by BlueStreak » Wed Jul 13, 2011 10:07 am
Hickman is one of the stronger long-form storytellers out there today, who really excels in the "Wheels Within Wheels" type of storytelling. However, with The Red Wing being a miniseries, it should be interesting to see what Hickman does with a story with an epic feel to it in the first issue.
The Red Wing is about a war in time. Although we don't know the reasons, the enemies or the objective of the wars, we do know that it allegedly claimed the life of the protagonist, Dominic's father. Dominic's father was a Red Wing pilot, who's only shown purpose is to get shot down by alien spacecraft. Dominic, pulling a Hal Jordan, decides to follow in his father's footsteps and become a pilot too. Throughout the issue, we learn of Dominic's father's fate and see one of the risks of having a dogfight in time.
The strongest part of the book is Nick Pitarra's pencils. I think it's safe to say that one of the big two (probably Marvel) will scoop this guy up in the upcoming months as he's the real deal. Also, Hickman's usual meta-sciencey gooblygook is gotten out of the way early and actually relates to the plot in a direct way that doesn't require a recap issue at the end of the second volume to fill in the blanks.
Overall, The Red Wing is a solid read and shows why Jonathan Hickman is considered to be one of the best in the business today. If you enjoy comics, get this book.
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