Leroy Douresseaux Reviews: RED SPIKE VOLUME 1

RED SPIKE VOLUME 1
IMAGE COMICS/BENAROYA PUBLISHING

CREATORS: Michael Benaroya and Jeff Cahn
STORY: Jeff Cahn with Dave Elliot
SCRIPT: Jeff Cahn
ARTISTS: Salvador Navarro and Mark Texeira
COLORS: Ifansyah Noor of Imaginary Friends Studios
LETTERS: John Aitken
COVER: Mark Texeira
ISBN: 978-1-60706-487-9, paperback
144pp, Color, $14.99 U.S.

From Benaroya Publishing, Red Spike is a comic book miniseries created by Michael Benaroya and Jeff Cahn. Written by Cahn and drawn by Salvador Navarro and Mark Texeira, the series is set in a secretive black operations program called Project Red Spike. The entire five issues of the miniseries were recently collected in the trade paperback, Red Spike Volume 1.

Project Red Spike, like many over a 70-year period, was started as a program to create the first super-soldier. Using a process that manipulates and regulates the adrenal gland in human males, Project Red Spike actually succeeded in creating a super-soldier, and they did it twice. Now, Colonel Moyer, the hard-nosed prick who controls Red Spike, is testing the limits of his two new super-human toys, Gregory “Greg” Dane and Matt Cutler. But there are complications, of course.

Greg is having an affair that turns into a full romance with Dr. Margaret Downey, the woman who is supposed to be monitoring his (and Matt’s) mental health. Dane isn’t exactly the obedient solider, and as his behavior grows more insubordinate, he clashes with the straight-arrow Matt Cutler, who obediently follows orders and instructions. Colonel Moyer, who now sees Dane and Cutler as his property, seeks to further experiment with the limits of how much Red Spike can alter these two young men. Meanwhile, Henry Coughlin, formerly directly involved with Project Red Spike, plots to wrest control of the program from Moyer.

My first encounter with Red Spike was the third issue. I noted that it had the “rock solid plotting found in tightly-written, big-budget action movies.” I also mentioned that it had “elements of Captain America and the Jason Bourne films,” and that “it most reminds me of Universal Soldier, the 1992 Van Damme film.” I wrote, “Like the Van Damme films from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, Red Spike is violent and testosterone-filled, but with a humanist lead character who fights because he must.”

Now, that I’ve read the entire miniseries in Red Spike Volume 1, I have to reassess. As a whole, personally, I find the series lacking in action scenes, considering that this book is about a super-soldier program. Artist Salvador Navarro and Mark Texeira offer a few nicely composed fight scenes that left me really wanting more.

This is not to say that Red Spike is overall lacking in pleasures. Despite what the covers for the miniseries suggest, Red Spike is a science fiction/military drama mixed with the elements of a workplace drama and a political soap opera, and it is fun. I enjoyed the backbiting and squabbling. Writer Jeff Cahn sometimes cut back and forth between two scenes, each scene featuring a character doing something to defeat the other character. This reminds me of the best inter-office politics moments of the 1995 film version of Clear and Present Danger.

In my earlier review, I describe the art by Navarro and Texeira as “uninspired” and wrote that it “put a damper on my enjoyment” of the series. Now, that art seems perfect for what Red Spike really is, which is a thriller more than it is an action comic book.

http://www.benaroyapublishing.com/

Leroy Douresseaux on RED SPIKE #3

RED SPIKE #3 (OF 5)
IMAGE COMICS/BENAROYA PUBLISHING

CREATORS: Michael Benaroya and Jeff Cahn
SCRIPT: Jeff Cahn
ARTISTS: Salvador Navarro and Mark Texeira
COLORS: Ifansyah Noor of Imaginary Friends Studios
LETTERS: John Aitken
COVER: Mark Texeira
28pp, Color, $2.99

My introduction to the comic books of Benaroya Publishing continues with Red Spike, created by Michael Benaroya and Jeff Cahn. Red Spike, a science fiction and action comic book miniseries, follows a group of people involved with Red Spike, a black ops program. Red Spike is a system that exposes young men to chemicals and brain surgery that turns them into super-soldiers. It’s an interesting concept.

As Red Spike #3 begins, readers get back story on the good-boy super-soldier, Matt Cutler. Colonel Moyer, who controls Red Spike, sends Matt on a mission to bring in Greg Dane, who entered the program with Cutler. Dane has gone rogue and is determined not to be brought back to Red Spike. Meanwhile, Dr. Margaret Downey, a scientist in the program, begins to investigate why Greg rebelled.

While it seems to borrow from other comic books and even movies, Red Spike has the kind of rock solid plotting found in tightly-written, big-budget action movies. Red Spike has elements of Captain American and the Jason Bourne films, but it most reminds me of Universal Soldier, the 1992 Van Damme film. Like the Van Damme films from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, Red Spike is violent and testosterone-filled, but with a humanist lead character who fights because he must. This comic book would be nothing but a hoary cliché, if not for the storytelling. Jeff Cahn’s scriptwriting is patient, and that shows in a well-thought out plot and script.

The art by Salvador Navarro and Mark Texeira (I’m not sure who does what) is acceptable in that it tells the story. Other than that, it is mediocre – stiff figure drawing, unimaginative compositions, and bland page design. I found the story quite likeable, but the uninspired art put a damper on my enjoyment.

B