Victoria, Helen Mirren's character from Red, remembers the time she did the worst thing a British spy could ever do in the 80s - - fall in love with a KGB agent.
The Good
David Hahn's got some serious suave art. I was pleasantly reminded of Amanda Conner's work, in that they've both got clean lines, clear storytelling, a strong sense of graphic design and a talent for drawing real women, not blown-up bimbos. Both he and Hoeber are pros at closure, the comics storytelling technique that tells more with less by allowing the reader to fill in many of the plot gaps in his own head. So we get the "greatest hits" of Victoria's tryst with Ivan here and was I consistently impressed with calm cool of the storytelling. This was tight, it was sexy and it ended with a clever, fitting punchline.
The Bad
Similar to Red: Frank, the nature of this special places some limitations on the comic itself. Consequently, you really only get glimpses of this story and you're left wishing you could've gotten to delve deeper into these characters. Of course, just as I said about Red: Frank... who gives a crap? The point of a preview special like this is to hook you enough to check out the movie and, now, I definitely want to watch Red opening weekend.
The Verdict - 4.5/5
I only got to pick up three of the four Red prequel specials that came out this week. Both this and Frank have been much better than I though they were going - - they're two of the best books out this week and easily the best told-in-ones I've read in a while. I'm really looking forward to how Joe, the one-shot about Morgan Freeman's character, will spin out.
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