Scarlett #1 Review

 

Writer: Kelly Thompson

Artist: Marco Ferrari

Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Letterer: Rus Wooton

Cover Artists: Marco Ferrari & Lee Loughridge; Joëlle Jones; Gleb Melnikov; Steve Epting; Leonardo Romero; Jonboy Meyers; David Mack; Jason Howard & Annalisa Leoni; Jason Howard; Freddie Williams; Laura Braga; Rob Csiki; Deegan Puchkors; Sajah Shah; Andrew Wildman; Junggeun Yoon; Ivan Tao

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: June 5, 2024

 

Scarlett travels to glitzy Monaco, where Human Traffickers have organized an auction. The hostages may not be present. But even if they are, her orders are to observe and report, not engage. Can Scarlett allow hostages to slip through her fingers to preserve an ongoing international operation? Let’s grab our crossbows, leap into Scarlett #1, and find out!

 

Story

Men in suits observe the buyers. Scarlett walks through crowded rooms. A woman and a symbol catch her eye. Wait! It's Jinx! And she brought a sword to an elegant soiree!

 

More men with swords trail Jinx. The captives must be on site. Why else would Jinx and the men be there? Scarlett follows Jinx and her men to a room filled with buyers holding paddles and women with lot numbers affixed to their swimsuits. As Jinx grabs a girl in a bikini, buyers scatter, and the sword-wielders engage security, Scarlett knows this well-ordered auction is descending to chaos. At every step, Scarlett argued she needed to intervene. Her handler’s response never changed. You are not authorized to engage.

 

In Scarlett #1, Scarlett is hurting. Her closest friend has been missing for two years. Every time she's gotten a lead, her superiors have denied her request to follow it up. This time, she doesn't wait for approval. Scarlett leaps into action. She belts a sword-wielding man with her purse and grabs a corpse's crossbow. Scarlett deflates as Jinx pulls the girl with the bikini toward a helicopter. She can cover Jinx’s exit, but she’s lost her friend.

 

Amid the fraught action, Kelly Thompson reminds us of Scarlett's fragility. Her home feels empty without Jinx. Flashbacks remind Scarlett of purchasing the house with her friend and their plans to turn it into a home. Yet it's just a place without Jinx. She's kept her friend's houseplants alive, but just barely.

 

Jinx’s name may be classified, but Scarlett’s is Shana O’Hara. Shana knows the difference between a good soldier and a friend. Like Harlan Moore, aka Snow Job, Jinx was both. Such relationships are rare in Scarlett’s world. So, when a man named Stalker offers her another lead on Jinx in Scarlett #1 and promises to include Snow Job in the operation, Shana grabs it. She could die. If she lives, her actions might change her life forever. But is life worth living if you can’t be with the people you love?

 

Art

Scarlett's head rises above the still waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Like James Bond in Goldfinger, she trades her wetsuit for more refined attire, loads her semiautomatic, and screws on a silencer. Then she leaves her gear among the shingle and heads for the glowing mansion on the hill.

 

Marco Ferrari portrays the elegance of the mansion and the diversity of the customers who arrive from every corner of the globe. Buyers clutch champagne flutes as they pass framed paintings and sculptures on pedestals. Jinx impresses with her elegant dress and tattooed flowers adorning her upper right arm. But then Jinx grabs the girl, and as her men attack security with their swords, someone points a pistol at Jinx. Scarlett leaps off an upper-story landing to knock the gun from the man’s hand.

 

Lee Loughridge adorns Marco Ferrari’s art with vivid coloring in Scarlett #1. Jinx’s red dress, Shana’s hair, and the pools of crimson surrounding the fallen security men dominate the mansion scenes. Loughridge casts a gray-blue pall over scenes outside the mansion, yet everything remains visible in the moonlight. Loughbridge lavishes green on Scarlett’s home, reminding readers of Jinx's love of gardening and the women's G.I. Joe history. Flashbacks evoke illustrations in old children's books or the 80s Ms Tree comics, with coloring limited to shades of red. Red also dominates the final scenes, as Scarlett, clothed in white, battles her opponents with a katana in the snowy mountains.

 

Rus Wooton fires large uppercase black lettering into white dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. Sound effects accentuate the opening brawl in Monaco but run riot in the intense final battle, as Scarlett launches into a crowd of highly trained opponents in the snow. Thanks to Image Comics, Skybound, and Hasbro for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Scarlett doesn't care how many international intelligence operations she blows wide open or how many weapons deals she detonates. All she knows is that Jinx is alive, and she'll do anything to be with her friend in Scarlett #1.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.