Scarlet #5

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev

Well, it seems that Scarlet is getting stranger and stranger.  At first, Bendis's story about a girl seeking revenge on the corrupt police detective that ruined her life felt like a personal story of redefinition, but as Scarlet's mission has become a movement, the tone of the comic has changed.

Last issue, Scarlet suddenly showed up in the middle of a large gathering of protesters supporting her mission.  In this issue, she speaks to the crowd, and one riot cop responds in an out-sized way (and really, what he threw was not standard issue - why would he have that?).

Scarlet herself gets very little screen time in this issue, as we spend most of our time on Angela Going, the detective that got kicked off the case, and Agent Daemonakos, the FBI agent who is taking charge of the investigation.  He's a bit of a strange one, and has clearly read The Secret a few times too many.  The exchange between him and Going is classic Bendis.

Maleev has some lovely large panels in this issue, and continues to do a phenomenal job.