Zenescope’s Code Red: Red Riding Hood as Spy Operative

Hey, this is Pat Shand, writer of Robin Hood,

and you are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

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Radio Network. So without any further ado, it's

time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here. inside the pull bag. Hello and

welcome to the pull bag. This is episode 327

and I am of course TF2 on mic. We were going

to be doing a Batwoman teaser kind of thing in

this episode, but Nicole, aka Beatles Diva, her

schedule is way too hectic right now. So we're

actually going to postpone the Batwoman episode

until December, right before the CW crossover.

A sad replacement for her is JT from Saskatoon.

Hello, sir. Gee, I'm not insulted at all by that

introduction. Hi, everybody. I'm back. You're

back. I don't even remember. The last episode

you were on was the Xenoscope 10th anniversary

episode. And I had said in that that we were

going to be doing... Yep, I said in that we were

going to be doing more new Xenoscope stuff. We're

going to start with Grim Fairy Tales Code Red

from Xenoscope Entertainment. It is written,

the story is done by Joe Bruscia, Pat Shand,

and Ralph Tedesco. Written by Pat Shand, who

I've interviewed him like two or three times

now. Art is done by Anthony Spey. The trade design

for the trade rate rag was done by Christopher

Cody. And the editor on the book is Nicole Glade.

I had read this before, because I had read this

in the middle of reading Pat's original Robin

Hood run. What were you thinking, like your first

impressions once you started reading this? I

definitely have to revise my opinion of like

90 % of everything I've ever said about the Xenoscope

books. Because for years I'm one of those ignorant

fanboys who, you know, I didn't want to read

them, therefore I just talked insane amounts

of trash. I recant that now. Some of these books,

the stuff I've read, both in research and specifically

this miniseries we're going to discuss tonight,

is a lot better than I ever gave it credit for.

But having not read, like, a lot, a lot of Xenoscope,

I appreciate the recap blurb that they have.

in the first uh page of these comics i mean that

helps for a guy like a noob like me get a good

idea of what the universe is like you know terms

concepts like you know how they have the four

different realms you have the concept of highborns

and false bloods are like you know half breeds

and you know it's not like there are super human

or super villains and superheroes that are just

highborn some are good some are evil you know

It's definitely a lot of interesting concept.

And I mean, the fact that they're basically made

a superhero universe out of fairy tales is pretty

cool. And, you know, there's a lot of people

working on this stuff that have their heart and

soul put into this because they believe in it.

Yeah. Like I said, I don't remember. Like, I've

been talking about Robin Hood for years at this

point now, two or three years or more. I think

2014, 2015 is when I started that, and I think

when I first interviewed Pat, I interviewed him

in 2015 and 2017. Yeah, the crazy thing is, I

don't even remember how I came upon Robin Hood,

and I just started reading it, and I'm like,

oh, this is something new, this is something

different, this is something interesting. And

after we had finished all of it, I mean, there

is more Robin Hood stuff that we can do in the

future, but I wanted to go back to some of the

other characters that I had met along the way

while reading Robin Hood. And Brittany Waters,

a .k .a. Red Riding Hood, a .k .a. Agent Red,

was one of the ones that I wanted to read because

I just felt, after reading the 10th anniversary

issue, I'm like, oh, I absolutely love this.

I love the way she's written. I love the way

her character is. It's very, very interesting,

and it's a departure, because, let's face it,

most comic websites, you know, insert www, insert

comic website name here, dot com, dot whatever,

are like, oh, the newest Marvel and DC, and that's

all well, good, and great. I love Marvel, I love

DC, I don't read all the stuff right now, but,

like, you know, I read some stuff, I keep up

on a lot of the news and that kind of thing,

and, you know. Poor, poor DC. Batman Dam number

one will never be reprinted because they decided

to show a certain body part on them. Anyway,

so this was something different and new, and

I absolutely enjoyed it. I've kind of kept up

with it and things like that, and I just, I think

it's a fun little universe that tells you a completely

different story and gives you a whole new outlook

on what fairy tales are. Yeah. I mean, any concept,

if approached in the right way or with the right

creative drive, you know, you can make interesting.

I mean, they've turned Red Riding Hood into a

superhero secret agent. And, you know, Robin,

Robin with a Y, Hood, you know, she's like this

vigilante -type government agent. There's a lot

of, like, the Snow Whites, like... the keeper

of stories and is essentially the Doctor Strange

of this universe. That's a bit of a stretch,

but I think it kind of works. I would almost

say Van Helsing is the Doctor Strange of the

universe. Yeah, but Van Helsing isn't, like,

with the magic and the dimensional portals. But

she has that nice hat, though. I have no way

to respond to that. Oh, my God. You need to get

better quips. For the Spider -Man fan that I

know that you are, your quips are way out of

practice. Well, it's... Oh, God, I'm sorry. I'm

so sorry. Anyway, as we get into this first issue,

you look on the multiple covers, which seeing...

Comics with, like, multiple, so many multiple

covers nowadays really takes me back to, like,

the speculator boom of the 90s where with the

die, metal ink, like, reflective hologram covers

and, like, Jesus, people, let it rest. I'd say

my favorite covers would be cover A, which was

done by Talent Caldwell. He's a guy I've been

a huge fan of his for years. Retail incentive

cover by J. Scott Campbell, Kent. I can never

not like his stuff. But I think my absolute favorite

for the salaciousness, the cheesecake of it all,

is the Jersey Comic -Con exclusive cover. Absolutely.

It's the Vegas, baby. I'm a guy, and I know what

I like. I don't apologize for it. Exactly. Yeah,

that's actually going to be the podcast art was

the Vegas cover. I'm like, hello, how can I not

make that the art? Or how can I not have Steve

Megatron make that be the art? You're like, please,

Steve, please, please, please, please. Yes, exactly.

Okay. I mean, I saw that cover and I was like,

hello, Britney. Yep. Exactly. So we start the

first issue off with these orc -looking guys

trying to steal this red ruby gem type of thing.

