Image Comics Red One #2 was released on Wednesday, April 29th.
This is the second issue of the new series created by Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson, and Xavier Dorison. I will begin say that Red One is one of those examples that the concept of pitting the US and Russia against each other never really gets old.
FX has The Americans and NBC has Allegiance, which both revolve around the idea of Soviet sleeper agents.
Red One combines the idea of Soviet sleeper agents and American superheroes to create the titular heroine, Vera Yelnikov aka Alabama Jones. I find it fascinating that Red One, Vera’s heroine name, is actually a code for a USSR government initiative for its people.
Rhetorically asking, who would have thought that America’s greatest hero, in that universe, was a Soviet sleeper agent?
Vera is adjusting to life in the US, but decides to stop at one of her “friends” to stock up on weapons.
This issue continues the origin of Vera as Alabama Jones.
Vera slowly establishes herself in Los Angeles and taking a temp job as a client, Lew’s, personal driver and cook, which pays $70 a week. That’s below living wage today, but Red One takes place in 1977. In layman speak, $70 a week is a lot in the 70s compared to the current times.
There is a bonus, Vera has a place to say for the time being.
Apparently Vera’s handlers didn’t teacher her how to cook because the issue reveals that her culinary skills SUCK. Breakfast is interrupted by a breaking news report about a movement by the villainous “Carpenter.”
This is where social politics come into play as the report explains that members of the movement allegedly killed members of an equal rights organization. It reminds me of San Francisco’s LGBT rights movement launched by Harvey Milk.
This leads Vera to an XXX store, where the Carpenter Movement demands a list of customers. It is the beginning of Vera’s publicity as the titular Red One.
The search for Carpenter leads Vera to a high school, where she stops a group of teenage converts from murdering a pair of lesbian cheerleaders in the bathroom. I find Vera awesome regardless of the fact that she’s a Soviet spy.
I was surprised that Lew was a porn director, which made me laugh.
It feels like Batman, but with the porn. Vera is the driver and cook, but she’s the secret hero instead.
It’s like Alfred Pennyworth being Batman instead of Bruce Wayne in a comical sense. Lew works his day job as a porn director and Vera uses her “free time” fighting injustice as the enigmatic & charismatic Red One.
Vera has the “perfect” cover.
Three weeks have passed as the social violence continues, where Pastor Jacky Core is down in the polls and wishes for “help” from the Carpenter. Vera has survived working for Lew Garner for almost a month and proposes they celebrate, which takes them to a party by Bob Jones.
The party doubles as a porn shoot as Jones wants to “bring class back to sex.”
Vera enjoys herself as Bob tries to proposition her to be a porn star, which she dismisses. The party is interrupted by members of the Carpenter Movement, who raid Bob’s mansion. Bob and Lew are the targets of the hit.
I was surprised that Lew handled his own.
Vera rushes back home and gets dressed as Red One to return back, but receives a new order from Ruslan to assassinate Carpenter. She is torn between serving her country and saving those people, but she chooses the former.
Vera rushes to the location, but is too late as the Carpenter has done his job.
It leads to a fight between Vera and Carpenter, where the latter is a formidable enemy. Vera’s extensive hand-to-hand, likely Russian Sambo training, is overpowered by Carpenter’s sheer strength and power.
The fight leads to a draw as Carpenter retreats, but vowing to kill Vera slowly for being a “Communist slut.” Red One #2 ends on a cliffhanger, which reveals that one of the victims is still alive. That is the target’s pregnant girlfriend, which makes Vera think about her friend, who has a daughter.
What did I think of Red One #2?
I love it and this is the first issue of the comic series that I have red.
The Cold War is cliché, but can be spun many times. It’s more appealing than having a show about Nazi sleeper agents because it wouldn’t bode well. The Man In The High Castle, currently being adapted into an Amazon series, is an exception though.
Red One tells a unique story that America’s greatest hero is a Soviet spy.
Kudos to Dorison and the Dodsons because I haven’t seen anybody else think up that concept. I was on the fence about shelling $3 to purchase a digital copy of Red One #2, but I’m glad that I do. It was an enjoyable story to read.
It’s a beautiful mix of vigilantism, social justice, prejudice, intolerance, and religious fanaticism.
I’m also reading Ms. Marvel and Silk, which makes me think that Vera is a bigger rookie than the titular Ms. Marvel and Silk. There is nothing wrong with that because it just makes Red One that more interesting to read.
Vera simultaneously is getting used to being a heroine and adapting to life in the US. I laugh at Vera’s cover story of being an Alabama girl, which she fails at. Her social life seems more entertaining than her “professional” life.
Vera didn’t know how to cook, but learned.
She learns firsthand that life in the US is different from life in Soviet Russia. The grocery store scene made me laugh, but I understood Vera’s curiosity and shock. There is no line for canned goods and there is no limit, which Vera took advantage of.
But that doesn’t sit well with Lew, leading to a comical situation.
As for the Carpenter, I like him as a villain. He is the kind of villain that I have been waiting to see in hero fiction. I fully support the LGBT movement; however, I liked the fact that Carpenter openly hunted these people down.
Why?
It’s mature storytelling. Let’s be honest, people can do f—ked up things if they know that they can get away with it. The Carpenter is a prime example because he is elusive. I’m not completely sold on Carpenter though.
I’d laugh at Carpenter if he stood in front of me. The guy looks neither intimidating nor terrifying because of his outfit. Carpenter looks like an Amish dude who pumps iron on a regular basis. How the flying f—k is that terrifying?
I find it difficult to take the Carpenter seriously because of the way he dresses.
Carpenter is not insane, but it would help if he was. I was hoping that Carpenter was going to be a sociopath, but is merely a religious fanatic. They call the Carpenter a serial killer, but the lynching is unoriginal.
It’s not different from what the KKK has done to blacks across the south. Carpenter merely emulates their way, but targets the “deviants” and “heretics.” He’s a mere religious fanatic that resorts to violence and murder to force a certain way of life on other people.
This is one of the reasons I never got behind organized religion.
Carpenter and his people don’t follow God, they use religion as a shield to justify hurting and killing other people. This isn’t different than what’s going on in Africa and the Middle East. I was hoping Carpenter would be more vile.
Lynching is scary, but I felt that it would be too weak for the likes of Carpenter. I was hoping that Carpenter would brutally dismember people and leave their remains in a public area, which would be more effective and demoralizing the LGBT community and other sociopolitical liberals.
Carpenter’s not a serial killer, he’s committing hate murders.
Back to Vera, her triple-life ultimately drives the story. Her everyday persona is Alabana Jones, her secret persona is Red One, and her true identity is Vera. I hope this comic goes on for a long time because this is TV show potential.
I give Red One #2 an S+.
