Way back during the first World War, a creature walked the battlefields devouring the soldiers throat first before being ripping them apart. Now, in modern day Europe there are rumours of that the dreaded Beast of Belgium is again stalking Europe on its blood thirsty quest. Step forward Britney Waters a.k.a Red Agent, who gets to don a beast alluring red suit in order to track and deal with the beast once and for all!
Zenescope Veteran Joe Brusha looks to bring the wolf to this “red hood’ story. Like most books from Zenescope, the main focus of the book is a female lead thrust into the arms of danger. It’s a style that serves them well; in Brusha they have a writer that manages to amp up the ridiculous poses for the lead added to a baffling amount of witty banter and repartee. Truth be told, I didn’t mind this book at all. Sure, there is an almost like Buffy sense to proceedings, with interactions between Britney and her gal pal and Agent Phoenix a certain monosyllabic helper. Unlike most one-shots this book does feel like it possesses a closure.
The art is provided by Jordi Tarragona who uses a mix of styles in order to get the various beats of the story down. First up is World War 1 with its Commando style art. Things get a tad more up to date with a sort of Mark Bagley come J. Scott Campbell hybrid, with Bagley bodies and Campbell facial elements. Cartoon style elements come into play which help create the movement throughout the book at a fair clip. Ceci De La Cruz provides the colors who very much likeTarragona, uses a diverse color scheme across the two distinct time periods. Letterer Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios provides a font that is clearer than the recent Van Helsing book and works hard to move the story along despite the verbiage. Finally, there are a range of covers to choose from, cover A from Igor Vitorion and Ivan Nunes is pretty good, though cover C (see above) by Derlis Santacruz and Gwenaelle Daligault is the winner for me.
I have said it before that Zenescope can be something of a guilty pleasure. Whilst they not be the most groundbreaking of publishers, they have their publishing ideas and they stick to their guns. They produces high quality products that would benefit from more consistency.
Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
Overall – 3.5 Stars
Written by; Joe Brusha
Art by; Jordi Tarragona
Colors by; Ceci De La Cruz
Letters by; Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios
Published by; Zenescope Entertainment Inc.
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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