And there's all that going on. They don't actually

get to steal it. Actually... Yeah, that was before

that. And then these people are trying to test

it to figure out what it does. And so far all

they know is it's just a red gem. Yeah. I do

like the fact that clearly we missed the fight

because it's like this smoldering, blazing rubble

outside the Great Wall of China. And, you know,

this dark elf looking dude. You know, the dark

one shall be proud. than these government types,

and I'm assuming this is the Americans, not the

Chinese special forces. Yeah, it's, I believe

it's the, it's Hibcorp. Hibocorp? Yeah, Hibocorp,

so. Yeah, it's like, I hate it when people touch

my stuff, and then, you know, and lays this dude

out. And, yeah, they go to the lab, and I think

that's my first problem with this, is they don't

establish, you know, We're left to assume that

this is all the same group, you know? Right.

But, yeah, so they mentioned Robin Hood might

be coming in, and they're talking about Agent

Red. Yep. And then it's just... It's just Agent

Red, all natural. You know what? She's singing

Journey in the Shower. I have absolutely no problem

with that. Me either. And, well, she is a very...

robust looking woman you know uh i like that

they are like it's all cheesecakey in that but

they it's not like 90s image mike diodato jr

sort of Every woman is impossibly well -built

and stacked like a triple -A model. This is her

character, and she doesn't look completely outrageous.

I like how the artist has drawn her. She's a

woman, and she looks like this, and that's cool.

It's not exaggerated at all. And then I forgot

from when we did the 10th anniversary special,

she's got Cleese the wolf. I mean, that would

be an awesome pet to have, this big -ass black

wolf. Yep. And she even points it out. I have

a new job. I have a new life. I have a wolf.

I have a wolf. That just deserves being repeated,

doesn't it? Yeah. I would lose, like, a half

hour every morning petting the pet wolf. You

know, giving him treats and all that. But, yeah,

she gets suited up for the day, gets her Starbucks.

I love the little back and forth with the two

baristas. The guy is drooling over while the

chick is just like, she's a slut. What do you

think she's wearing under that coat? Not a thing

you wish. It's little things like this in comics

that I love. What I love in the coffee shop is

she's reading something on her phone. Highborn

proof, Realm Knights seen defending Greece. But

comments on it? The guy that is subtle as a brick,

that has to be you. Blonde chick in the red,

future wife. And then, you know, you're like,

but that ass. I'm like, oh, God, that is so JT.

No, that is, if anything, that is one Mike the

Burn Man dog. No, that's you. Mike's married.

You're not married. To my knowledge, you're not.

I prefer gingers. Oh, God. Well. I'm sure she

can dye her hair at some point. One can only

hope. Yeah. I do like the mention as she's checking,

you know, Twitter or Facebook or YouTube. Whatever

it is. It looks like a combination of all three

and how people know about highborns and false

bloods and all the creeps that are in the world.

It's like some of the older elements of S .H

.I .E .L .D. comics and Marvel. Conspiracy theories

do most of their work for them in blinding people

to the truth. Also, it kind of looks like she's

fighting a demonic version of Megatron. No, Mumra.

Oh, no, that's because of the eyes. But yeah,

probably. Yeah, there you go. And it is probably

YouTube, seeing as how it has the subscribe and

the like button and the up or down like. Yeah,

it's more YouTube than anything else. Yeah. Because

usually Twitter people are not, you know, anonymous

people with just weird white faces on their picture.

Most Twitter people put an actual profile picture

of unless they're a robot. Most of the time.

Yeah. I like how she has to go in through this

office building and just goes up to the roof

just to get a ride to work. I mean, it's kind

of... It seems like an unnecessarily complicated

path to work, but I guess it's to prevent people

from following them and all that. That's true,

yeah. Yeah, it seems like it's a little strange,

but... So she goes into this secure location

kind of a thing, and this is where they have

the red gem, and she can tell them what it is,

and it's the Cyclops' eye. It used to belong

to Baba Yaga, whoever that is. Again, this is

built on something that has come before kind

of a thing, I guess. You know, some of the references

that are done in here, so, and, you know. At

least with next week's episode, when we talk

about red agent, that'll be a whole new thing.

Fairly to the point of, we can just go in kind

of not necessarily cold, but you know, we'll

have more of an understanding of the world. Yeah.

Yeah. I do like it as this, I'm just going to

flip back or get this agent. And Ficaro is taking

her into the lab. They've come to this new training

facility, and it's lightly staffed. And she's

like, what is this, hippocore light? Because

there's not a lot of guards. And they go into

the lab where this scientist is checking the

gym. And he's like, you're just the sexiest bobble

I've ever seen. And he says, Dr. Sobers, what

did I tell you about calling me that? It makes

me feel like a pediatric. And he's like, well,

nice to meet you, Derek. And he's like, duh.

I just love the way they drew it. He's just like,

Dad, think of something cool to say. But, you

know, they go over the place and I love that

when Ficaro is telling Agent Red about, you know,

this is what we're doing. We're hoping to add

more Realm Knight teams. We think you can help

with that. And she's like, and? Excuse me? This

is Hibikor. There's always an and. And then we

go and he says, yeah, there is the Battle of

the Great Wall of China, which I'd have to do

some research to find out for sure if we actually

see that battle in a previous Xenoscope comic,

but that just kind of sounds like that would

be a fun comic to read is the Battle of the Great

Wall. Absolutely, yeah. So she goes and she figures

that they want her to do some training and she

basically says, okay, first things first, let

me know if there's a human in that robot or not.

Oh no, it's fine, we've got a million other prototypes

just like it, go ahead and go nuts. First of

all, love the full body shot of her with the

gun and the sword. Second of all, she's fighting

War Machine or Iron Man 2 .0 or whatever, because

I swear to God, that looks like something Tony

would make. That looks like RoboCop 2014 without

the human parts. That's true. But yeah, I agree

with you. I love that full figure shot, although

I like the one just on top of that where she's

doing the over -the -shoulder look. That's a

pose I appreciate. But she suits up, she draws

her sword looking a little like... The Bride

and Kill Bill. And she goes to town on this.

