We live in a world where indie made comics is more prevalent than ever. What with the advent of the internet and online stores, it allows for us to get all sorts of different comics one might not easily ascertain. Such is the case of Zombie Ink Comics and their title, The Red Eye.
Written and illustrated by Kyle J. Kaczmarczyk, the book follows the adventures of the titular character, the Red Eye, who is a ghost agent for the United States during World War II. While kicking some Nazi ass, cryogenically frozen along with his greatest nemesis (almost like a reverse Demolition Man scenario). He wakes up in the year 2365, where the game has drastically changed and now, blind and relatively alone, he has to once again find his nemesis and save the world.
I am always up for a little Nazi ass-kicking, as well as sci-fi adventure, so obviously the initial pitch catches me. Follow me after the cut to find out how much I liked the book.
As far as the concept goes, I enjoy the Red Eye a lot. The idea of a cryogenic hero from the past is always an interesting one, I think, and has been the main premise of stories that I have greatly enjoyed in the past. The Red Eye is definitely in that section of my general library now. Featuring a sleek costume and a gruff demeanor, Red Eye himself is a rather easily likable character and one that the reader can find himself attached to quite quickly. It’s interesting to see how quickly he also adapts to his new surroundings. It’s basically the complete opposite of, say, Mark Millar’s Captain America, who throws a hissy fit and beats up the good guys. The Red Eye wakes up blind and, instead of overreacting, finds out what’s going on in his basic surroundings and says, “Alright, let’s deal with it.” Of course, when the opportunity is given to him to once again kick some Nazi ass, he is more than ready to.
The story reads very well for it’s six issues. Moving briskly along, the narrative is what you might expect in a general “origin” story of this nature. We meet the entire cast, as well as have recurring moments between the 1940’s and 2365, which allow us become more involved in Red Eye’s tale (and the final battle is rather cheer worthy). There are a couple moments where I had to flip back and double check to make sure I’d read things, but ultimately everything is explained in the end. I found that I rather enjoyed the writing a great deal, because it managed to effectively show the type of character that Red Eye is through the narrative. The story also allows itself for a great many “cheese ball” moments with puns and lines you hear with Bruce Willis’ voice, and all of those moments are great.
Plus – excessive Nazi ass kicking. Harrison Ford, eat your heart out!
My one main contention with the book would have to ultimately be the artwork. The obvious Mignola influence here is apparent, and I will say that the characters are all well fleshed out in design. The only thing that I really noticed while reading, though, is that the characters don’t move very fluidly. For example, there is a scene in the first issue where two characters get shot. In an average comic book, if someone gets shot you usually see someone doubled over, or flying backwards. However, in this, the characters get shot with their arms rigidly by their sides and all the reaction is in their face. That would really be my only complaint. Obviously in a comic book you’re looking at pictures, but normally these evoke much more imagery and motion than what we see in the Red Eye. Often times characters are either posed or standing straight. It’s a tad uneven to read. This didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story overall, but you do notice a lot of very straight lines within the pages. That’s not to completely dismiss the artwork, though. Like I said, the obvious Mignola influence is there, and you can tell that with time it’ll get better. There are also several interesting moments where panels break and the Red Eye manages to shoot people through panels, which looks really cool. And the characters are all well fleshed out, and intriguing.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the Red Eye a great deal. It’s not a very long read, but it’s a good one. The mythology to the universe is all laid down very clear, and now that all of that is out of the way the Red Eye lends itself to many great opportunities. There are a lot of different directions for the story to go in now and many different things that the character could do. I like the Red Eye, and I think that for a first entry into an on-going saga of stories, Kaczymarczyk has set up a great new universe. You can also tell while reading through that the art gets better as it goes along, with more details put into later issues. Assuming that things keep going in the way of the better, it’s safe to say that the next volume will be even better, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.
If interested, please pick up your copy here. It is an entertaining little read, and shows promise for it’s eventual future.
