"Hey there Little Red Riding Hood, you sure are lookin’ good. You're everything a big bad wolf could want." - Li'l Red Riding Hood by Sam The Sham & The Pharaos

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If you're new to Zenescope, then you know that these are not your grandmother's fairy tales. Each one of their characters carry a classic name, with a modernized story. And Red Riding Hood is no exception, as she begins a 5 issue series titled:

Red Agent

The Story:

Britney Waters, aka Red Riding Hood, is recruited by a secret government agency to help take down an extremely dangerous terrorist organization called The Circle. Using the codename “Red Agent,” Britney must locate a hacker named Ditto who may be the only chance the government has at stopping the terrorist group. But The Circle has sent its sadistic laboratory-enhanced soldier Alpha after Ditto, making Britney’s mission much more dangerous than anticipated.

RED AGENT is a story by Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco and written by Lou Iovino. While the meat of the first issue is exposition, it’s required for new readers to get an understanding of this world. Regardless, I was surprised at how fast paced the read turned out to be. Thankfully, the beginning dives in with a murderous action sequence and ends with an intense cliffhanger.

The end of the book that has you wondering how they’ll produce four more issues. Which means you’ll want to buy-in to find out.

Diego Galindo and Grostieta provide artwork and colors, respectively, and they do a very good job. Action sequences are fun to do, and you can clearly see that in the panels. But creating interesting art while the backstory is being told, is no small task. They keep the ‘camera’ moving and offer a variety of angles to keep the panels interesting.

The character design for ‘Alpha’ is fantastic and I hope he sticks around for awhile. As villains go, I think he has the right look and presence that can carry a story. He’s easily my favorite character in the issue, as the protagonist hasn’t exactly done a lot to charm me. His interaction with the highborn, that he kidnaps, adds to the mystery and intrigue of his character.

There was a lot of build-up to an ending that knocks you on your ass. Normally I would feel like I wasted my time, but I’m seriously concerned that our ‘Red Agent’ may be in over her head. Although to re-iterate a previous statement, I like the villain ‘Alpha’. Any time he gets one over on the hero, I’m not exactly disappointed. As someone who always finds themselves rooting for the hero, I’m conflicted here. Alpha is a bad dude, doing bad things...but damn he’s so mysterious and cool.

I’m extremely interested in finding out his story as it all unfolds.

Curse you Lou Iovino!

Favorite Non-Spoilerish Line:

"Don't bother trying to run. I'll be done with her in a second! And we'll be on our way!" - Alpha

So is Alpha Red Agent worth picking up? If you want a covert-ops story featuring a villain that outshines the hero, then this is the comic for you.