Red Skull #1 Comic Recap/Review

Red Skull #1 Recap/Review – Meet the Hunters!

 

 

Red Skull #1 Recap

In a bar, in the domain of Battleworld known as Killville, Electro is bragging about his feats.  The Thors tried to stop him from crossing borders, but this villain doesn’t like to be told what to do.  As if they could even lay a hand on him anyway.  The only law Electro follows is that of the Red Skull.  However, this talk is interrupted when a man walks in and shoots the bar patrons dead.  He forcibly grabs Electro and drags him to a nearby helicopter.

[Related: Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

The villain is surprised to find himself surrounded by a team gathered on the orders of Doom.  Every one of these fools dared to defy the ruler of Battleworld, and now, they have just one chance at survival.  The team members are Electro, Magneto, Moonstone, Jack O’Lantern, Lady Deathstrike, and the Winter Soldier.  If they want to keep living, they will need to complete a mission for Doom.  Their task is to find the Red Skull, an insurrectionist who was banished to the Deadlands.  Though assumed dead, rumour is that the Red Skull is alive, and planning an attack in Doom’s realm.  So the team must find the remains of the Red Skull.  Magneto dismisses this mission as impossible.  The Deadlands kill everyone who enters – mind, body, and soul.  Nobody has ever come back alive.  But the man who gathered this team says nothing is impossible.  He introduces himself as Crossbones, and claims to have survived the Deadlands.

Electro scoffs at all of this, and tries to escape, only for him to be shocked by a collar that had been placed around his neck.  They are all equipped with this device, which will allow Doom’s forces to control the villains and suppress their powers enough to prevent their escape.  Electro asks why Bucky isn’t wearing a collar, and Crossbones explains that the lunatic volunteered for this mission.  The Winter Soldier says nothing other than the fact that he and the Red Skull have some unfinished business.  As the copter arrives at the Shield, Crossbones states the team has 24 hours to find evidence of the Red Skull’s death.  If they don’t make it back in time, they will be left for dead.  But if they do, they get their freedom.

At the Shield, Crossbones casually kills a nearby T-Rex, who he refers to as the guard.  The team heads out through a tunnel in the Shield.  In the sewers, Moonstone states they should all abandon this mission and find a way back to Battleworld, but Bucky says that isn’t really an option here in the Deadlands.  Right now, their first priority is and can only be survival.  With their powers suppressed, the team has no choice but to continue on.  It does not take long for the Winter Soldier to find evidence of the Red Skull’s presence in the Deadlands, and Electro is suddenly hopeful.  Not only are they going to find the Red Skull, but he is confident the fabled insurrectionist will be able to lead them out of here alive.

But in an instant, a zombified version of Electro bites the very much alive one, and the team is surrounded by zombies.  The Winter Soldier orders everyone to keep close, and not let them get overwhelmed, but it is too late for Electro who is devoured alive.  Magneto curses the inhibitor collars, which are making his powers useless, while Moonstone and Lady Deathstrike fall to the zombies.  Pretty soon the entire team is overwhelmed, and all but one die a gruesome death.  Only Magneto is left standing.  He curses this mission.  It was pointless… nobody could survive here.  Suddenly, the zombies are brutally killed, and a voice tells Erik to get up.

“There is power in the world believing you have died.  In other words… come with me if you want to die.”

Red Skull #1 Recap/Review – Meet the Hunters!

Red Skull #1 Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island!  My name is Arden, and this is my recap, and review, of Red Skull #1!

Yeah so… I hope you guys liked this comic, because I freaking loved it.  What a ride.  I picked this one up because it was solicited as a journey with this team into the heart of the Deadlands to find the Red Skull, in something along the lines of Apocalypse Now.  So I’m really pleased how Marvel was able to cover up this comic’s surprise ending so well, and man, am I excited to see what happens next.  This has to be one of the better Secret Wars tie-ins that I’ve had a chance to read so far, because it was so surprising and so well done I was really impressed by it on the whole.

[Related: Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

The art felt gritty and conveyed the comic’s dark tones nicely, and the story was really nicely executed as a slow, but well paced build to a big, exciting, and quite unexpected ending.  It’s not the first time a comic builds up a new team just to tear them down immediately, but I like how the comic builds up one idea only to pull a huge twist together and the story to wind up being of a different nature entirely.  I do recommend you check out Red Skull #1 for yourself if you haven’t already.  This tie-in has a lot of promise, and I really like the idea of a Nazi like the Red Skull teaming up with Magneto in this fun little use of an alternate universe.  Where things go from here should be quite interesting, and I honestly have no idea what to expect.

Let me know what you think will happen in the comments section below.  And, as always, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.

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