The Red Skull, Nazi and puppy savior
With Captain America: First Avenger hitting theaters by the end of this month, I would say that the start of Red Skull’s first limited series couldn’t hit the shelves at a better time.
Nazi, murderer, and perfectly designed to be the most evil incarnation ever produced by Marvel Comics, Red Skull is a villain that does deserve to be recognized as Marvel’s first villain and possibly the most evil comic villain ever produced into comics. It’s obvious how Red Skull’s built character does force both artists and writers into a state of limitations because of his unique display cruelty that hides behind the Nazi symbol and surpasses the basic characteristics of comic-book villainy. Even though the anticipation that I had with this first issue of Red Skull’s blood-stained past did fulfill my expectations, there was one concept of this story that I felt to be on a start for redundancy.
With famous villains such as Magneto, Dr Doom, and Kingpin, we see how their dark histories display them as men who are entirely not at fault for what they’ve become. Histories that are far more different from the Red Skull’s who rather see the world burn for the hatred that he developed during his childhood. Unlike the other villains who developed into their villain roles because of survival, revenge, and petty competition, Red Skull had no excuse for his evil acts beside the sheer enjoyment of bloodshed and murder. For Red Skull, I would say that he was an honest villain because of how he never relied on any excuse for his actions and how he came to be. Until reading this issue, you get to see the stepping stones of Johann Schmidt being forced into becoming one of Marvel’s most evil creations and possibly giving the infamous Red Skull an excuse for what he became.
With both Marvel and DC usually giving the basic villain story that places them at a state of innocence, I would have to say that writer Greg Pak did successfully put some innocence into the Red Skull. Even though Red Skull was riding on a long blood-thirsty streak of carnage, from seeing how Marvel is forced into being limited on how they should display this villain, I would say that this attempted tear-jerking issue does tone Red Skull’s character down a bit to where he could be more understood.
Without hesitation, I can easily say that Red Skull surpasses the perfect villain, which also isn’t a good thing seeing how Marvel has to limit his display of character. With this issue I would have to say that the “presumed” goal of having a better understanding of this blood-thirsty madman does fulfill itself. For both die-hard Red Skull fans and those who possibly are curious about him, I would say that this issue does present itself to be off on a great start.