I love the two guys at the bottom of that page

where he said that full shot of the robot reminds

me, folks, if you've ever seen the movie Cabin

in the Woods, the Joss Whedon kind of deconstruction

of horror tropes, one of Chris Hemsworth's first

films, but it came out after Thor. But there

are these two lab techs in there that were taking

bets on which horror creatures going to be released

first and that sort of thing just yeah these

two guys and you know art being what it is it's

it's not that it isn't sharp like it's not like

loose or messy or anything it's just it's not

like traditional like say spider -man or avengers

where there's that hard line there's there's

a little more uh It's more like art than comic

art. Yeah, it is more defined. The background,

you can see the screens and everything else and

what Red is kind of doing. But the foreground

with the characters, especially with the guy

on the right. I mean, you see every single line

in his shoulders with the suit. Like, you see

the lapel creases. You see the shadow under where

his shirt collar is kind of folded over kind

of a thing. And the same thing with his face.

It's a very hard edge. Whereas the other guy,

it's like, eh, okay. Yeah. I'm just here. And

I do like, like, that background where she's

jumping over the robot right before she, like,

bisects it. I like the speed lines. And, you

know, it indicates motion. It indicates, you

know, the robots. You know, it's like out of

an anime sort of thing. Like, you get this incredible

sense of motion, which, you know, it helps tell

a story more than the words do. Yeah. Because

it's more just their internal dialogue. The words

aren't describing the actions. The art is. telling

a story as much as the dialogue. Although I do

like the Wally thing. Yeah, that was funny. You

know, she pulls out this gun, which is essentially,

like, it looks like a souped -up handgun, but

I just want to call it the Auto -9, like, RoboCop.

You know, she took Murphy out with his own weapon.

Or the Lawgiver. That, too. And then we see her

going through, like, more... basically batman

-esque sort of trading scenarios you know hanging

from a gymnast pole from batting away arrows

with her sword and then we see you know what

is basically the big bad watching her from a

distance and then he mind whammies the two poor

schlubs work in the gate and they take each other

out and all hell breaks loose because somebody's

breaking in I like it it's like hmm don't need

this nope it's just weird when you see it it

goes one at a time each guy is like possessed

to take out like a key thing that's a pretty

cool power to have like using mind control like

that yep just like one at a time strategically

sort of thing and Zoe The lab assistant basically

protects Dr. Sobers until she gets mind whammied.

And he's like, oh, her brain is squishy. So who

wants to know the lockdown code? And just the

look on her face reminds me of like a deadite

from the Evil Dead movies. Like she's just been

turned in one of the evil ones. Yep. And we go

back to Brittany, who apparently was just left

on her own outside in the training area. Pretty

much. I like how she says, I think they're allowing

me to a false sense of security. Exactly. Make

me think this over and then whammy. Yep. Where's

Todd Newton when you really need him? Yeah. But

then she gets a comment or a... Call. A message

over her earpiece and he's like, we've taken

control of the comm device remotely. You need

to get into the facility now. The alarms have

been cut off. The team is unresponsive. There's

been an attack. oh by the way you need to protect

the Cyclops at all costs and they did mention

this guy Shang before and Shang is you know as

I said Snow White is like the keeper of tales

in this universe and Shang is essentially her

Wong the man's servant you know he's a powerful

sorcerer in his own right but he's there to help

her out at I forget what the you know sanctum

sanctorum is called in this universe i forget

i i'm not even sure i remember that yet but yeah

so yeah brit she's like don't let them take the

cyclops eye we cannot let it fall in the wrong

hands and she heads in and she does that thing

where you know the hero's like keep it together

britney you can't afford to lose it right now

and and i like that that my favorite thing in

this first issue is this inner monologue of britney

you know It's not like your standard, oh, woe

is me, I have to get home and take care of this

before something else happens in a DC or a Marvel

comic. It's refreshing to see something that's

differently paced. It's not necessarily part

of the story. While it is part of the story,

it's just... You don't get this in a Marvel comic.

No, you don't. And that's why everyone should

be reading these, because the internal monologues,

for the most part, drive the story. Yes, there

is discussion and dialogue between characters

and all of that, but for the most part, the internal

monologues really do drive the story home. Yeah.

I mean, we're missing some pieces here, like,

you know, the possessed Zoe is letting the big

bad into the safe room where Dr. Sobers has stashed

the ruby, pardon me, the ruby, and, you know,

you see Brittany walking down this hall, and

again, this is, I know they're using the art

to tell the story, but, you know, did she kick

all those guys' asses? Were they just lying there?

I'm pretty sure she kicked all their asses. Yeah.

So, you know, they pop Dr. Sobers out in this

thing called Parasite that's possessing everybody,

possesses Dr. Sobers. And... It's just... The...

The art, like I said, the art is good and it

tells the story, but it's... almost unbalanced

in that the art is telling more of the story

than the dialogue, so the progression of events

is a little hard to figure out what happens from

scene to scene. Yeah. And by the time we get

to issue two, it shows you the entire fight of

her kicking everybody's ass. Yeah. Which is very,

very cool. Yeah. Because they're fighting over

the The gym. I love the page where she has to

avoid all the bullets. That's hilarious. I think

that's super cool. It's a great art piece right

there. Oh, yeah. Like, after she kind of wolfs

out. Mm -hmm. And, again, I know she's supposed

to be, like, a werewolf or part lycanthrope,

but she doesn't look like a wolf so much as she

looks like, you know, Tigra's cousin. She looks

more like a werecat than anything else. Although,

right before she does the whole bullet time thing

where she gouges out the big bad's eyes, I was

like, ooh, damn. That's kind of hardcore. And

then she takes the ruby and she bolts. Gets the

hell out of there. She doesn't really fully wolf

out in this. Like, in the entire story, I don't

think she does. I mean, there are plenty of times

where, as we've seen in this issue, where she's

almost lost control, but I think that's the point

of this story, is that she's trying her best

not to lose control. Like you said earlier, when

she was saying, keep it together, keep it together,

keep it together, even though she's letting the

monster out a little bit, she's not letting it

out. all of the way, which is a good thing, I

think, because it gives us more character depth

to her than, than anything else. Yeah. And it

goes back to something she was talking about

in the first part of the story where, you know,

she's going up to the helicopter and she's talking,

you know, she had to change who she was. So she,

you know, she made that choice to change and

this is all still new to her, but she likes that,

you know, she's had this training. She has more

control over her, And then we see, like, you

know, parasites following her in some dude's

body. Kind of skipped over the big, bad, troll,

vampire -looking dude is called Borlock, who,

you know, she kind of gouged his eyes out. And,

yeah, she... It's Dr. Sobers, I guess. Mm -hmm.

