Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artist: Marco Ferrari
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover Artists: Marco Ferrari; Karl Kerschl; Gleb Melnikov; Paolo Rivera; Annie Wu
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 3, 2024
Snowjob dropped Scarlett on a remote mountain and bugged out. Scarlett watched the chopper leave and skied ten miles to the Clan Arashikage compound. She fought her way through ninjas to kneel before the Hard Master. Will the head of Clan Arashikage allow Scarlett to fight alongside her friend Jinx in his service? Or will he kill the G I Joe agent who ignored her orders and rescued twelve Americans from a sex trafficker’s auction in Monaco? Let’s grab our crossbows, leap into Scarlett #2, and find out!
Story
Scarlett wakes. She's tied to a chair. She notices a collection of weapons in a locked glass cabinet. Scarlett reminds herself of Stalker's orders as she pulls out a blade the Clan Arashikage soldiers missed. She slices through her bonds and spies another code from Jinx on a wall. A warrior in the hallway notices her, leaving Scarlett no time to muse about her friend.
Scarlett drops the razor blade and fights hand-to-hand. An Arashikagi soldier shoots at her. He misses Scarlett but hits the glass cabinet. Locks don’t bar her anymore. She leaps and slices through the room, her katana leaving a trail of blood in her wake. When a masked man halts the attack, the surviving soldiers disperse.
Storm Shadow conducts her entry interview in Scarlett #2. She explains that the US military is changing, leaving her without a place to call home. She believes she brings a unique skill set to Clan Arashikage. Storm Shadow agrees about her talents but wonders how Scarlett will fit into the clan. But Hard Master is impressed. He proposes a solo field mission. If Scarlet completes her assignment and demonstrates the qualities he values, she’s in.
Becoming a member of Clan Arashikage means she can be close to Jinx again. Striker orchestrated this mission. But Major Gorman kicked Scarlett off his team after the Monaco fiasco, and she only met Striker once. Scarlett hasn't seen Jinx for two years, but her relationship with her friend extends further. If Scarlett secures the weapon Striker wants for Clan Arashikage, she may find it difficult to sneak it out of the remote mountain compound. Jinx was a deep cover agent, but she’s gone silent. If Jinx doesn't want to leave, will Scarlett stay with her friend? Kelly Thompson poises Scarlett on a knife edge in Scarlett #2. Scarlett can dance on the sharpened steel for a short time before she falls back with the Joes, dives into the ninja clan, or becomes one more casualty, disavowed, forgotten, and unmourned.
Art
Green symbols lurk in a fog of black ink behind Scarlett's bowed head. She opens her eyes to see a glass-fronted display of weapons. Glass doors replace traditional Japanese paper walls, allowing Scarlett to see a courtyard garden and people passing in the corridor. Light streaks diagonally across the room from a skylight. The abundance of light in the room casts dramatic shadows and makes the wall and floor panels shine, yet diminishes the blue water and green plants outside.
Lee Loughridge lavishes a limited palette on Marco Ferrari’s art in Scarlett #2. While green, tan, brown, blue, and orange dominate, there's always room for a splash of yellow or red. Black and red blood spills, splashes, and sprays amid Scarlett's fight with the soldiers. Black and red footprints on a glass wall frame Storm Shadow's white balaclava-covered face. Gunfire forms a yellow streak over a crouching black silhouette. Yellow electrifies the Tokyo skyline as Scarlett undertakes her trial for Clan Arashikage. Splashes of orange and blue skyscraper windows accompany the bright blue helicopter speeding toward Scarlett’s chosen target.
Rus Wooton fires large uppercase black and red lettering into white dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. Sound effects help us hear Scarlett dropkick a chair, Throwing Stars knock out ninjas, and explosives demolish a door. Thanks to Image Comics, Skybound, and Hasbro for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Scarlett delights Storm Shadow and Hard Master by hacking through their loyal troops, then undertakes a suicide mission to prove her worth to the ninja clan leaders. She does all this to resume her friendship with Jinx in Scarlett #2. But didn't Jinx tell her to stay away?
Rating 9/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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