Zeb Larson reviews Red City #4…
The case comes to a close and Cal has to resort to extreme measures to save the city.
Red City comes to an end in this issue, and we see some closure on the case Talmadge has been working. I’m sad now that my favorite space noir series is ending, at least for the time being, but Daniel Corey leaves the option open for future stories in this universe. As always, spoilers will follow from here on out, so read at your own discretion.
Talmadge backtracks into the city and finds his Cajun friend, who after a couple of blows confesses he’s been in on the whole kidnapping. The man spills that Talmadge’s boss and Obek were in on the plot to bring down the city’s mayor by tanking the peace treaty. He also lets Calmadge know where Talia is being held. He finds Talia in the Neptunian bar from before and confronts her with the knowledge that she killed Eldred to support her Venusian friends, and he sends Talia off-world to escape the cops. He and Angel go to confront the Mayor, Grabdar, and all of the men working for the treaty. With some help from Garak, they take down the conspirators. Talmadge recognizes that none of this is over and that Obek is the new king in town, but he has a chance to deal with all of that now that he’ll be working permanently in the city.
Damn, that was a hell of a summary. In proper noir fashion, there’s a hell of a lot to pay attention to here, and even having reviewed every issue I still found myself flipping back and forth to put all the pieces together. Mysteries are supposed to be complicated, especially when they involve politics, and this doesn’t disappoint. For that matter, I appreciate that all of the complicated backstory finally tied back together at end. All of the set-up and context for this universe did matter. While the series feel faithfully into noir tropes, one cliché that was tossed aside was the character of Angel. Women in film noir who aren’t protagonists are usually either victims or femme fatales. I spent about half the issue waiting for Angel to double-cross Talmadge, but she remained loyal while still being kind of a bad-ass.
This was also the action-heavy issues of the series, and I liked seeing Talmadge put all the pieces together as he lays the smack on people who deserve it. The shootout was a little more confusing to read just because we weren’t familiar with all of the subjects and the art style changed from the first issue, but it was still exciting to see unfold (along with the surprise revelation of Garak’s assistance).
Of course, we have a great setup for any future installments. Now that Obek is the new boss of Red City and Talmadge is sticking around, a conflict is bound to erupt between them. Of course, Daniel Corey can’t confirm whether the series will be continued, but I really hope it is. There’s so much political backstory at work and such an expansive setting that this could easily be continued. In the meantime, that’s all folks!
Zeb Larson
