Scarlet #1

Nice job. I prefer to have diversity in the morals of heroes and villains but if i can't make a clear distinction as to what side the character's on I usually give the book a automatic zero for poor characterization which is one of the key elements in story telling.

@B'Town:
@The Angry Comic Book Critic: 
 
I agree with my good, Angry friend. I have not yet read this line, but the discussion here makes me think that I should pick it up. Characterization is definitely important- we like characters that we understand. We enjoy understanding motivations, even "bad" ones (like we understand that the Joker's motivation is just to kill everyone, its a pretty sadistic  motivation, but at least we get it). But this is where moral ambiguity becomes a tricky business, motivations get messed with.  
 
Makes you wonder how Batman has been able to do it so successfully for so long- walk that tightrope of moral ambiguity while still maintaining his 'hero' nature.

From the first issue (haven't read the second yet), she seems to be most comparable to the Ennis' MAX imprint Punisher. (most comparable. There are a lot of differences.) Both characters loved dearly and lost greatly. What happens to Frank Castle or Scarlet after their traumatic experiences isn't, to me, a study in hero's or villains but a study of what severe trauma does to individuals. Classic disillusionment x 1000000. Scarlet wakes up in a world she no longer understands or likes. 
If we also consider the fact that Scarlet is talking to the audience, to no one, throughout the whole issue and realize that yeah, it may be a neat style, it may help telling lots of plot as quickly as possible, etc. But she's talking to no one. Whether Scarlet had any mental health issues before her trauma, I don't know. But she definitely does now. 
So to me, the first issue of Scarlet came across as an intense character origin/character study of a woman who had seen what no one wants to see, woke up and it's not unseen. It wasn't a story about a hero or a villain. But about something more real than a "hero" or a "villain", a woman who has nothing, no one, and an image that will never leave her mind.

I know that there was a cop who wrote to Bendis and went off about how the police were being portrayed in a negative light in Scarlett. I can agree with you, the cop and Bendis on some level. I look at this series as a rally cry for injustice. I do believe that the series is going in the direction, where Scarlett will be a hero. It is funny to me, but I think there are some similarties to  Scarlett and the movie, "Billy Jean ".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089470/
Now that there have been more issues, what are your feelings?

@Cervantes said:

From your avatar, I'm guessing she needs to be more like Knockout ;)

A little more like Knockout would certainly have made me happy. There was a realism in Scarlet that made the vigilante killing too much for me to appreciate as art.

Oh you ended up being disappointed with this series as it went on? I did as well actually. There were aspects I liked, and didn't like, and as book carried on, that ratio did not end up how I would have hoped. 

@SC said:

Oh you ended up being disappointed with this series as it went on? I did as well actually. There were aspects I liked, and didn't like, and as book carried on, that ratio did not end up how I would have hoped.

I really wanted to like it. I loved the art and Scarlet was a hot butt kicking chick, I'm always up for that. I simply couldn't handle the realism of her vigilantism, so I reluctantly let it go.

Lovely, simple and effective.

Just read this after seeing your review. That was crazy! Even if you didn't love it, you described something I'd enjoy. So thanks.

@AlexDM: Hey, well we all like different things, the world would be a hell of a boring place if we all loved exactly the same thing. So, enjoy. :D

I don`t know if this was all that much of a review. I mean, don`t take this the wrong way, this was a nice piece of writing, but it wasn`t to me...a review. What happends in the issue? What`s good about it, what`s not (well, you actually told that)? Was the art good, or the writing?

Oh, forget it. I`m sure that you told in one way or another, what the issue is like. Good day! Or night, or whatever.

@kfhrfdu_89_76k:

I personally hate "reviews" that tell what happens in the story. I don't want to read someone else breaking a story down for me before I have read it, so I certainly will not write that kind of review myself.

Besides, that isn't a review, it is a "book report" that tells what happens, like what a 10 year old giving a report in front of the class. There are certainly plenty of those kind of reviews around here, should you choose to read one.

In this book in particular it would have sucked should I have spilled the beans on what happens to Scarlet and what she does to exact revenge. And really that is all the book was about. No character building, no real action to discuss.

As for not having talked about the art, point well taken, I should have.

I don`t like those kind of reviews either, and I don`t write them myself. But what I meant, is that you could`ve told a little bit about the plot, to get people know about it a bit, and get excited (well, this is actually one way to do so). But then again, if there isn`t much to tell, even less should be told.