And she takes him out and straps him up into

a tree. You know, I'll come back for you later.

And she goes after, there's more of these dark

elves. You know, it looks like, yeah, she slices

one of these dark hills in half, and it's like

what Wesley Snipes did to Ron Perlman in Blade

II. Yep. It's right up the middle. And her backup

finally arrives, and we see a green arrow through

one of the orcs' eyes, and she's like, oh, come

on, you're my backup? What's that? Oliver Queen

is here? Yeah, yeah, Robin Loxley to the rescue.

Somebody call TMZ. Can we skip ahead to the part

where you teach me that Vulcan death grip thing

you just did? Because, whoa. Yeah, and I have

read, like, very few. robin hood comics but i

i really like robin hood as a character in these

things and you know she's fun she's a little

more she she's very much in the line of uh in

the vein of like classic 80s hawkeye from west

coast avengers where you know she she knows what

she's capable of and she's sassy and all that

and it's just a lot of fun like she isn't Like,

again, Marvel or DC characters, if they're not

Wonder Woman or Batgirl, they're almost non -characters

sometimes. And I don't mean that in every DC

character, but she has personality. She has some

charisma versus a lot of DC characters. It's

either they're all about the story or they're

all about the story. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Robin

is really, really cool, and we'll get more on

her later. If you specifically want to learn

more about it without reading it, go back to

listen to all the shows I've done on it, because

I've covered Robin from when Pat first was writing

her in the original three trade series that they

did, and then they had the ongoing, and then

they have other things past the ongoing, which

Pat had left the company by that point. But there

are other Robin things we'll be doing later.

But yeah, no, it was hilarious seeing Robin pop

up in this. Yeah. And I do like the whole back

and forth she has with Red. You know, it's like,

nice studs, very Michael Jackson thriller. Mm

-hmm. You know, it's just like, I didn't know

you were full -timing with Hibikor and Robins.

I've never, I'm not, never been the government

stiff type. But hey, at least the checks don't

bounce. Exactly. And then they get on, so what's

the deal here? It's a Code Red. And I was like,

ah, ah, she said the title. She said the title.

You know, it's like watching a bad action movie

in the 80s and the main character being called

a loose cannon by the lieutenant. But yeah, so

they, and I like that let's go grind house on

these bastards. And I'm just like, I like you.

Oh, yeah. And it's just the next couple of pages.

It's just like full on badass action scene. Two

ladies kicking, you know, Scarlett Johansson

wishes she could kick ass like this. Exactly.

I'm sorry, Scar Jo, please don't hate me. She

doesn't even know you. It's called sarcasm, Mike.

That's not sarcasm. That's just stupidity. Okay,

they do have the one badass moment where Borla

catches Robin's blade in his hand. Yeah. And

I was like, okay, this guy is not to be trifled

with. And I love the look in Robin's eyes. That's

never happened before. Right. She's literally

like... Uh -oh. Yeah. And I like... It's just

such, it's a badass villain line where Borlock

knocks her down. He's over with this wicked looking

knife. It's like, I had hoped to battle with

you for hours until we both sweat blood. Such

a letdown. I mean, it's a really creepy but badass

villain line. It is. And then the Hippocore commandos

pop in. Robin decks him and they start running.

that there's that cool kind of zombie shot where

one of the commandos uh headshots one of the

dark elves or orcs or trolls or whatever the

hell these things are i mean that's like it's

not a graphic image but that's straight out of

an 80s horror movie yeah and then borla this

is not done ah and our time will come okay he

didn't laugh maniacally and then Dr. Sobers,

who I just kind of want to call Dr. Drunk, but

he won't. He falls out of the tree. And I don't

know if he just fell out of the tree or if Robin

went up there and cut him down. He just like

face plants in the ground. You know, they go

back to the headquarters and they're patching

everything up. And they have that very telling

line. It's like, Brittany, at least it's my understanding

from what I've read of the Xenoscope or the Xenoverse.

that Brittany is all said and done she's still

fairly new to this sort of thing versus Robin

who's clearly been in the suck for quite a while

because yeah where Brittany says this isn't the

first time I've seen this kind of thing and Robin

responds with yeah but it doesn't get any easier

right you know like that whole world weary warrior

thing oh yeah And then it's like, how are you

feeling? You look better than the last time I

say, sorry, that's the therapist in me, which

again, how many comic book heroines have a legitimate,

you know, something that isn't, you're not a

cop or a techie or a martial artist. Like before

she was all of this, Brittany was a therapist.

So she's already got that caregiver in her before

she ever became like a badass superhero. Yeah.

Yeah, it's very interesting, and it makes her

an interesting character, and it makes you want

to follow along and find out more about her.

Yeah. And then they get this guy, Agent Akiwowo,

come in, and Robin's teasing him, saying, you

know, I'd marry him just so I could be Robin

Akiwowo, and he's like, are you going to keep

telling everyone that? Yes, yes, I am. Yeah.

Again, goes to the whole flirty, sassy attitude.

And that's how Robin is. That's how Robin at

least was. So, I mean, things have changed over

the time since this had originally happened in

the universe timeline. But yeah, that's essentially

how Robin is. She'll go for the joke when the

joke's there. Yeah. So Brittany has to go down

and talk to the prisoner dude that's possessed

by God knows what. Well, Parasite, he was Borla.

Yeah. Which, again, characters like this are,

it's not a rarity. I know Marvel has a character

called Cannibal that was in the, I think it's

the fourth volume of the Black Panther comic.

back in like 2004 when ramita jr and reggie hudlin

were writing it so this sort of thing this unseen

presence that just goes from body to body you

know like a puppet master and yeah so agent wisnowski

who's apparently the head guy in charge of this

whole thing you know gives brittany like hey

Buck up, soldier. You did a great job considering,

you know, because no one expected this to happen.

And, yeah, she goes down to question Parasite

about why these Darkhorde grunts were after the

eye and why they're geared up with, like, actual

tactical equipment and Kevlar and body armor

and all that. Yeah. And he basically says, you

think you know the plan? You can't imagine what's

coming. It's the end, baby. Wait until you see

what we got in store for you. And then we see

a punk rock werewolf. Yeah, this is Ivory. She's

actually a werepanther. Again, not the first

time I've heard that in relation to a comic book

character before. I do remember from, I think

it was the Cinderella one shot that we discussed

last time I was here. Yeah, she was in that.

