Review: ‘Scarlett’ #3 Is Fun & Action-Packed But Little Else

An all out action issue, Scarlett #3 is another standout artistic showcase for Marco Ferrari. But while the art continues to be quite engaging, it’s in the service of the most straightforward issue of the series yet. This leaves little opportunity for the kind of visual inventiveness that could be found in the previous two issues, making it hard not to feel like this is a step down in quality, however minor. 

Picking up where the previous issue left off, this is almost entirely devoted to Scarlett’s fight through the heavily guarded corporate tower of a rival to the Arashikage clan in order to turn off a thing that will enable Jinx and Storm Shadow, in another tower, to steal a different thing. The simplicity of the plot seems designed to simply let Ferrari cook, and he responds in kind. The standout sequence is a two page spread where he does the “echo the figure across the page to simulate movement” trick to show Scarlett fighting her way through a group of hired goons. 

Yet for all that, the issue is lacking the kind of inventiveness and instances of art-supporting-theme that were on display in previous issues. The action, while well-rendered, is relatively straightforward. It leans heavily on the “spy thriller” elements of the series — there are ninjas and katanas aplenty, but the beats of the plot are pure James Bond and/or Mission: Impossible — at one point, Scarlett has to swim down a vertical aquarium while fighting sharks, a sequence that seems like a deliberate mashup of a couple Bond and M:I set pieces. And, to be clear, this is all still incredibly fun! Fighting sharks and ninjas and tough-talking bad guys with rumpled suits is what we’re here for, and Scarlett #3 delivers those goods. 

The problem is just that, for a change, there’s not a whole lot else going on beneath the surface. The plot is moved forward, but only incrementally. Very little new is revealed about Scarlett — we already know she’s a determined fighter capable of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Even the well-choreographed action, well-choreographed it may be, has become old-hat for the book, three issues in. This is perhaps grading it on an unfair curve, but it’s hard not to when the series came out so strong. 

Thankfully, the final pages of Scarlett #3 promises some more narrative meat ahead, both in the long-teased on-page reunion between Scarlett and Jinx, and the reveal of the Arashikage’s buyer for the MacGuffin. There are certainly worse things for a comic book to be than “entertaining and well-drawn but thin everywhere else”, and it’s little slight on the series for this to be its “worst” issue yet.