written by Brian Michael Bendis
illustrated by Alex Maleev

Revenge-driven thrillers are nothing new in the hard-boiled crime genre, but the most successful ones are able to incorporate an intriguing twist on the formula and inject it with a sense of freshness that helps it rise above expectations. In Scarlet, Brian Michael Bendis not only serves up a twist on the revenge drama, but completely upends it with a deeper, grander motivation on behalf of his fiery anti-hero.
 
After being shot in the head by a rogue police officer, Scarlet wakes from a coma with her sense of security shattered and her understanding of the world irrevocably changed. She spends weeks tailing the police officer who destroyed her life, intent on revenge, but that's only a small segment of her overarching plan.
 
Tired of a world where police officers can shakedown innocents and frame them, where politicians serve only themselves and their insatiable greed, where corruption has become a national pastime, it's unfair to say Scarlet wants only revenge. She wants a revolution, and she's more than willing to burn the world down to ashes.
 
Bendis takes us to the tipping point in society, to the initial sparks of a new revolution. It's a story fueled by disgust at the intense amount of corruption prevalent at all levels of American society and the passivity of the systems that not only enable it, but maintain it through legal maneuvering, the politics of popularity, blind loyalty, and willful ignorance.
 
It's impossible to root against Scarlet or her anger and disgust. She joins the pantheon of vigilante crusaders, like the Punisher or Charles Bronson in Death Wish, who have had their worlds destroyed and recognize the fundamental failures of society. She is sick of the way this world operates and takes a stand, encouraging others to join her and look towards an ideal, to say, like Peter Finch in Network, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" As a revolutionary leader, she is firmly entrenched in the modernity embraced by twenty-somethings as she videotapes her actions and confessions for internet broadcast and incites protesting flash mobs.
 
Throughout all of it, she is perfectly aware of her audience. Scarlet does not just narrate her ordeals and ideas in the typical captions that reflect characters inner thoughts. Instead, she tears down the fourth wall and converses directly with the reader. It's a nifty twist, one that allows readers to become a part of her story, to get to know her intimately as she invites them into her world to become a collaborator or conspirator.
 
Bendis is no stranger to the crime genre, and brings with him very strong bona fides. Torso was inspired by the true tale of Elliot Ness' hunt for a serial killer, and his tenure on Daredevil produced a seminal crime opera that pushed it to new, dark, wonderful corners and made it a stand-out title. His ongoing Powers series is a fantastic twist on the usual cops-and-robbers serials, a Law & Order-style view of superheroes and the detectives who have to deal with the fallout. With Scarlet, he's shifting the noir style of storytelling to a higher realm, with a premise that is not only perfectly executed but relevant and grounded in current real-world political muck. Like Brian Wood's DMZ, the story is so well told and believably crafted that it carries an air of authenticity and feels like an event that could be right around the corner.
 
Alex Maleev, Bendis' collaborator on Daredevil, provides artwork that is a perfect, gritty complement to the story. He has a terrific style that encapsulates the noir tradition, using subdued, oftentimes dark, selective colors. His characters are firmly entrenched in the real-world; no capes and tights, or muscle bound ogres. Scarlet is refreshingly realistic and nicely drawn, free of the exaggeration many male artists imbue their female characters with. The violence is in your face, like the opening page of Scarlet strangling a man to death in an alley, but not over the top. In a few of the gunfights, rather than show violent death, he opts for three panels of color that reflect the muzzle blast. It's a neat trick and helps draw the reader in, forcing the conclusion to be imagined, which produces a more visceral, engaging effect.
 
Engaging may be the key word when it comes to describing this book, as it is so well crafted on all levels to not only draw the reader into the story, but to make them an active, immersed participant in the proceedings. Bendis' typical, ultra-readable dialogue is fully on display here, and pitch-perfectly breaks the fourth wall between story and readers, taking them to the dark recesses of Portland, OR alongside Scarlet and her growing crusade.  Bleak and gritty, he and Maleev have created a compelling must-read book, crafted with so much conviction and honest anger that it can't help but read like a manifesto.
 

-- Michael Hicks

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