Entrenched in a hugely important socio-political situation such as migration, the creative team for Red Border manages to uphold this real sense of dialogue about the overwrought issue of the U.S. border into this series. Despite the politics of any reader, there is a sense of sympathy that the reader is burdened with from the first issue as we try to follow the journey of our two protagonists crossing the U.S. border. While it’s not the most successful dialogue in the critical cultural miasma almost all countries suffer from, the perspective is nuanced enough to make it proof of burden. For all its narrative prowess, the book manages to continuously guide its readers through the plot with ease.
Writer Jason Starr continues with some solid character work in this series. He properly enlivens the humanity of these people as they’re put into these situations. For a book that starts with an uncomfortable premise for certain people, he really pushes through his control of the story. Yielding in this narrative tension, we learn to sympathize with these protagonists as they attempt to survive this ordeal. In an ideal world, we’d root for real people as well, or at least see them as people.
Artist Will Conrad’s artwork is simply stellar. Borrowing from a photographic, almost realistic, rendering of each character, Conrad truly challenges us to not care about these people. More so, the realism of these characters impact the weight of the events that unwind as the story gets told. Readers are really able to hone in on the narrative dream through his job in rendering this world with such accurate detail to make us understand the gravity that real people must face.
Pairing alongside Conrad’s art is Ivan Nunes on colors. He does a marvelous job in really capturing the mood and atmosphere of this setting with journalistic accuracy. Bringing a proper voice to all of these characters is also Sal Cipriano, who managed to show the level of verbal impact of the narrative.
While Red Border doesn’t capture the totality of the border issues countries face, it’s a solid story established within the narrative dialogue of an important topic.
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