Better RED Than Dead

by John Hoeber;Various

Collects the 1-Shots Red: Joe Special (2010 DC/Wildstorm), Marvin Special (2010 DC/Wildstorm), Victoria Special (2010 DC/Wildstorm), Frank Special (2010 DC/Wildstorm), and Eyes Only (2010 DC/Wildstorm). Written by CULLY HAMNER, ERICH HOEBER, and JON HOEBER. Art by CULLY HAMNER, and DAVID HAHN. Photo Cover. This new collection features the four one-shot tie-ins based on the hit film from Summit Entertainment, as well as the prequel issue to the original acclaimed graphic novel! Spend some time with the world's top intelligence agents and learn how killing in the service of their countries earned them the label RED: "Retired, extremely dangerous."

Genres: Graphic Novels, Thriller, Comics, Espionage

Paperback

First published April 12, 2011

Reviews

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each story centers around one of the four characters in the movie. They are all smart and enjoyable, very much like the movie, but a great deal shorter and not connected in any way. I would have liked a longer series with these characters, but four of the issues collected here were likely intended only to advertise the movie.

Moses wants out of the CIA because he was finding it difficult to live with the things he has done. Leaving the CIA is unusual, so he gets assigned one more cushy job guarding the African-American candidate for president of the United States. one word sends him into kill mode and he murders the candidate. His boss sent him to a shrink that secretly inserted a verbal trigger into his mind. His last job is done while under the verbal trigger's influence, but in the end he finally gets the retirement he wanted so badly.

Joe is a CIA agent whose mission is to contact three deep cover agents in Russia and extract them. The risk is huge because one slip can mean their lives. The mission doesn't go according to plan, but quick thinking and a good aim saves one of the three. The real missikn is revealed at the end: to raise the credibility of a female agent in the Kremlin.

Marvin is a more hands-on kind of guy. He easily infiltrates a guarded building and cracks open a safe for an ordinary pen. He suspects he is being tested and confirms his suspicion by finding that his place is bugged. The agency decided to test an experimental drug on him, one that is intended to turn him into a super-agent. The side-effect is hallucinations, but Marvin's skill keeps him alive to leave the agency with a bang by staging his death.

Victoria uses her beauty to get in close to his victims. This is in antithesis with her skills as a sniper. During a vacation she meets a guy she clicks with from the start. He turns out to be KGB agent and he finds she works for MI6. They hold their love for one another above the mission, but she is found out by her agency. The only way to prove her loyalty is to shoot her lover. She does so, but the wound is not meant to kill, so he lives. The KGB is keeping his well being a secret, but how long can they keep love under wraps?

Frank gets assigned an agent in training to teach him how to work in field. The new guy is in a relationship with a girl who turns out to be an enemy agent in disguise. She was being trained by Ivan, a KGB agent who knows Frank intimately. The girl is killed, but Ivan gets away. The new guy is also expendable and Frank gets the kill order.

[David Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this collection of RED stories. The first four stories each featured one of the main characters from the R.E.D. movies: Joe, Victoria, Marvin, and Frank. They provided a background into each character. We get to see Victoria falling in love with Ivan, and then of course the infamous "3 shots to the upper right of the chest" which means love. Joe was a real hard ass and Frank as well, and the ending....cold blooded indeed. Marvin is Marvin, crazy and over the top, but we get an inside look into why Marvin is so crazy.

The fifth story also features Frank, but this story goes back even further in time, when Frank had hair and a disapproving brother. All of these characters led hard lives and were put thru the wringer. Each was lucky or smart enough to survive long enough to be able to retire and be labeled R.E.D.

I will be reading the original R.E.D. collection by Warren Ellis soon. These comic books are a much more darker tone than the movies, but that is to be expected. Frank and company where GOOD at what they did, but it is hard to classify them as "good" people. Guess you got to be BAD to be GOOD.

I would love to read further adventures with these characters, even if they do not make a RED 3 (which would be shame). Yeah I know how the R.E.D. book ended, but authors should be free to change their minds. Look what happened to David Morrell and his John Rambo character (reference to the ending of the book First Blood and how Rambo was able to be around for the 2nd Rambo movie/novelization).

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had hoped for so much more from this! I adore the first RED movie, and was hoping for some new stories about the characters. Instead what we mostly get in a slight re-hash and explanation of a lot of things that we're already told in the movie. Victoria and Ivan, the history with Marvin and the government . . . this was all known canon and I'd been looking for more. For what it is, the graphic novel is good. I'd just wanted something different than what was delivered.

[Ryan McArthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost makes me want to watch the movie!

[gradedog · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was somewhat of a let down after reading the original Red by Warren Ellis and drawn by Cully Hammer. RED: Better R.E.D. Than Dead consists of 5 separate stories. The first four being each a background story for the four characters from the Red MOVIE and it’s sequel, and written by Jon and Erich Hoeber, the writers of both films. The artists varied in each story. The art in these four ranged from meh to pretty good. Of these four stories the one about Frank, from the films, was the best.

The fifth story in this compilation is a prequel for the original Red COMIC written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Cully Hammer, and the source material for the films. This story, Eyes Only, was both penned and drawn by Hammer. While not written by Ellis, the art, the story, and the tone made it a good prequel to the original.

[Riccardo Caputi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Red comics never tried to do something really original, but in the Ellis/Hamner miniseries and in the Hamner one-shot the action was generally well corepgraphed, stylish and creative. The other stories kinda bored me, apart from Red: Marvin, which at least was weird and extremely fast-paced.

[Ricardo Nuno Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome collection of 5 short (bloody) tales featuring the main "R.E.D." characters.
If you loved the original graphic novel (or event the movie), this volume is cut out for you.

Review of the original graphic novel:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jake Jeffries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the original, but still a worthy effort. I thoroughly enjoyed it despite having reservations since the original creator was uninvolved and like some others was worried that it was just a cash grab. However, it is definitely worth giving a chance.

[The_J · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prequel , some parts more interesting than others, but faithful to the continuity

[Sara Ximena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Las preguntas que tenías sobre la juventud de los Retirados Extremadamente Peligrosos se responden aquí. Y si, siempre han sido geniales, aunque éste cómic es significativamente menos cómico que las películas.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad graphic novel, one that looks more on the background of the characters we know and love from the movie and what they were doing during the height of their careers.