Red One

• Title: Red One #2
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Xavier Dorison
• Artist: Terry Dodson

The second issue of the translated French political super-hero story arms Vera Yelnikov and sends her into action as her super-hero alter-ego for the first time. We also get more examples of Vera struggling to fit in to her new life in America and face difficult choices between being a super-hero and following orders to track down the Carpenter (which is the true end goal of her mission for Mother Russia).

Terry Dodson’s art continues to be the highlight of the series while Xavier Dorison writes himself into corners at times getting too political but continues to deliver fun moments of Vera, both in and out of costume, enjoying her life in America. Because the conservative and fascist themes are so integral to the story Dorison wants to tell (however unsubtly expressed) Red One will likely continue to be a mixed success at best as the character (I’m already completely sold on Vera and the hard choices concering her true allegiances which should dominate later storylines of this series) often gets drowned out by the message. I don’t have much interest in Red One versus the Carpenter, but I would like to stick around to see Vera continue to evolve as a hero. For fans.

[Image, $3.50]

• Title: Red One #1
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Xavier Dorison
• Artist: Terry Dodson

Originally written as a French comic under the title Red Skin, Xavier Dorison and Terry Dodson’s spy-thriller opens in 1977 during the Cold War when the Soviet Union’s best agent is tasked with her latest assignment: work undercover in America to become the country’s greatest super-hero.

Most of the unusual tale takes place before Vera Yelnikov begins her assignment in America giving us glimpses of her Russian family, her flippant attitude to her superiors, and her undeniable physical abilities, warm nature, and sexual presence. The comic also introduces the character of the Carpenter, a new right-wing American vigilante whose popularity could cause trouble for the Soviets if left unchecked.

The first issue of Xavier Dorison and Terry Dodson’s certainly has fun with the character of Vera and the reaction of various men to her. I’m more interested in the character and the process of how she is transformed into a super-hero than the the inevitable conflict with the Carpenter (or the questionable undercurrent that anyone who isn’t a rabid right wing Republican is actively helping the Soviet agenda). For fans.

[Image, $2.99]