Comic Book Review - Scarlett #3

Scarlett finds herself performing a suicide mission as the Arashikage make their move…

Scarlett #3 feels very much like a glorified action sequence within a big budget Hollywood movie. It’s one continuous scene that sees Scarlett tackle her seemingly impossible mission within the heavily guarded Sato II tower. Picking off where the last issue concluded, Scarlett finds herself within very deep water as she navigates a building spanning aquarium in order to reach her destination within the towers basement levels. With plenty of armed guards - and quite a large shark - sitting between her and the objective, the Arashikage were right in not expecting Scarlett to survive. 

But this is Shana O’Hara we’re talking about, and she isn’t going to go down without leaving a trail of bodies behind her.  

Meanwhile, Jinx and Storm Shadow start their own assault on the Mugenoami over in the Sato III tower. With Scarlett’s mission needing to be a success if the duo stand any chance to retrieve the clans stolen weapon, the tension across this issue is very high. 

While I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what writer Kelly Thomson has cooked up so far for Scarlett, this issue is a bit of a mixed bag. Don’t get me wrong it’s a fantastic read that’s certainly buoyed by Marco Ferrari’s art. It progresses the overall story in quite a minute way. If anything it serves to introduce COBRA who have a very small appearance come the issues conclusion. However even with a lack of overall progression, Thompson does give us plenty more work to Scarlett’s character. 

This is chiefly seen within Scarlett’s own narrative as she divulges her thoughts and feelings as the mission progresses. Across the previous issues Thompson has given us a look at the super spies abilities, while here we see a more vulnerable side to her. She knows that she’s going deeper undercover and the mission is becoming far more deadly, but her bond with Jinx is whats keeping her head in the game. This vulnerability is also shown via the sheer amount of minions that the Mugenoami send after her. Scarleis tt knows she vastly outnumbered so has to rely on her training and experience to come out unscathed - albeit with a few pop culture references thrown in. 

As mentioned before, this issue is pretty much one singular action sequence and as such Marco Ferrari’s art has to sell the illusion. Thankfully it does, and it’s also extremely well presented. Ferrari uses plenty of close ups and wide angle views to showcase the ferocity of each trigger pull and sword swipe. There’s an excellent double page feature that simply flows across the page which works wonders in highlighting the characters swordsmanship. Likewise, Lee Loughridge uses plenty of cool colour tones to build the tension of this infiltration mission.

Overall, while this issue doesn’t necessarily progress the overall story, it does give more depth to Scarlett’s particular skill set. With the introduction to COBRA, Kelly Thompson has thrown a curve ball that’ll no doubt tie this miniseries more into the wider Energon Universe. 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on X/Facebook @GeekCultureRev, TikTok/YouTube @Geekculturereviews, and BlueSky @geekculturereviews.bsky.social