I look at her, and if this was a movie, she would

be played by... Oh, God, what's her name? Red

Sonja from the 80s was Drago's wife in Rocky

IV. Was married to Flavor Flav for a while. Bridget

Nielsen? That's it. Now, see... I wouldn't have

said Rocky IV. I would have said Beverly Hills

Cop II, the six -foot blonde that grows on trees.

This is true. So... Uh, issue three of five.

Uh, love the covers. I love them all. They're

so cool. Yeah. I think my, looking at these ones,

I like the, uh, cover C by Martin Abel. You know,

it's kind of cartoony looking, you know, Red

Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Uh, friend,

I think my favorite would be, uh, cover A by

Jamal Engel. Engel. Uh, it's a, Comic artist.

I've been reading his stuff since like the late

nineties is actually friend of mine on Facebook.

And I do talk with him on posts on both our posts

now. And again, he's a really cool dude. I just

like that first cover, like his cover. Cause

it's just a nice solid piece of art and seems

like it fits more with the story than any of

the other alternate covers we have. Right. Yeah.

Well, I mean the, Cover B actually fits very

well, because it's basically a panel from this

issue, I believe. I think that's what happened

in this issue at some point. I love the Amazing

Arizona Comic -Con cover. I think that's cool,

having Robin and Red. Anytime Robin and Red are

in covers together, I love that. Oh, yeah. Also,

I was going to say, the artist on the previous

issue, which I'm just looking up here, was...

Ricardo Osnaya, with help from Vicenzo Riccardi

and Joel Ojeda, not a big fan of the art on that,

like the second chapter there. Looking at the

art so far in this one from Joel Ojeda in the

first few, a bit better, you know? It's a little

different. I kind of like the art from the first

two issues more, but... I didn't really, because

again, when I first read this, even the first

time I read this before we even did this, like

way back when I originally got it, I just read

that the art was all done by the one artist I

mentioned at the beginning of the podcast. Obviously,

Anthony didn't do all of it. It's all different

artists on each of the issues. But I assumed

that it was the one artist throughout the whole

thing. Obviously, you can clearly tell that it's

not because of the differing styles from each

issue to issue. But I like it. I think it's cool.

I think these guys draw monsters very well. And

the design on the Ivory character here, I like

more than I did in the last issue. But Red...

I don't know. I like the more glossy look that

she had in the last issue than I do here. That's

fair. I do like how the monologue and she's basically

like, I can't forget what's happened here. She's

basically calling an audible and she's going

AWOL. And I do like that where she steals the

helicopter. I was unprepared before, but with

a helicopter full of heavy artillery, I know

two things. One, a group of orcs, no matter how

big their leader is, doesn't stand a chance against

me. And two, I'm going to get into trouble for

this. She's a loose cannon! Yep, she is. And

then we go to Borlaug and this witchy stripper

vampire zombie -looking chick is like... talking

smack to Borlaug, and she's like, oh, you better

pull through on your end, or the, you know, she's

gonna kill ya. And then Ivory walks in and basically

says, yeah, get me the Cyclops eye, or I'm taking

yours. And then we see Brittany going full -on

Chuck Norris with, like, a silenced and scoped

assault rifle and two swords now, because apparently

she's a big fan of Leonardo. Hey, there you go.

And, you know, then she gets basically trounced

by this giant ogre. Oh, hey, look, it's Shrek.

Where's Donkey when you really need him? Donkey!

I do like when she's creeping up on this Dark

Horde stronghold. She makes mention of the town.

that she's headed to is there's a mine under

the town, like a coal mine, and it was caught

on fire, and it's just been burning under the

street for decades. And that just reminds me

of some story elements from the Silent Hill movie.

I don't know if that's actually in the game,

because I've never actually played the games.

But that's just a cool kind of setup, to be in

this town, which is... The ground might cave

in under you and explode into flames, or the

whole place might... burst into flames at any

second you know it adds an extra element of danger

and urgency to what she's doing exactly which

is really really nice yeah but then yeah purple

shrek you know purple one -eyed nick fury shrek

you know comes and starts smacking her around

and she's dodging the blows and kind of uses

him the way you use bane in some levels of the

batman arkham games to run roughshod over the

goons Yep. Sadly, throughout this battle, at

one point after she defeats the guy, she's like,

alright, who's next? And it didn't go so well

for her because she's in a torture chamber kind

of thing and Ivory has captured her. Yeah, because,

I mean, you see with the fight with Purple Shrek

here, like, she's taking some serious Hulk -level

hits, and she's getting up, and she's fighting

the monster back as much as she's trying to fight

this monster in front of her, and she, you know,

basically whittles him down, you know, kneecaps

him, left the sword stuck in his chest, so when

he falls down, he impales himself, and then she

wakes up in the torture chamber, but... She's

like, who's next? And then she just drops. Is

that the trauma catching up to her? Did somebody

crack her from behind again? I think somebody

whammied her. The art tells the story, but it's

only telling half the story. Or not as much as

it could. And then yeah, wakes up and Brittany's

in her face. I agree with Brittany's face, you

mean. That's what I meant. Thank you. Yes. So

there's this whole back and forth with them,

which is really, really nice because we kind

of get sort of character development for Ivory,

but not much. We get some backstory until she

basically breaks the light bulb. We hear all

kinds of screams and whatever else, and Brittany

really has gone, not necessarily full wolf, but

she's gotten out of her kind of cage there, and

she's beaten the hell out of Ivory. Well, I do

like the whole back -and -forth dialogue, how

Brittany is trying to ask questions. She's like,

no, no, no, I give the Qs, you give the As. Exactly,

yeah. And then the whole thread is like, oh,

you're going to die. You'll go quickly if you're

nice to me. I'm going to eat you bit by bit if

you're not. And that is like the pose where she

sees that with like, you know, the silhouette

and with the shadow and the light. And that's

an honestly creepy scene. And she's like, you're

a werewolf too. Werepanther. I know it sounds

like something out of True Blood, but. Yeah.

And the something with the writing here, I love

how Brittany is clearly, you know, mentally unstable.

