Release Date: July 24th, 2013
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Written By: Garth Ennis
Art By: Craig Cermak
Price: $3.99
Review:
I love this book. It’s what I’ve secretly wanted Batman to do ever since I started reading comic books. He would’ve saved thousands of lives by now. Garth Ennis has me rooting for the police for probably the first time since watching Training Day. I’m a rebel without a clue and naturally I go for the underdog or the misunderstood criminal but even I understand that some people are disgusting abominations beyond help.
Red Team is a crack unit of detectives who get fed up with seeing their hard work turned into nothing by the court system. They take matters into their own hands and use all of their experience as cops to turn vigilante. They make sure, thru rigorous detective work, that the scumbag they’re pursuing deserves it. This issue shows the fallacy and the risk they take as their latest victim was supposedly planning on snitching on basically the entire criminal goings-on of corrupt banksters. There is also a group shift back down from Eddie’s lofty ideals and big targets to the original more local, street level approach. Also, Trudy illustrates the roles of the two senior detectives with more detail not long before she bashes a tough guy’s mug into a chunky paste.
The art by Craig Cermak is very easy on the eyes. Subtle shifts in lines, especially during the interrogations, make for expressive characters without over the top facial movements distracting from the nuances of human expression. Subtlety goes flying out the window later with that disturbingly detailed bathroom scene but it just reinforces the brutality of Red Team’s side business. At times the minimalist approach sort of reminds me of John Cassady.
Lack of action or fight scenes or shootouts are the only thing that bring this book down but I was fully aware going in that it was a talking heads sort of story. While Batman and Captain America remain the benchmark for unyielding scruples in comic books, the real world is a lot more…real. Joker has committed some acts that would make normal people cry in terror. We all know that but he’s still a painted clown being chased by a guy in a latex bat suit. He isn’t real. The monsters Red Team hunt down are real. They live in your city, sell drugs at your children’s high school, and murder and steal from you and your fellow citizens. You should root for these cops. They really do want to serve and protect you by playing God. But first you should buy this book.