Somewhat confusingly, this is actually the third Scarlet book but it’s labelled “Volume 1” because… this is the first Scarlet book published at DC? Even though they also get the first two books, as part of Brian Bendis’ move from Marvel to DC? A trilogy of one book – arf, tres Douglas Adams!
So it’s been a hot minute since we last saw Scarlet and things have gone pure cray. Portland, Oregon looks like a Third World warzone and a new revolution is taking place in America, headed up by Scarlet. The White House has sent a Special Forces envoy to negotiate – but why hasn’t she simply been drone-striked into oblivion?
Scarlet is one of the best things Bendis has ever written and I’m happy to say the third book continues that trend. If you’re new to the series, definitely check out the two books before this one as they’re even better than Volume “1”/really 3. Two critiques of this otherwise stonking book: I get that he wants to grab the reader from the opening scene – and it is effective – but it feels like too big a leap from where the second book left off.
There’s a brief flashback showing crowds of people and police rioting and Scarlet mentions a “final curfew” before she ordered the bridges destroyed but it still feels like this post-apocalyptic landscape came out of nowhere and Bendis is being lazy in glossing over a lot of vital detail. I mean, what happened to the police – were they killed, taken prisoner, recruited to the cause or ferried over before the bridge destruction? It’s not totally convincing how things got to this extreme point.
The other thing is that everything goes a little too smoothly for Scarlet. She’s facing very challenging obstacles but she basically breezes through everything effortlessly unscathed. Bendis is also writing both Superman titles at the mo yet Scarlet is more fantastical than anything in those books!
Then again: it doesn’t really matter given how entertaining the book actually is. We don’t need to see everything and Bendis is right to trust the reader to fill in the blanks. And this part of the story is a more interesting place to pick things up anyway. As far-fetched as it may seem, I do want to see what Bendis imagines a quasi-realistic modern-day revolution would look like and play out. He’s basically running with Founding Father, former president and author of the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson’s comment that “a little rebellion now and then is a good thing” and it’s a fun thought experiment. And, who knows, it might inspire people towards addressing some of the current system’s injustices and make some real change happen.
The ending was a surprise, if, again, Scarlet once more sails through conflict easily. At least it makes the next arc look even more fun! Alex Maleev’s art looks great as always though visually the book looks a bit drab – often, the only colour on the page is Scarlet’s red hair. And I loved that awesome cover with the bullet lipstick.
Scarlet, Volume 1 is a brilliant addition to a fantastic series and Bendis’ best current title – I can’t wait to see where he and Maleev take Scarlet’s revolution next!
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