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Red Menace
Los Angeles spirals into crime-filled chaos after Senator Joe McCarthy and his chief council Roy Cohen unmask the City of Angels' superhero, "The Eagle," and threaten Steve Tremaine with jail time if he continues his so-called vigilante actions as the "Eagle."
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
144 pages, Paperback
First published October 24, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 19, 2019
How do we treat our heroes? Great comic looking at how the public can turn on one of it's protectors. Very nice art and story. Very recommended
July 31, 2024
An intriguing premise of superheroes forced to tangle with real-life political prejudice, only to fall flat in the end when it basically plays itself straight after all with its supervillains and diabolical plans and barely-averted destruction. Too bad. It looked like it was going someplace nice for a while there.
April 18, 2024
More a 3.5 star.
I wanted to like this more than I actually did, although it was a decent read. First, the good. It was certainly a different take, with a 50’s set adventure featuring The Eagle ( essentially Captain America) as a patriotic hero set up as a communist traitor. The art by Jerry Ordway and Al Vey was also as superb as ever.
The bad? It was just far too lightweight. Although many interesting story ideas were created, few were followed through with, and it just became a standard story in the end. The villains were either two dimensional, or just wasted.
More a lost opportunity than a good read, but decent enough to give it a chance.
Note: I re-read this recently, 5 years after my comments above, and although most are still on the money I warmed to it a little more. The art remains excellent, and I did appreciate the period detail much more. The central story, however, is very light and is wrapped up way too quickly.
I wanted to like this more than I actually did, although it was a decent read. First, the good. It was certainly a different take, with a 50’s set adventure featuring The Eagle ( essentially Captain America) as a patriotic hero set up as a communist traitor. The art by Jerry Ordway and Al Vey was also as superb as ever.
The bad? It was just far too lightweight. Although many interesting story ideas were created, few were followed through with, and it just became a standard story in the end. The villains were either two dimensional, or just wasted.
More a lost opportunity than a good read, but decent enough to give it a chance.
Note: I re-read this recently, 5 years after my comments above, and although most are still on the money I warmed to it a little more. The art remains excellent, and I did appreciate the period detail much more. The central story, however, is very light and is wrapped up way too quickly.
February 23, 2020
A silver age hero, The Eagle, run afoul of the HUAC. Smeared by Senator Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn, he branded as a communist sympathizer and forced to retire. But he uncovers a sinister plot and is forced to make a decision on whether to follow the law or start smacking bad guys. A fun story that uses a lot of personalities and locations from the era. There are some minor historical inaccuracies,.but if that doesn't bother you, then enjoy the book.
May 13, 2008
So I decided to check this out, because it seemed like it might have vague similarities to a comic my brother and I have been trying to write for the last 4 years. The only thing about this that made me want to write was realizing how bad it was, and simultaneously, how published it was. While Jerry Ordway's art is fancy and nice, the story is weak, the 50's slang and stuff is a bit over the top, and seems inaccurate to me. The book had 5 writers on it, and even with that, the whole plot was incredibly juvenile.
I'd love to say that both plot and dialogue was supposed to make the whole thing a throw-back to the golden age of comics (rival mob bosses face off, one is in cahoots w/a government official on the wrong side of truth & justice - gov't official sends 2 of his former-street-tuff goons to USSR at the height of the cold war, to steal a nuke - which they do successfully. They intend to use it to set off the tensions between the US & the Soviets, thereby ensuring the further harassment and criminalization of suerheroes, etc. Can they be stopped in time? will our hero overcome the pressures of society and regain his heroic mantle, and save his fair city? well, you'll just have to read through issue 6 to find out...). But the problem is, the art was modern, it was bloody at points, and there were constant references to characters' sex lives and J. Edgar Hoover's cross-dressing.
So the 2 things didn't mix into something creative or original, but instead into something vaguely entertaining that you felt like a real sucker for buying once you got to the end. That's me: A Grade-A Sucker. A real Rube. a-chya-cha-chaaaaa!!
I'd love to say that both plot and dialogue was supposed to make the whole thing a throw-back to the golden age of comics (rival mob bosses face off, one is in cahoots w/a government official on the wrong side of truth & justice - gov't official sends 2 of his former-street-tuff goons to USSR at the height of the cold war, to steal a nuke - which they do successfully. They intend to use it to set off the tensions between the US & the Soviets, thereby ensuring the further harassment and criminalization of suerheroes, etc. Can they be stopped in time? will our hero overcome the pressures of society and regain his heroic mantle, and save his fair city? well, you'll just have to read through issue 6 to find out...). But the problem is, the art was modern, it was bloody at points, and there were constant references to characters' sex lives and J. Edgar Hoover's cross-dressing.
So the 2 things didn't mix into something creative or original, but instead into something vaguely entertaining that you felt like a real sucker for buying once you got to the end. That's me: A Grade-A Sucker. A real Rube. a-chya-cha-chaaaaa!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2010
this was fun. Thanks for the loner, Eric. In a less enlightened time, reading this comic alone would have been enough to brand you an enemy of the state. Thank God nobody is running around calling each other commie anymore. Oh, wait.
March 8, 2010
Good stuff! Kinda pulp-ish 1950s Red Scare era comic. Nice art, interesting story and a lot of fun! I burned through it pretty quickly! Good stuff!
March 9, 2015
El más superheroico tomo de la Colección Cómic Noir íntegramente dibujado por el grande de Jerry Ordway.
April 10, 2016
Jerry Ordway's art is gorgeous to bad the story is mediocre to poor.
May 21, 2021
Tomo único de Red Menace. Hasta donde sé, es una historia autocontenida y los personajes no reaparecen en otros comics.
August 10, 2024
Me gustó el mundo creado, el desarrollo de personajes y sobre todo el dibujazo de Jerry Ordway. Merece una eventual relectura menos cortada, ya que en su momento lo leí medio lento.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews