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Redman: The Kaiju Hunter
Redman: The Kaiju Hunter Volume 2
Imprisoned in a vicious cycle of death and violence, Redman’s exhaustive battle persists. New monsters - “Kaiju” - confront him at every turn; on land, in the sea and even underground! He fights the beasts with every last fiber of his being, innovating and reimagining his attacks and weaponry to ensure his victory. What forces have brought him to this place and continue to pit the Kaiju against him? It’s a mystery he is determined to confront... And soon. Produced by Phase6 and published in the U.S. by Night Shining, Inc.
120 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 30, 2020
I gave the first volume of Redman: The Kaiju Hunter 5-stars because of the sheer surreality of bringing a [nearly] storyless tokusatsu oddity into the comic medium. Not sure what I am talking about - Redman, tokusatsu, [nearly] storyless? See that previous review.
This one warms the Doug-cockles a tad bit less, overall. Keep in mind, though: Matt Frank's art is still 5-stars, the joyous nonsense of Redman's constant fights is still 5-stars, the bravado of combining the two is still 5-stars. Where this "loses" a star is while the first volume had the sense of instant-classic for a certain definition of the word "classic", and had a sheer uniqueness about it to make it something worth ogling at, this volume treads similar territories while leaving itself feeling like a middle-child. A future volume feels necessary to complete it.
The fights continue to be nonsense in the best sense of that term. Monsters show up, get the upperhand for a time being, and then Redman shouts "Reddo {Fight | Arrow | Fire | Knife}!!!" and whips out a finishing move to do them dirty. This is stapled onto Frank's added storyline, in which Redman is pitched as an ultraviolent reality TV show controlled by some "unknown" menace and then broadcast to the universe [the meta-story being that the Redman show we got was us seeing a show we were not meant to see].
The fights are a bit more "Michael Bay", here. More full of explosions and big effects, but also a bit harder to follow. While I think the first volume could be slightly picked up by folks not knowing the history, this one feels more like it overall requires knowing the original fights to even interpret the on-page action. It is fun to see Frank's interpretation of the kaiju [keep in mind, the original fights looked like this] but some of that is lost in the telling. It's the kind of book that you sort of flip back and forth through once done, just to see what you missed trying to understand the "story".
On second thought, maybe this is more a 4.5-star review because the shots of Redman contemplating his life (just a few panels) and the strangeness of the final fight and its setting add a bit of the missing surreal back into the volume towards the end. And the shoutout to old school Ultraman openings in the climactic fight were a brilliant little touch.
All this being said, I immediately ordered volume three based on this one. I am still invested in seeing where this is going.
This one warms the Doug-cockles a tad bit less, overall. Keep in mind, though: Matt Frank's art is still 5-stars, the joyous nonsense of Redman's constant fights is still 5-stars, the bravado of combining the two is still 5-stars. Where this "loses" a star is while the first volume had the sense of instant-classic for a certain definition of the word "classic", and had a sheer uniqueness about it to make it something worth ogling at, this volume treads similar territories while leaving itself feeling like a middle-child. A future volume feels necessary to complete it.
The fights continue to be nonsense in the best sense of that term. Monsters show up, get the upperhand for a time being, and then Redman shouts "Reddo {Fight | Arrow | Fire | Knife}!!!" and whips out a finishing move to do them dirty. This is stapled onto Frank's added storyline, in which Redman is pitched as an ultraviolent reality TV show controlled by some "unknown" menace and then broadcast to the universe [the meta-story being that the Redman show we got was us seeing a show we were not meant to see].
The fights are a bit more "Michael Bay", here. More full of explosions and big effects, but also a bit harder to follow. While I think the first volume could be slightly picked up by folks not knowing the history, this one feels more like it overall requires knowing the original fights to even interpret the on-page action. It is fun to see Frank's interpretation of the kaiju [keep in mind, the original fights looked like this] but some of that is lost in the telling. It's the kind of book that you sort of flip back and forth through once done, just to see what you missed trying to understand the "story".
On second thought, maybe this is more a 4.5-star review because the shots of Redman contemplating his life (just a few panels) and the strangeness of the final fight and its setting add a bit of the missing surreal back into the volume towards the end. And the shoutout to old school Ultraman openings in the climactic fight were a brilliant little touch.
All this being said, I immediately ordered volume three based on this one. I am still invested in seeing where this is going.
February 26, 2019
Redman's second comic outing keeps the intensity and meta humor going while amping up the surreal elements. Matt's artwork is more detailed and dynamic than ever, this time utilizing wide spaces to evoke atmosphere as much as it slices action panels across pages. If you were a fan of the first, you have to get this one.
May 25, 2019
The second volume of Matt Frank's Redman graphics novel is more delicious kaiju battle mayhem with some even wilder scenes. The mystery of the screens and who is watching is furthered and there's an awesome homage to the original opening sequences of the first few shows in the Ultra series. I'm still on board and can't wait for more.
November 6, 2020
An excellent continuation from volume 1. This episodic story has excellent wordless story telling and really emphasises Redman as this almost horrific force or nature demolishing Kaijus, and showing there's something more sinister behind his foes. This is an excellent comic for any Tokusatsu fan!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews