Redcoat #16 // Review
It’s 1909 and Albert Einstein showed-up on Simon Pure’s doorstep with a newspaper. There’s a particularly ominous headline on The New York Tribune. A man emerged from New York harbor and killed six men with an axe. Albert and Simon know the man in question. There’s little doubt as to who it is: it’s Benedict Arnold. One of the most powerful men in history has returned. Things are about to get dangerous in Redcoat #16. Writer Geoff Johns and artist Bryan Hitch continues a historical action fantasy series with the aid of inker Andres Currie and colorist Brad Anderson.
Simon Pure isn’t some Quaker preacher from Pennsylvania. He’s an immortal. (He ran into an arcane ritual being conducted by the founding fathers during the Revolutionary War. It was a whole thing.) Benedict Arnold isn’t just a merchant who had become a military officer who ultimately defected to the British. He was also immortal. And quite powerful. And now he’s back. Simon and Albert resolve to track him down and do something about his presence in the early 20th century. They’re gearing-up for a real manhunt when Simon returns to the tailor’s shop that he’s been working at. Turns out there’s someone there to see him: Benedict Arnold.
Johns takes traditional, superhero tropes and presents them in a completely new light. It's not just historical fiction grafted into a superhuman fantasy story. There's more going on here than that. The encounter between Simon and Benedict doesn't quite play out the way it would and most comic books. Johns cleverly plays with expectations and way that engages deeper things and interesting ways. The strange disorientation that the author is manipulating become pleasantly dizzying as certain first principles get called into question. It's not quite a plot twist. It's something more than that. Something different.
Hitch’s visuals seem solidly well-researched. It's hard to see photographs of the early 20th century and imagine people actually living in those styles in those fashions. Hitch makes it feel all very organic and approachable. It's not something abstract from the past. It has a strong life about it. That feels very fresh and vibrant. The drama at the heart of the series feels textured and nuanced in Hitch’s hands. There's a strong sense of inner turmoil about it all that speaks to a greater complexity. Hitch brings all of this to the page with a deeply engaging emotionality.
The weird mutations of popular history fit together in ways that end up being a lot of fun. It's taking a while for Johns to really develop something phenomenal here. It's been really interesting seeing him work. It's pretty remarkable about the series remains as commercially viable as it is. This strange reality of historical fantasy from this particular era doesn't seem like it be nearly as commercially successful as it must've been to get this far. It's been fascinating seeing at work. It will be interesting to see where it goes as the series progresses.
