GRIMM SPOTLIGHT – RED AGENT: FRIENDLY FIRE – Comic Review

GRIM SPOTLIGHT – RED AGENT: FRIENDLY FIRE, from Zenescope Entertainment on December 14th, 2022, follows Red Agent and Agent Williams on a mission to infiltrate a secret vault to steal a dangerous, magical artifact.

The Details

• Written by: Chas! Pangburn
• Art by: Julius Abrera
• Colors by: Fran Gamboa, J.C. Ruiz
• Letters by: Chas! Pangburn
• Cover art by: Igor Vitorino (cover A)
• Cover price: $5.99
• Release date: December 14, 2022

Is It Good?

Continuing Zenescope’s cross-title theme of Lovecraft-inspired villainy, GRIMM SPOTLIGHT – RED AGENT: FRIENDLY FIRE takes readers on a thoroughly entertaining adventure filled with spy thrills, magic, and monsters. However, GRIMM SPOTLIGHT – RED AGENT: FRIENDLY FIRE stands apart from the other Zenescope title by putting a heavier emphasis on the in-universe story rather than the Lovecraft Easter Eggs and homages.

Chas! Pangburn’s script is an entertaining adventure, mixing Red Agent’s unique blend of spy craft and lycanthrope. You don’t have to be a werewolf to be a super spy, but it helps. Better still, it helps to have a partner, Avril Williams, whose a powerful witch. When you partner a werewolf with a witch as a super spy team, their partnership is almost too powerful against any criminal, but Pangborn dreams up an adversary that’s just as dangerous, significantly more sly, and has access to life-changing information for Avril. In short, a good story needs a villain greater than the hero, and Pangburn delivers.

Keeping with the Zenescope’s Lovecraft theme in the latter half of 2022, Red Agent and Williams find themselves running afoul of Shoggoth from At the Mountains of Madness. Shoggoth fits within the story’s context but doesn’t overwhelm the adventure aspects and steal focus away from the heroes. In other words, Pangburn strikes a good balance of incorporating Lovecraft elements without making the comic a Lovecraft story.

Abrera, Gamboa, and Ruiz deliver their part with excellent action/adventure art. The lines are crisp and clean, the character action and acting look great, the colors pop, and special kudos go to Pangburn for capturing the lettering sounds of a tacky resort club.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with Red Agent and Agent Avril Williams in a firefight on a tropical beach. The super spy duo uses a combination of weapons, fighting skills, and supernatural abilities to stop the enemies cold. Red and Avril quickly change into clubbing clothes to sneak into the nearby resort, where they track down the IT Security tech with the thumbprint needed to sneak into a secret vault where a dangerous artifact is stored.

With the expert use of feminine charms and high-tech gadgets, Red and Avril get the thumbprint and infiltrate the vault. There they find Asenath, a powerful witch, conjuring a spell using the Sickle of Oban. Paired with other magical items, the spell opens a mystical doorway that will release Shoggoth into the world.

We conclude the issue with a witch switch, an escape, and an Antarctic showdown.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.

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