Red Knight #3 - Manos Publishing

RED KNIGHT No. 3, May 2020

Quite wonderfully managing to bring this title’s first story arc “A Knight Without A Sword” to an ultra-satisfying conclusion with the brutal defeat of Nolan Sinclair’s two hired hoodlums, it is hard to imagine many super-hero comic book fans reading Issue Three of “Red Knight” would have much to complain about. But whilst Justin Cristelli’s narrative manages to depict the wealthy mob boss’ plans lethally crashing down around the crook’s head as a result of a truly epic battle between the murderous Over Kill and the titular character, the author’s greatest achievement with this publication is arguably his ability to also pen plenty of intriguing hooks for the title’s future instalments within its bumper-packed storyline.

For starters, this twenty-six page periodical provides a tantalising insight into the murky backstory as to just how the likes of an adolescent Todd McClain, Ben Lee and Wendy Harper actually received their special powers. Having been kidnapped and experimented upon by Sinclair’s unscrupulous scientists, it is entirely evident that the trio eventually escape to become the costumed crime-fighters known today. However, just who else was abducted and what happened to them is not revealed by Detective Martha Brown, nor whether the authorities can be sure that all the criminal’s clandestine trials were actually successfully shut down.

In addition, Cristelli also reveals just how the Secretary of Super Human Affairs, Matthew Grace, goes about recruiting “talented youngsters” arrested for vigilantism into the Union of Super Heroes. This sequence provides the American author with a great opportunity to showcase the significantly larger world of Red Knight, as well as name drop some of its more notable personalities, such as “the great Captain Danger and the mysterious White Shark!”

Helping provide each and every blow with plenty of bone-breaking dynamism is artist JC Grande, whose ability to prodigiously pencil the villainous Over Kill as an insanely scary, unstoppable killing machine is debatably hard to fault. Likewise, Shiloh Penfield’s work on this comic’s “Captain Danger Origin” is similarly noteworthy, cramming in the legendary protagonist’s backstory within the space of single well-laid out sheet; “Walter Watson became Captain Danger. A hero for all. If God was testing him, I’d say he passed with honours.”

Writer: Justin Cristelli, Artists: JC Grande & Shiloh Penfield, and Colorist: Forrester Randlet

Red Knight #2 - Manos Publishing

RED KNIGHT No. 2, September 2019

Having seemingly established in this title’s opening instalment that “Norfolk belongs to Brick” - an incredibly-strong super-villain with the ability to grow to goliath proportions, Justin Cristelli’s script for Issue Two of “Red Knight” must have subverted the expectations of many of this comic’s readers with his sudden and oft-times shocking plot twists. Indeed, no sooner has this publication’s unsuspecting audience settled down to watch the gigantic drug-dealer wreak havoc upon a hapless family trapped inside a badly battered automobile, then the seemingly unstoppable seller of illegal “super powered enhancements” has been shot dead straight through the eye by a solitary police officer armed with nothing more than her strong nerves and a steady aim; “The bulletproof ones are normally vulnerable through the eyes. Remember your training.”

Equally as unforeseen is the revelation that along with Python and Pop Girl, Brick had actually stolen the “Bam” he was hoping to supply the streets with from an infinitely more cold-hearted killer known as Mister Sinclair. Evidently the head of a sophisticated syndicate, this well-dressed crime-lord clearly won’t tolerate failure or disobedience of any kind, and even goes so far as to physically manhandle one of his own managers when they neglect to clean out his business’s overflowing mouse trap in preparation for a Department of Health inspection.

Easily this twenty-five page periodical’s highlight however, has to be Over Kill and Surge's savagely violent attack upon Brick’s recuperating side-kicks at the Norfolk General Hospital. Initially, it genuinely seems that the aforementioned Mister Sinclair has arranged for Python and Pop Girl “to join Doctor Blood Banks’ crew”, especially when one of the big boss’s bullies takes a hold of the poor policeman stood guard outside the ward and gleefully wrings the officer’s neck right in front of a jubilant ‘full-body stretcher’.

But things quickly then turn sour for the low-level powered thieves when artist JC Grande graphically pencils Over Kill swiftly snapping Python’s spine too, and Surge literally fries Pop Girl alive despite first taking off the woman’s power locks and giving her “a fighting chance!” In fact, Doctor Banks’ deadly duo are significantly more frightening than Brick’s raw strength ever made him, with one of the barbaric-looking murderers even gleefully ripping out his opponent’s heart as some sort of grotesque trophy and chillingly suggesting they do the same to Red Knight once they encounter him.

Writer: Justin Cristelli, Artist: JC Grande, and Colorist: Forrester Randlet

Red Knight #1 - Manos Publishing

RED KNIGHT No. 1, September 2019

Having experienced “a few years off” before seeing this title re-launched “in full colour under the Manos Publishing banner”, fans of the knight without a sword probably rather enjoyed Justin Cristelli’s narrative for Issue One of “Red Knight”. In fact, as first forays into the dangerous world of costumed crime-fighting go, Todd McClain’s inaugural mission as a vigilante determined to bust Brick’s drug dealing racket arguably has it all, whether it be super-powered villains demonstrating a multitude of surprising special abilities, undercover narcotics agents watching their clandestine mission come to naught or pure chaos occurring on the streets as public lives are jeopardised by well-meaning, masked vigilantes.

In addition, the Virginia-born writer also manages to imbue this twenty-five page periodical’s plot with a genuinely palpable sense of tension too, as the titular character, Fireball and Nonstop nervously contemplate interfering with the illegal sale of “two vials of something that’s supposed to grant people super powers”, and then react in horror as their plan of attack almost instantly falls apart upon their arrival. Interestingly however, this edginess is not just confined to the three lead protagonists either, with the American author enthrallingly bestowing an equal amount of apprehension upon both Brick’s party and their well-dressed customers; “Be cool. Be cool. If we come off nervous, then they’re gonna think we’re amateurs.”

Such high levels of anxiety amongst the comic’s cast makes it seem that something unexpectedly calamitous could happen at any given moment, and provides the book’s proceedings with an enjoyable air of excitement, especially when Red Knight realises his rookie roster are facing three formidably potent criminals, a bucketful of angry law enforcement operatives, and a ton of heavily-armed henchmen. “Oh. Double poopie” indeed…

Providing all this pulse-pounding action with some extra pizazz is JC Grande, whose layouts add a further layer of animated anarchy to an undercover police sting which goes about as wrong as it can. The El Salvadoran artist is particularly good at panelling fast-paced sequences, such as Popgirl blasting Tyrone/Michael mid-way through his denial at being a "cop", or Brick’s stunning transformation into a literal walking wall of bullet-proof ferocity, and it soon becomes abundantly clear just why Cristelli is happy to leave portions of this book’s storytelling to the illustrator's textless panels populated with fast-moving eye candy.

Writer: Justin Cristelli, Artist: JC Grande, and Colorist: Forrester Randlet