I honestly didn’t know what to expect from Jonathan Hickman’s return to Image and his first creator owned book since A Red Mass for Mars. I intentionally kept myself in the dark about the series so that I could go into The Red Wing the same way I did The Nightly News, Pax Romana, Transhuman and the afore mentioned A Red Mass for Mars. Each of these I went in not knowing what I would get and each one was more than surprisingly good. Now Hickman has become part of the Marvel system and while he’s done some great and amazing things in the corporate playground his creator owned stuff always sits high on my must read list as true examples of what can be achieved in comics.
The Red Wing unfortunately
did not strike the same cords with me as I had hoped. The series instantly
comes a crossed heavily influenced by Doctor Who and Hickman’s own work at
Marvel. In a clever turn, Red Wing actually refers to the type of time traveling
fighter jet that the characters in the story use to fight a war across time.
The very first thing that’s told to the reader is that time is not linear and there
is no Paradox which basically flips everything we’ve learned from Futurama
upside down.
We’re then introduced to two characters that are about to
ship off for basic training. They’re fathers were both Red Wing pilot’s before
them, but died due to shield failure. This is brought up a lot in the first
issue as Dominic is hopeful that his father survived and is stranded somewhere
out in time. They drink their last drinks and head to basic training. In the
present… maybe… Dominic is flying a Red Wing and ends up crashing through time and
waking up in the Aztec era.
First of all the concept is brilliant, but some of the
storytelling and dialog is left to be desired. Hickman manages to introduce
enough of the world so that the reader isn’t lost, but keep the rest of it a
mystery to be explored. The obvious pit fall of this story is Dominic’s father.
It can be assumed that his father is going to show up at some point and if he
doesn’t Dominic will go through the same thing his father did and survive somehow.
A major hang up on the story is the real purpose of the Red Wing’s since all
that’s shown are the ships flying in formation through time. They don’t ever
engage in battle and yet continue to get shot down by the enemy. And who is
that enemy? Only Hickman knows because they were not introduced to the reader,
not even in name. There is two panel’s showing them, but it’s not enough to go
on.
The art is really good and frankly the only thing that is
really apparent of Hickman’s touch as I’m sure his guidance was there for the
entire process. Nick Pitarra does a great job on the art for the book. His
style is a cross between Ryan Bodemheim and Frank Quietly which makes the book
a treat to look at. Pitarra is basically drawing every era of man in this book.
The pre-historic age, the future, our current timeline and then we land in the
Aztecs and Pitarra draws them all brilliantly. He’s a remarkable talent and the
industry should be on the lookout for his next project as his style continues
to grow.
I was definitely under impressed by this book, but I still
enjoyed it enough to pick it up and continue with the series. It may not be
Hickman’s best work, but it’s good to see him spanning out and getting back
into creator owned books again. Hopefully that keeps his tools sharp for the
corporate gig and he doesn’t end up like Bendis a one-trick multiple book pony.
If you missed Hickman’s premier at Image then do yourself a favor and don’t miss The Red Wing.