She's going back and forth like an actually psychotic

villain should. I feel is from nice to threatening

to nice to I'm going to rip your goddamn face

off, you know. And then, yeah, she Brittany tries

the whole therapist thing. Why are you doing

this? She gives her tip on how to... It seems

like you're stuck halfway between the change.

Ground yourself. She's trying to honestly help

her out. And then Ivory crushes the lightbulb.

They get into it. And, well, that pisses Brittany

off enough that she goes full bore and starts...

like loses complete control of the wolf and the

wolf starts tearing Ivory apart. And then we

should get outside and I like the artist here

because we go between the two artists here where

we get this really creepy but kind of saucy looking

shot of like where Brittany and then when she

finally gets outside and you see like the rest

of Hibikor and Wisnowski have shown up and Now

she kind of looks like, what if Pamela Anderson

dressed up as a sexy werewolf for Halloween?

She looks better than that, but yeah. Yeah. And

then Borlaug takes her down in one shot. I mean,

you hear the, Agent Down! Agent Down! Mm -hmm.

Yep. And that's how the third issue ends. Fourth

issue, Pat Shand on writing again, obviously.

Vincenzo Riccardi is the main artist here with

colors by Roland Pils? I think it's Pilks. Pilks,

okay, there you go. Jim Campbell's on letters

and Nicole Glade is on editing. Those covers,

wow. Yeah, because we get, like, the main cover

that I got for this issue looks like the zombie,

like the pale witch characters talking to Borlock,

the previous issue. But the way the artist draws

her here, who it's Andrea Errico, you know, it's

good art, but she looks like she's half barbed

wire, again, that nod to Pam Anderson, and half

Elvira. Just the way they get them. That's what

I get looking at. I'd say my favorite cover is

the Ali or LA Garza cover B where it's Britney

versus Ivory. Garza's always had this slightly

animated sort of tone to their art because I

don't know if it's a dude or a girl. I think

it's a guy. Uh, but the, his art, his, her art

is always had this slightly anime animated, you

know, feel to it. Uh, the, also the main cover,

like cover a by Harvey Talabau. It's good. It's

got this eighties movie poster album cover kind

of look to it. And that one's pretty good too.

Yeah, I like the Xenoscope exclusive cover limited

to 500 copies where it's basically just a cartoon

-looking, like a really, really done -up animated

Red Riding Hood kind of a thing. Kind of a super,

like a chibi or super deformed. Yeah, no, that

one's really good, too. I mean, they're all,

like, all the covers that we talk about, folks,

like, we're not knocking any of them. It's just,

you know, we have our favorites. Yeah, exactly.

So this one obviously picks up right where the

last issue left off with Agent Down, Agent Down,

and we have Hippocorp and the monster guy fighting

and they're trying to escape. Borlok, yeah, like

Wisnowski's calling a retreat and Borlok, she

is mine! And he's like running towards him with

this big knife and he leaps up on the helicopter

and, well, that guy might as well have been wearing

a red shirt underneath his armor because... He

dead. He's so dead. And they go back to an even

more secure location, again, in upstate New York.

And just from that aerial view, it almost looks

like they're in Area 51 by way of Metroplex.

Because that whole building just looks like one

big robotic -looking SOB. And Brittany is...

talking to her inner wolf while she's under the

knife. And apparently that was Cleese. She thinks

she's talking to Cleese in the dream. I don't

know. The way it looks when she's talking to

Cleese, it's kind of like that scene in Jurassic

Park 3 where Alan has the dream on the plane

and the raptor's talking to him. God. But yeah,

she wakes up and Wisniewski's there and he's...

kind of well he's he's there to like lay down

the law but he's still like trying to not totally

like destroy like crusher I guess Yeah, he's

there for her, but he also realizes that there

are rules in place. And she keeps seeing Cleese

say, oh, there's something wrong. There's something

bad. What's going on? What's going on? And for

some odd reason, she empties Cleese's gun. She

empties the agent dude's gun. And there's these

trackers. The bullets are actually trackers or

something. She grabs his weapon, like was now

skis gun and crushes the weapon. And you see

like these, like glyphs and symbols that puff

out of the smoke. And they're like, Oh shit.

Trackers. Yeah. And then he calls for a full

evac. And seriously, how good is the security?

Like these people in the span of less than a

day. have now been invaded twice. I mean, at

least in the Marvel movies, S .H .I .E .L .D.

went like a couple of years between shit going

south. I'm just thinking. Well, H .I .B .B .O.

Corps isn't really S .H .I .E .L .D., so... Well,

in terms of, you know, semi -secret government

organization. Yep. So the monsters with ivory

all come and attack because they found the location

of where this place is. We have this big giant

fight. You know, guns versus magic. Blades versus

body armor. And then, you know, purple Shrek's,

you know, cousin with the... missing eye on the

right side you know it's all like oh shit's going

on and yet the creepiest thing thus far in this

issue is when they go they cut to see parasite

in his magic cell and he's all around the mulberry

bush you know and it's the creepy individual

yeah it is but yeah you see this double page

spread of ivory and Borlaug you know bringing

down you got like this one guy's got shades on

on his battle helmet he's carrying an assault

rifle and there's one with like a purple toque

on which I was just like why yeah I don't know

why he's like it's cold now it's cold and apparently

Brittany really wrecked up uh ivory because you

see that one shot where She hops onto, like,

grabs a hold of one of these flying hobgoblin

-looking things, and you see, like, all the Frankenstein

-style scars on her arm. Like, clearly she got

her shit wrecked. Yep. Absolutely. Brittany does

that awesome pose where she's, you know, it's

we missed the gearing up montage, but, you know,

she's loaded for bear now with, you know, guns

and blades and her sword. Oh, my. Yep. And she

goes on to fight Chip, or the guy that Chip is

inhabiting kind of a thing, and she has an actual

Mission Impossible moment here. Yeah. Hiding

in the ceiling. I also like Waznowski, like,

yeah, where Waznowski, and it's like something

out of the whole Orion's Belt and Men in Black

1, how this... you know, the Cyclops Eye basically

contains, like, another universe. Mm -hmm. And

apparently the whole reason the Horde, you know,

for the Horde! Okay, sorry, wrong universe. The

Horde wants this because they basically want

to, like, you know, draw out all the inhabitants

of this universe and use them as their army.

