I’m certain I’ve talked about this earlier than, however within the late ’90s and early ’00s, Warren Ellis posited a kind of collection that he termed as Pop Comics. Basically excessive idea restricted collection. Ones that launched a centered, specific concept, and advised a full story over a comparatively quick interval of time. Specifically as a mini-series, slightly than a graphic novel, to nonetheless herald repeat clients to the comedian outlets.
It wasn’t essentially a new concept. Vertigo had printed a quantity of such collection earlier than. Both Marvel and DC had a quantity of ingenious minis for many years too, typically meant to reintroduce a character in a new mild. Grant Morrison had adopted a comparable method. As an alternative choice to the thought of the long-running collection and the lengthy type story as the principle bread and butter of the business. It’s bizarre to assume that the alternative has seemingly taken over immediately, that the lengthy ongoing collection is the laborious promote.
All of Jonathan Hickman‘s early Image collection variety of adhered to this concept. Each introduced a fast, self-contained story introducing a central concept after which moved on to the subsequent. With the fifth and ultimate of these early works, Hickman circled again to an concept from Pax Romana however from a totally different perspective; time journey.
“Stop being afraid of oblivion, Dom… It’s where we’re all headed.”
The Red Wing by Hickman, Nick Pitarra, and Rachelle Rosenberg is a tale of survival. Or tried survival. As a conflict throughout time from an unknown enemy threatens to finish all of existence. Drawn into it is a pair of cadets with familial historical past to the Red Wing programme and we get a lesson on time and the character of conflict.
There’s an fascinating ethical quandary arrange within the story, each in textual content and in subtext, of the ripples of what we impact. Of the sins of the daddy, whether or not they transcend time and house. And whether or not we will actually save the long run by stealing from the previous. It’s introduced in a approach that’s going to make you need to return and re-read the collection once more. Pick out little bits to see how the loop, or spiral, performs out.
Nick Pitarra makes use of a model right here that jogs my memory each of Frank Quitely and Moebius. Highly detailed, with a spherical, flowing line to individuals and garments and a inflexible line to a lot of the automobiles and structure. There’s a good mix of the 2 with the enemy’s tentacled conflict machines. It provides an alien nature to their design.
We additionally get a extra expansive, pure color palette for the collection from Rachelle Rosenberg. It units it other than the extra stylized color schemes of the opposite early collection, however I feel it really works effectively for Pitarra’s model and for the sci-fi story.
“You call what you’re doing a good thing!?!”
I feel it’s fascinating that we get a presentation of time as a disc right here. A flat circle. Then a twist. Almost a coil. Then segmentation. To me it represents a steady motion of understanding house and time, in story, but in addition in a approach reveals the development of concepts in a larger image of Hickman’s work. How every aspect, every story, feeds into a broader construction, understanding these concepts in numerous methods later in The Manhattan Projects, East of West, House of X/Powers of X, and extra.
The Red Wing by Hickman, Pitarra, and Rosenberg, like all of these Image collection, stands by itself with a discrete, entertaining story, however it additionally hints at permutations of concepts, themes, and motifs that will probably be revisited in later works. Time isn’t simply a flat circle.
Classic Comic Compendium: THE RED WING
The Red Wing
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Pitarra
Colourist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: July 13 – October 26 2011
Available collected in Test Pattern: Jonathan Hickman Collection
Read previous entries within the Classic Comic Compendium!
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