By: Michael Benaroya & Jeff Cahn (creators), Cahn (writer), Salvador Navarro (art), Ifansyah Noor (colors), Josh Aitken (letters) & Dave Elliott (editor)
The Story: Two soldiers are turned into modern day “super soldier”, but nefarious interests may be behind the project.
Review: I’m dispensing with our normal “what’s good/what’s not so good” for this review just because I don’t have a lot to say about the comic.
The story is pretty straightforward: In the near future two soldiers are leveled-up via a process that stimulates their adrenal system in a controllable fashion. Everyone knows that adrenalin can give a person some super abilities, but that it is a short-lived effect. So, what if a soldier could “activate” the adrenalin in just their legs when they wanted to jump really high or their arms when they wanted to knock down a locked door. I’ll be honest that I (personally) had a bit of trouble with this concept. In my day-job, I work with emerging medical technologies and the fact that I couldn’t conceive any way to really do what the comic was suggesting gave me some trouble. Sometimes less is more in these situations: Don’t tell how the super-soldier serum works because folks will pick at your science. Just say “scientists” gave these dudes some super soldier serum and get on with the story.
From there we see the soldiers out on their test run and taking down some bad guys. They have a kinda buddy vibe as they’re jabbering to each other during the mission (that actually seemed really out of place for elite operators). One of the soldiers is a little less under control than the other. The ominous figures behind the whole Red Spike Project are both pleased that the soldiers are so badass and a little concerned about the control they have over the guys.
I think it’s pretty well telegraphed where the series will go and even if I’m wrong, comics shouldn’t fill the reader with the feeling that you know what is going to happen next. In this case, I feel like the controllers are going to have some nefarious plan for the Red Spike soldiers. One soldier will rebel and bust loose from the operation and vow to take down Red Spike even while he’s being hunted by the controllers (and his former friend) while he receives help from the inside from his romantic interest (the psychiatrist). I could be 100% wrong, but it’s more the feeling that I know what’s going to happen next that bothered me.
And, the art didn’t do much to pick up the story. Everything is very well drawn with very accurate anatomy, but personally, I don’t care for the highly rendered coloring where lots of the musculature is added by the colorist and a skin-tight suit is shaded from pitch black to almost white over a single muscle group. I feel bad banging on coloring like this because I’m sure it was a lot of work, but I’d much rather see old-fashioned line work with cross hatching and flat colors. And during the big fight scene of the comic, I thought they missed a chance to have a kick-ass sequential and choreographed fight. I’d much rather see that than a bunch of scenes from a fight that doesn’t necessarily flow from panel to panel.
Conclusion: Not a bad comic and the first issue is only $1 (Yeah!), but I really didn’t see enough to have any interest in reading issue #2. But, if you’re really into noble mercenaries who find they work for unscrupulous employers, this might be your thing and it’s worth checking out at this price.
Grade: D+
-Dean Stell
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Filed under: Image Comics Tagged: | Dave Elliott, Dean Stell, Ifansyah Noor, Image, Jeff Cahn, Josh Aitken, Michael Benaroya, Red Spike, Red Spike #1, Red Spike #1 review, review, Salvador Navarro
