Red Roots #1 // Review
It is raining in the evening. High-leverage cable cutters snap a line on the side of the building not far from a gaping hole in the wire fencing. Monitors go dead in a security command center. A technician sees them go blank and starts to panic. There’s lightning. And thunder. Then a splash of blood. An axe rests in the technician’s back. He’s lifeless on the console. The rain continues outside. There might be more than one casualty in Red Roots #1. Writer/artist Lorenzo De Felici manages a promising opening to a new horrors series with Image Comics.
Somewhere inside the facility, there are a few people. One of them here is something. Kind of sounded like someone banging at the door. (Actually they’re kicking it.) they take some notice of the fact that the light is out. One of the people on the inside has a baseball bat. Another has a gun. There's an open door. Shots are fired. The baseball bat is swung. There's blood everywhere. By the end of the altercation, there are more than a few people lying dead on the floor. Someone has shouted at the intruder: “Die, you bastard!” The reply comes when he’s the only one left standing. All the intruder says is: “Not Yet.”
From there, the hero becomes a gradeschool teacher. The same intruder has entered the place where she lives. There are dead people. She sees a severed head in her closet. Calls 911. It's a very tightly written script. The traditional crime thriller is cast against the page in an interesting way that feels distinctly unlike anything that's come before it. Many of the basic elements are straight out of suspense thriller topes and cliché. It's the way that.De Felici brings them to the page that feels distinctly fresh and original.
As an artist, De Felici nails, the distinct blend of originality and familiarity that he manages in the script. Given the nature of the script, it would be very difficult to be truly groundbreaking with the visuals. That being said, De Felici manages some very impressive drama that is emotionally engaging from the very beginning. The opening scene at the facility probably couldn't seem much more cliché. However, the way.De Felici brings it to the page without a for established background makes it all feel so very, very interesting. De Felici has a way of lead just the right elements out of the narrative, both visually and conceptually. There's just enough they are on the page to intrigue the reader. And just enough emotional engagement to keep the pages turning.
And then the boom totally gets lowered and the closing splash page. And it's clear that this is going to be a very enjoyable series. Fusion of so many different elements. And it should be interesting. However, the way these things so often work is that once the mystery is revealed it really needs to be able to run on its own. It's all well and good to keep the readers attention through a lot of strange elements hitting the page at weird angles. But once the background is fully revealed, it's going to have to run on its own merits. De Felici has done a brilliant job with the first issue. There's no reason to think that he's going to drop the ball on Red Roots anytime soon.
