Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Red Team #1
Dynamite Entertainment
Ennis & Cermak
Garth Ennis is simply one of my favorite writers past or present and it pains me to say the following about one of his comic books: this is boring. The premise is that a team of elite police turn bad. The idea is fine but the execution just isn't there. The book is still trying to build out its universe but based on the pacing of this issue I believe it will be hard to give this book many more issues to gain some footing before simply turning away from it. I was disappointing reading this issue.
The book begins with the arrest and interrogation of one of the elite cops. Based on his use of past tense we can assume the other three members of his team are dead. He then begins to willing explain the entire story.
The remainder of the book makes up the decision, reasons behind and act of killing one of the main suspects they'd been tracking for years. The comic book is dialogue heavy but not in a good way.
While it's nice to read about the hows and whys of their decision, it's not done with any of the Ennis signatures that make his books unique. There's nothing funny, nothing gory, nothing inventive about the death, no interesting characters and nothing stunning about the execution. It's just like every other crime comic book you've ever read except it's more wordy with no payoff.
The artwork is good but there isn't really a whole to the comic book. There's a lot of sitting around and talking. There isn't a lot emotion in the actions and that shows in the artwork as well. Even when a character is faced with death, he gives the same look as any other character, at any other point in the book. The artwork simply isn't utilized much in this story.
Garth Ennis rarely produces a dud. This series could very well pick up and turn into something very special. However, as far as first issues go this is a really slow, unoriginal and boring read. There just isn't anything to commend the book on. This one may be for the real die-hard fans of Garth Ennis or perhaps true crime stories.
2 out of 5 Geek Goggles