Yeah, they're going to be part of the Dark Horde,

yeah. And then Wazowski kind of... has his last

stand as the bad guys come through and Parasite

comes after Brittany. Yeah. She's got like the

whole Tom Cruise and the ceiling over top, which

why does nobody ever look up? Like how many,

how many action movies have we both seen where

the good or the bad guys get the drop on their

opposite number by, you know, jumping up and

doing the spread Eagle and holding themselves

up there for like those three seconds. Although

by the look of it, it looks like Brittany is

actually squeezed metal in her hands, Hulk style,

so. Yep. Watch your mouth, Chip. Yep. Yeah, this

penultimate... Yeah. Chip's face, you know, she

just beats it to death. Yeah, the way this one

ends is basically, you know, I'm not a victim.

No, I'm, you know, you know, she says all this

stuff and the monster dude is like, my meal,

give me the cyclops eye and we'll make your death

quick. And that's how that one ends. I love the

first four of this. I think they're great. I

think the story is well done. Pat's doing an

amazing job here. The art, even though it does

change, I still like it all at this point. For

the most part, there are a few bits and pieces

here and there that I'm not a fan of, but other

than that, I really do dig it. We get into Issue

5, and as always, we have the multiple covers

from Xenoscope. My favorite is probably the third

one, Cover C. Love that. Yeah, that's... I'd

say that's my favorite, too. Cover D is a close

second. You got the Wizard World cover, which...

You know, they're going for the sexy cover there.

It's not bad. It's not tasteless. It does nothing

for me. Talon Caldwell does the second cover,

but that's the one I like the least. Because

he's drawing this cyber werewolf or something.

Cyber demon. And it's just not very well designed.

I'm just kind of like, no, dude, no, you're trying

too hard. The cover A is really good with the...

you know, the, the zombie, which, you know, whatever

her deal is, but yeah, Mike Chrome's covers the

best. It's kind of reminiscent of, uh, some,

I think it's called she S H I was, uh, one of

the fate, one of the many bad girl hero comics

that came out in the nineties, but it's a good

pose. Uh, Joel Ojeda or Ojeda or. I'm sorry,

dude, I'm mispronouncing your name so badly.

He's doing the art in this issue. And it opens

with Borlock like, don't try a thing, girl. You're

as alone as ever. And it's just like, why do

the villains always insist on twisting the knife

like that? Because you know you're going to get

your shit wrecked. Yep. Very much so. Um, so

we go through this and it's the whole villain

hero thing and Ivory shows up. Well, Ivory's

there the whole time, but basically, um, Warlock

says to Ivory, you know, no, I'm, I'm going to

kill her. I'm going to do this. And you're, he's

like, you're just Looney Tunes. And that just

sets Ivory off and she ends up killing him. So

now it's Ivory versus Ivory in the army versus

red. Well, yeah, because I like the whole thing

where he's like, I'm going to kill you. And I

was like, no, she's my kill. And he like, even

for a bad guy, that's a pretty vicious backhand.

And he's like, you know, I would soon kill you

and snap your neck. This is my victory. We have

no time for your lunacy. And that's a pretty

hardcore way because, folks, she doesn't just

kill Borlaug. She grabs his own knife and plants

it. buries it in his skull and then she's just

sitting there with this like crazy smile he called

me crazy okay there harley werewolf we get it

you're nuts and then she she goes in and you

know starts beating on britney again and And

she goes all full monster. Well, yeah, because

Brittany has that control, but then Ivory loses

it, and dear God, that is the least sexy werewolf

I have ever seen in comic books. Yeah. Yeah,

it's crazy. I don't even know what to say about

how crazy this is. Well, I mean, she grows to,

like, 12 feet tall and... You know, she basically

has like an American werewolf in London style

change here. And then, you know, Brittany roars

and they get to scrapping and Irie's like, show

me who you really are. And they're fighting and

it's like this back and forth until the Cyclops

eye goes skittering and this horde member grabs

it and like dashes off and you can almost hear

this with the smile on his face. Yep. And then

we finally get what the dream was telling us.

Well, at least what was implied through the dream.

Because Ivory's choking Brittany out. And then

Cleese has shown up with his pack. It's just

like, oh, it's going to get good. And all the

orcs are like, shit, shit, shit. Especially that

one where you see him with a gun in his hand.

He's just like eyes wide. And he's like, oh,

I've made so many mistakes in my life. But what

do you think of that one show where Brittany,

she like kind of, I guess, demorphs, for lack

of a better term, and grabs her sword and strikes

like, you know, badass hero pose. Oh, I love

that. I love it every time she does the badass

hero pose. You know, and definitely seen something

like that in Kill Bill. And she slices up a couple

of orcs and Cleese is like gnawing on this one

guy. Britney's been, sorry, Irie's been clotted

pretty good, and she basically GTFOs. Yep. Yep,

absolutely. Yeah, no, I just absolutely love

this. Like I said before, I love Pat's writing.

I love the art. The art in the final issue is

great. There are a lot of moments besides just

the hero pose moments for Britney that I love.

I basically love how this ends, where basically

Cleese and his pack come in, save the day kind

of a thing, and then Brittany ends up going back

to the hospital and talking to the guy. I wasn't

sure. I had originally read this a few years

ago, like I said, but I wasn't sure. I hadn't

remembered how this was going to end. I remembered

almost everything else. I'm like, how are they

going to end this? Oh, right, they're going to

go to the Dark Queen. That's right. which is

interesting that they do that, setting up the

next whatever it's going to be. You know, it's

called a teaser. But I do like, you're right,

I do like how it ends where Brittany goes to

the hospital to check on Dr. Sobers, and he asks

her, you know, now that I don't have that thing

that I don't want rattling around my head, it's

just like the thing in your head that doesn't

belong. does it ever stop whispering? She just

gives him that slightly sad smile and she goes

home and, you know, pets, you know, pet and cleese.

And you get like that of a shot of the like base.

I don't know. Did they have a team name for all

the heroes or are they just, um, all the main

heroes like red and Robin hood and snow white

and all they're called the realm nights. Um,

okay. That's the one thing I do know. I have

not actually read any of that yet, so I eventually

want to. Yeah, and I like that last show where

she's getting ready for coming out of the shower.

