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RED ONE

red_one_cb_vol2 red_one_cb_vol1
 
Full Name: Vera Yelnikov
Codename: Red One
Nationality: Russian
Organization: KGB
Occupation Agent

Creator: Xavier Dorison, Terry Dodson
Time Span: 2015 - 2016

ABOUT THE SERIES

Vera Yelnikov, aka the Red One, is an agent with Russian Intelligence.

The year we meet this exceptional woman is 1977.

The Soviet Union is worried that an upcoming SALT treaty signing will be disrupted by a surging rise in anti-leftist thinking, spearheaded by an evangelist named Jacky Core and inspired by a murdering psychopath calling himself the Carpenter. Its premier, Leonid Brezhnev, has tasked one of his key generals in the intelligence community to come up with a plan to counter that escalating sentiment and he has come up with a plan to make use of the American fixation on costumed heroes. "The [exact] fairy tale isn't important. What matters, Vera, is that the Americans want to believe it ... and that someone has granted their wishes". The plan then is to counter this new adoration for the Carpenter by introducing 'Red One', woman with her own costume who will go up against Carpenter, and by extension Core, changing the sentiment from "Death to Commies and Gays" to "Peace & Love".

For this reason, the General has chosen to send Yelnikov to the States to work with a gadget genius there to bring the Red One to life. For her part, Yelnikov is stunned that her new assignment is not to war zones like Angola or Afghanistan or Laos or Mozambique but to America. She has, we are led to believe, never been there and knows very little about America though she does speak the language like a native. "I learned English because my job is search and rescue", she tells the General, "that f*****g country is between the Pacific and the Atlantic! That all I know about it!." Nevertheless, she goes and she learns to adapt very quickly - their grocery stores actually have food available!

Yelnikov is a tall, slender but curvaceous female likely in her early 20s with pale blue eyes and long and lush, shimmering black hair. She possesses a captivating smile which she is prone to display frequently as so much amuses her. She is without a doubt a fitness afficionado who works extremely hard to stay in perfect condition and her fighting skills, especially hand-to-hand is awe-inspiring - just ask those who have been on the losing end, once they wake up. Apparently, she has been groomed for this life since an early age, as had her love of motorcycles and her skills as a mechanic and a penchant for driving very, very fast.

COMIC BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, AND MANGA

Number of Stories:2
First Appearance:2015
Last Appearance:2016

The French publishing company Glenat released a four-issue miniseries about Red One, there named Red Skin, starting in 2014 and ending in 2016. The French version was first named Red Widow but that had to be changed as it violated some copyright issue.

It was picked up by American comic book publisher Image with the first two issues coming out in 2015 and the last two in 2016. The English-language version got its own name change as it was felt that Red Skin would be mistaken for the derogatory term for Native Americans.

Although really just one long story, it was republished in two graphic novels show below.

Unfortunately, the story does not have an ending, as far as I could find, neither in the French version or, obviously, in the English translation. What was supposed to be an 8-issue storyline got its end at 4 issues, later repackaged into 2 volumes.


1 Welcome To America Welcome To America
Published by Image
Contributors: Xavier Dorison (writer), Terry Dodson (pencils & colors), Rachel Dodson (inks), Clayton Cowles (letters)
Copyright: 2015

Originally published in the first two issues of French comicbook Red Skin, 2014.
The year is 1977. To counter the rising anti-leftist feeling in America which threatens a SALT treaty, the Soviet Union sends its best operative to the States to take on a new identity and become its latest costumed heroine.

2 Undercover Undercover
Published by Image
Contributors: Xavier Dorison (writer), Terry Dodson (pencils & colors), Rachel Dodson (inks), Clayton Cowles (letters)
Copyright: 2016

Originally published in the last two issues of the four-issue French comicbook Red Skin, 2016.
Red One appears to have defeated the Carpenter but she is certain he is still out there, ready to pounce at any moment. She knows she must find and end him.

MY COMMENTS

I loved the artwork so very much. I thought the dialogue throughout the stories was a hoot. The logic of much of the action seemed, um, odd, but I fell in love with Vera Yelniov from the beginning (hey, I'm red-blooded, albeit with very old hemoglobin)

The whole storyline was way too convoluted and made not a lick of sense in my addled mind but the artwork was enough to make me decide I did not care!

And then the whole thing ended without ... ending! Trust me, I looked and looked on the web to see what I was missing. I wanted to find the French versions and learn what came next but though I got hold of the French copies, nothing more than the English.

Well, dang!!!

GRADE

My Grade: B

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