Created on November 9, 2011 and written by Brad Huffman-Parent
Category: Comic Book Reviews

Rating: 3/5
Publisher Name: ComixTribe
Publisher Website: Shop.ComixTribe.Com

Writer: Tyler James
Pencils: Cesar Feliciano
Colors: Miguel Marques
Number of Pages: 32
Price: 3.99 for standard, Artist Edition – $24.99 (featuring original sketch cover by creators Tyler James or Cesar Feliciano.)
Color: Color
Safety Content Label: PARENTAL ADVISORY – 15 years and older. Similiar to T+ but featuring more mature themes and/or more graphic imagery.

Publisher’s Blurb:
THE RED TEN is a superhero retelling of Agatha Christie’s classic novel “And Then There Were None.”

When the world’s greatest detective is violently murdered by her nemesis, the world’s foremost super team and her former sidekick band together to bring the villain to justice. However, the mission goes terribly wrong, and before the night is out each of the ten “heroes” will pay dearly for past transgressions.

Reviewer’s Comments:
Tyler James is a name in the indie comic world that I’ve been familiar with for a while, between his “Creating Comics! The Art + Craft” and “Comix Counsel” columns. I’ve recently been reading Tyler’s columns and found some good advice there, so it’s interesting to be able to look at this and see if he put all of his own teachings into practice.

The title page proclaims this as a “Superhero murder mystery” and that caught my attention right away. I love a new twist to the superhero story. Unfortunately the first half does feel pretty much like a standard super story, and reminded a little too much of DC’s Identity Crisis with the various characters going out and hunting the suspected murderer. Reading Tyler’s note at the end of the issue it’s obvious that there’s a huge Justice League influence here, and I definitely get a Batman/Nightwing vibe from Red and Crimson. The positive is that this was a good way to introduce the large main cast and give us an idea of all their abilities in a short time. So extra points for that.

The second half picks up more of the Agatha Christie influence, and this is where things get good. I saw one of the near the end twists coming pretty early on, but then I also don’t think it was supposed to such a huge surprise. This is a murder mystery, and the next nine issues might be a little dull if we knew who the killer was in the first issue.

The real hook comes once the heroes find the writing on the ceiling (the whole “and then there were none” thing). It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out and I hope to see come creative ways for these characters to die. This is what’s going to keep me coming back and reading more.

As long as this puts the superhero stuff to the back and makes the mystery and character interactions the prime focus, I think this is on the right track to being something special. I can’t wait to see how the inscription plays out for each characters’ death and hoping for some nice falling apart and fighting with each other among the heroes as they’re killed off.

I’ve never read “And Then There Were None”, but it’s on my Nook now waiting for me start it. The next issue of “The Red Ten” will be right there next to it.

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About the Writer: Brad Huffman-Parent (9 Posts) Brad Huffman-Parent has been writing for a long time. It started with very, very bad comics in Jr High and blossomed with his love of screenwriting in his early college years. Due to extremely bad luck with computers, he has lost almost everything that was written between 1994-2006, including numerous short screenplays, one completed feature, and 2 features in progress. After a short break he renewed his love of writing in late 2007 and since then has completed 11 new short screenplays and begun 2 features. He is currently devoting most of his free time to “Steel Rising”, his entry from the 2009 Small Press Idol competition, and also working with several different artists to produce short stories. His next major project is a graphic novel that is in the plotting/outline stage. He's had one short story Published in the anthology "Blister" and one short screenplay optioned by two different directors (and not filmed by either).

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