANCE TAG-TEAM REVIEW: The Red Wing #2

Danny Djeljosevic
August 9, 2011
Reviews
ADVANCE TAG-TEAM REVIEW: The Red Wing #2
4.5Overall Score
Reader Rating: (0 Votes)

ADVANCE REVIEW! The Red Wing #2 will come out on August 10, 2011.

Nick: So, let’s start this off with some helmet talk, since you’re such a fan of headgear.

Danny: The biggest revelation in this issue involves the removal of a helmet, for one thing.

Nick: There’s also a virtual reality/simulation scene that I quite enjoyed despite normally hating those kinds of things. I thought the simulation here was actually pretty useful because it served to give some insight on the technology in The Red Wing rather than just acting as a fake-out.

Danny: Exactly — in addition to being a fairly common trope (The botched training simulation! “You think this is a game, son?!”) we learn along with these characters what kind of weapons the time pilots are working with.

Nick: I’m quite enjoying how quickly things move in this series too. Instead of being stuck watching these kids go through basic training for eons, the action gets started pretty much immediately. Hickman seems to have taken the right cues from Battlestar Galactica in that regard and it makes sense from a storytelling perspective given the stakes that were illustrated in the first issue. I mean, we’re dealing with a conflict where our past is literally being erased here, so it wouldn’t do to move things along at a slow pace.

Danny: You’d think the cadet scenes would hold everything up, but Hickman balances it out by moving forward the plot with the timelost dad.

Nick: As much as I like the concept of that part of the plot and applaud Hickman for not doing that whole learned folks versus savages bullshit, the style kind of irked me. It reminded me of the mixed media stuff in Infinite Vacation, though if I remember correctly you liked that section in that series.

Danny: The photography sections in Infinite Vacation come off as a bit cheesy, but I think that as the point — to give it an infomercial feel. I don’t think the storybooky quality of Red Wing‘s post-credits pages felt that disruptive, personally.

Nick: My main issues are admittedly kind of superficial. For starters, I just hated the font they used. It didn’t look clean enough to me, it looked like something you’d pull from a generic word processor. The layout bugged me too, it didn’t feel very artistic, just kind of no-nonsense and dull. But the biggest issue for me was the way the journal entries moved in a nonsensical way. It jumped ahead almost 400 days, then 3 days, then 1. And in those last few pages, we’re getting a regular conversation spread out amongst several days.

Although I will say reading it digitally as an advance PDF was pretty fun because I got to make my own motion comic by hitting the left and right keys over and over.

Danny: …I’m not gonna lie, I was doing that just now.

Nick: See? But even with those complaints, it did give us a lot of information very quickly and it didn’t distract from the main story for very long.

Danny: It’s clear that Hickman knows this was going to be talking heads pages, so he just decided to present it in the most unconventional (for a comic) way — with PROSE OMG.

Nick: Nick Pitarra’s subtle way of showing the passing of time through the postures were a nice touch as well, and the slight decay in Rachelle Rosenberg’s colors was a great cinematic touch. But Red Wing’s best moments to me come from its juxtapositions of future tech and the distant past, like the abduction we get in this issue.

Danny: I think that’s the ultimate fulfillment of this book’s premise — the futuristic spaceships in anachronistic landscapes, what with the ancient people looking up at these damn-near-supernatural things that just don’t belong in their era.

Nick: You have to love a concept that’s as simple yet as wide open as that. Future beings, fighting over our present, which is their past. Without ruining it, what did you think of the big reveal in this issue?

Danny: Such a great reveal. Not just because it’s surprising, but because it gives the premise a whole new dimension. It’s not just a simple “us versus them” situation.

Nick: I loved it for the same reasons and because of how much it forces rereads. It’s an idea that makes you go back and look for more clues. And we’re only on issue 2! The reveal also gives Pitarra a chance to do some fun costume designs as we finally get a glimpse at the “enemy.”

Danny: I love their costumes. They’re just so thorny and buggy.

Nick: It’s very exoskeletony. It wouldn’t be out of place in Annihilation. There’s also a nice contrast between that creepy crawly aesthetic and the super clean look our heroes sport, as well as their attempts at sustainability with the freaking apple orchard in the ship.

Danny: It only took one issue for this book to become essential reading, so now I’m just really excited to see where it goes.


Danny Djeljosevic is a comic book creator, award-winning filmmaker (assuming you have absolutely no follow-up questions), film/music critic for Spectrum Culture and Co-Managing Editor of Comics Bulletin. Follow him on Twitter as @djeljosevic or find him somewhere in San Diego, often wearing a hat. Read his newest comic, “Sgt. Death and his Metachromatic Men,” over at Champion City Comics.


When he’s not writing about the cape and spandex set, Nick Hanover is a book, film and music critic for Spectrum Culture and a staff writer for No Tofu Magazine. He also translates for “Partytime” Lukash’s Panel Panopticon.

 

Danny DjeljosevicImageJonathan HickmanNick HanoverNick PitarraRachelle Rosenberg

Share On:
Tweet
The Glory of "Morning Glories"
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Newspaper Dailies, Vol. 2: 1930-1932

About The Author

Danny Djeljosevic

Danny Djeljosevic is a comic book creator, award-winning filmmaker (assuming you have absolutely no follow-up questions), film/music critic for Spectrum Culture and Co-Managing Editor of Comics Bulletin. Follow him on Twitter at @djeljosevic or find him somewhere in San Diego, often wearing a hat. Read his comic with Mike Prezzato, "Sgt. Death and his Metachromatic Men," over at Champion City Comics and check out his other comics at his Tumblr, Sequential Fuckery. His webcomic The Ghost Engine, with artist Eric Zawadzki, updates twice a week.

Related Posts

  • 4.5

    Micro Review: Commanders in Crisis #1

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    October 12, 2020
  • What Looks Good for the Week of August 19, 2020

    Daniel Gehen
    August 17, 2020

Latest Reviews

  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Daniel Gehen
    December 14, 2020
  • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

    Daniel Gehen
    December 3, 2020
  • 4.5

    TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

    Daniel Gehen
    October 29, 2020
  • 4.5

    Micro Review: Commanders in Crisis #1

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    October 12, 2020
  • 3.0

    Review: GHOST WRITER Fights the Spectre of Unevenness

    Daniel Gehen
    September 3, 2020
  • 3.5

    Review: Strange Skies Over East Berlin

    Yavi Mohan
    August 11, 2020
  • DRAWING BLOOD: A Hyper-Stylized, Fictional Autobiography

    Ben Bishop, Brittany Peer, David Avallone, Drawing Blood, Kevin Eastman, Tomi Varga
    August 9, 2020
  • 3.0

    Alien: The Original Script #1 – This One’s For The Fans

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    August 7, 2020
  • Singles Going Steady: Why? Lettering!

    Daniel Gehen
    July 28, 2020
  • 4.5

    X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #4 is a Finale of Moral Questions

    Daniel Gehen
    July 22, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders