Been waiting for this one ever since Ellis put out his short pitch for the series, which boils down to the "world's best killer versus the CIA." Even though the pitch gave the rough structure of this issue, and so there wasn't much in the way of surprises in this issue for me, it was a highly enjoyable read, built on a believable portrayal of retired agent Paul Moses and his likable handler, as well as a spectacular action sequence. The latter comes courtesy of choreography by Ellis and artist Cully Hamner, combining brutal and quick violence and a couple of impressive "slow motion" shots that shows a mastery of the comic-book form and promises a lot of fun in the rest of the series, which I doubt will be light on the violence or action.
What's impressive about this issue is the economy of storytelling at work. I knew what I was getting into with Red thanks to my familiarity with Ellis's hype on the project, but even if I weren't, Red #1 has everything I need to know. Starting with the reaction of the new CIA director to Paul's activities, continuing through Paul's memories and then into a modern-day sequence where he puts his skills to use, we are told in several ways just how effective and deadly he is. By the time the CIA operator is reacting in shock and fear at Paul's "Red" operational status, it's easy to understand why he might feel that way. If Red is built on believing Paul as a deadly adversary capable of taking on the CIA (as I believe it to be), Ellis has certainly provided all the grounding we need to buy into that.
I was also quite pleased by the smaller characterization going on, though. Our brief glimpse of the new director conveys everything we need to know about him, and he's the epitome of that "wants to be your friend" boss we've all had and probably detested. Paul's chat with his handler, Sally, is pleasant and quickly engages the reader, making you want to like both of these folks. It's clear that Paul is a person, not just a vehicle for murder, and so it's easy to relate to him and feel angry at his betrayal even though the director is probably right to be a little worried about such a dangerous man running loose.
While I enjoyed the relatively slow opening sequence, full of character development and quiet, softly lit office buildings and country homes, the book really gets cooking in the second half when Paul is targeted for assassination. Hamner hits the small details very well, focusing in on a light switch, a shadow, or a gun that's firing to show what's important. The action sequence shows off Paul's strength, skill and speed, and I was particularly impressed by the scene of him dodging a bullet fired from behind him.
Red is an action movie in comic-book form, a high concept given life by two talented creators. Fans of the action movie, especially those whose tastes run toward John Woo, will definitely want to give Red a look.
