Redcoat #19 // Review
His name wasn't Simon Plum. His name is Simon Pure. His family is heading off to Philadelphia. His kids just don't feel like it's a family without their father. But things are pretty complicated for him and everyone else involved. A mayor headed out of town. He's sitting down in his own kitchen. That's when Albert Einstein walks in. It's going to be a, very complicated situation in Redcoat #19. Writer Geoff Johns continues a weirdly appealing sci-fi/fantasy historical adventure with artist Bryan Hitch. Hitch’s work is embellished by the inking assitance of Andrew Currie and coloring work by Brad Anderson.
Simon knows that he has to track down Benedict. The men in the hoods have him. They won't kill him, though. They want Washington's axe. And as much as Simon is trying to focus on all of this, he can't really help but feel upset. Upset about the fact that his family is gone. They didn't know him. Not really. Then it's going to be very difficult for him to focus on the task at hand with his life falling apart again the way it has. Thankfully they're right on the other side of the door. Decisions have been made.
Johns has a lot of moving parts in the script. However, he's doing a really good job of articulating them all and making sure that everything that's going on in the story has its own space. Its own place. It's own dramatic weight. The pacing is remarkably good considering just how much is going on in the course of the issue. Emotions rise and fall in the course of the story. It's all presented in a way that would be totally accessible to anyone with at least a marginal interest in what's going on. And that's a hell of an accomplishment given just how much is being mixed into the overall energy of the story.
Hitch delivers dramatic intensity to the page in really impressive format. There's a real emotional gravity at what's going on. And it all has to look at least somewhat familiar while also being completely fresh and new. Hitch does a really good job of making it seem like a new story, even though it's the type of thing that's been going on in adventure fiction since the dawn of mass media. It all fits together so well on the page. And the coloring work is phenomenal. The specific glow of dawn and the shadows inside a kitchen create a powerful sense of space and place. It’s really immersive work.
The entire issue essentially takes place over the courts of a single day. It's really impressive to see how it all comes together. The color work really makes it immersive. From dawn to dusk. Everything that's going on. There's a fire. There's a journey out into the street in the middle of morning on a perfectly ordinary day in 1892. On one level, the patient could almost feel rushed given all that happens in the course of a single day. Johns and company give everything just enough space and just enough place to give the proper respect to certain dramatic moments over the course of the issue.