It's a classic from horror comics and horror

movie trope folks where the good guy, bad guy,

they're human. When you look in the mirror and

you see their monster form, I think that's a

really cool image, something to use. And then

we go to... I guess this is Queen Alicia or whatever,

this pale witch chick. She's like, well, I'll

let you live for now, Ivory. You almost spoiled

the entire mission. And she's like, do I get

a reward? You see her? She's clawing. She had

this scar on her arm before and just looks like

a basic person. Now she's scarring it up and

looking more like Brittany. Okay, the witch isn't

the queen. I missed that when I read this the

first time. Yeah, no, the witch isn't the queen.

The queen's different. Yeah. And she's like,

my queen, an offering. You know, when will we

release the army? All in good time. The end.

Now, I love that all in good time. That is a

great way to end any sort of kind of horror -esque

story. It's like an old school horror movie where

they go the end and then the end morphs into

question mark or the end credit scene or the

final scene of the blob remake from the 80s where

the scarred up preacher has got this fire and

brimstone tent out in the sticks and he's actually

got like a small piece of the blob that wasn't

taken away at the end. The Lord will give me

a sign. And you see it. And I love that. That

is like the best way they could have ended this

story. Because, you know, it's only the beginning,

though. They're preparing for war. You know,

the Hibakor versus, you know, the Horde. I was

going to call them the Brood for a second there.

I mean, overall, this was a great story. Like,

I mean, it's not perfect. But it's a lot more

entertaining than it has any right to be, I feel.

Yeah. When I read this earlier today, before

we recorded this, trades are usually five issues,

sometimes six, depending on if there's an issue

zero or depending on how the storyline runs through.

But most of the time, trades are like issue one

to five or issue zero to five kind of a thing.

And most of the time, I'm spending almost all

day reading a trade kind of a thing, whereas

this, I think I read this in like under an hour.

Because the writing from Pat Shand is so fluid

that the story moves so well. And as we already

said, most of this story is told in Brittany's

monologue and other monologues as well. I would

say Pat's writing is, for the most part, fairly

solid. The only actual... complaint nitpick that

i have is there's i appreciate like the inner

monologue of britney and it isn't it's more you

know what a real person might be thinking in

a situation like this right you know it's you

know it gives a greater insight you know an actual

insight into her personality and that it's not

just i've got to get the codes away from the

joker else he'll arm the bomb You know, that

sort of thing. Like, you don't get that a lot,

or at least that well -constructed. But also,

that's kind of a detriment, because there's almost

too much inner monologue and not enough... You

know, we don't need a shit -ton, pardon my French,

of expository dialogue, but we could have used

a bit more. Because, like I said, the art tells

the story more than the dialogue, and that isn't...

doesn't work like the whole way through like

there has to have that balance but overall i

really enjoyed the story it you know if you would

just come into having never read xenoscope comics

before not really have any sort of understanding

or grounding in this world this Probably isn't

the best introduction, but it's not the worst

either. I think you come away with a lot of questions,

but you get more information out of it than any

of the other traits, I would guess. I think for

Brittany's character, because the one shot that

we talked about back in episode 310 of the podcast,

the one shot for Brittany in that is just that.

It's a one shot. single story kind of thing yeah

kind of a thing and this is a good I would say

jumping on point I'm not I'd have to go back

and look and see I'm sure there is things before

this I don't know if Red had her own series like

Robin did at the time or whatever I'm not sure

I'd have to do more research on that but I mean

just as sort of a single five issue thing because

to my knowledge This was only a five -issue miniseries.

This was not a full ongoing kind of a thing.

As a five -issue story, I think it was done very

well. I mean, you're right. In certain points,

there could be more dialogue. It could be more,

you know, actual discussion, you know, kind of

thing. You know, wordplay back and forth between

people. But I think there was enough. And I just,

I love... I just love the inner monologue that

she does because I got used to that when I was

reading Pat's Robin Hood stuff. So I'm like,

oh, cool. He's doing that here too with Brittany.

He's using the inner monologue and I kind of

liked it. Yeah. On a scale of zero to five, what

would you give this? I'm going to give it a three.

I'll give it a four. You know, it's, it's, borderline

it's not borderline bad or borderline offensive

it's just it could be a bit better but like i

said it's not the worst story but it's pretty

entertaining and i can't really complain other

than that it's a little confusing a little not

convoluted but just a little unclear some of

these things but other than that it's an entertaining

story the art more or less holds up like i said

it's a little it's not spotty it's just they

almost they kind of lean on the art more than

they should in telling the story but overall

i really enjoyed it i had a lot of fun this is

it's i would recommend this if you want to check

some of this stuff out this would probably be

in my list of recommendations Although, if you

want to get into Red Riding Hood, I'd probably

say go with that one shot first. That's an easier

pill to swallow. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah,

I'm going to give it a four. I absolutely loved

it. There are little bits and pieces of the art

that I didn't like overall, but other than that,

I love the way the story was written. I love

the way that most of the art is done. It's not

great. It's not bad. For you, three is kind of

like a middle ground for us on our rating scale.

So for me, it's just slightly better than middle

ground. And I did enjoy reading the story. If

I can read a full trade paperback at 140 pages

or whatever it is, under an hour, then I must

have enjoyed reading the story. Where can people

find you online, sir? Well, they can find me...

whenever the hell we get around to recording

it on the comic connoisseurs podcast with the

ben the host carver and red ink and you can find

me on instagram facebook twitter at jt from saskatoon

awesome i'm at tfg and mike you can follow at

the pull bag at geek cast radio on twitter go

to the pull bag over on facebook and geek cast

radio network over on facebook Coming up next

week, JT will be back as we talk about Xenoscope

Entertainment's Red Agent. Now, this is taking

place much later than when Code Red, this is

a completely, this is basically, the way that

I was told this book is, is it's Mission Impossible

meets something. I forget what the writer had

told me on Twitter about it, but I had mentioned

when we were back doing the Xenoscope 10th anniversary

episode, I had mentioned that I had started reading

this, and he's like, yeah, it's kind of like

Mission Impossible meets insert whatever here

kind of a thing. So that's coming up next here

on The Pull Bag. JT will be back for me with

that. Make your great escapement of comics, and

we will catch you next time here inside The Pull

Bag. You've just heard the latest episode of

The Pull Bag. The GCRN's first comic review and

discussion podcast. There are several ways to

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