RED 2 (2013): the film versus the comics of inspiration

Following an adaptation which already radically deviated from its source, RED 2 marks the culmination of a departure: nothing remains of the original thriller. Source-by-source decryption.

As in each article in this series, only verified information (creators, distribution, dates, publishers) is stated; the comparative analysis is ours, without reproducing dialogue or protected images.

RED (2003): a mini-series with no future

RED originally adapts a mini-series written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Cully Hamner, published in 2003 by WildStorm, a label attached to DC Comics. The work is brief and uncompromising: Frank Moses, former CIA agent classified “RED” —Retired, Extremely Dangerous—, discovers that his agency has decided to eliminate him to erase traces of his past. An elite killer despite his age, he returns to service to survive and take revenge. Ellis displays his usual cynicism about the brutality of the intelligence services and the fate reserved for those who know too much.

The decisive point for this article:there is no sequel. Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner did not extend the story, which closes in on itself. The material available for the cinema was therefore limited to these few dozen pages - andthe first filmhad already far exceeded them, by transforming a solitary and dark thriller into a team action comedy, with the addition of a group of retirees, a romance and a light tone that the comic did not contain. RED 2 therefore starts from an already very free adaptation to move further away from it.

A sequel that extends the invention, not the source

RED 2 tells the story of an international treasure hunt: a nuclear weapon missing since the Cold War, a scientist held prisoner for decades, a tour that takes the team from Paris to London then Moscow, and a gallery of newcomers — Anthony Hopkins as a whimsical scientist, Catherine Zeta-Jones as a Russian agent, Byung-hun Lee as a hitman. None of this has any basis in comics. It is not even, as in other cases in this batch, the adaptation of another arc by the same author: it is an integral invention built on a character.

The film actually extends the additions of the first feature film rather than the source. Marvin, the paranoid former agent played by John Malkovich, and Victoria, Helen Mirren's elite killer, did not exist at Ellis: they had been created for the screen, and here become the pillars of the story. Sarah, the love interest played by Mary-Louise Parker, is also a creation of the cinema, promoted to main character. In other words, RED 2 is the sequel to a film, not a comic - a distinction that matters for the reader who comes to look for the corresponding albums: they do not exist.

What comics did, and films abandoned

The most interesting comparison is not between the film and a nonexistent source, but between the two tones. Ellis' mini-series is a cold object: few characters, little dialogue, dry violence, and a clear statement on the ingratitude of institutions towards those they have trained to kill. The character is alone, taciturn, and the story offers no consolation. It's a dark spy thriller, in line with what Warren Ellis has published throughout his career at WildStorm and elsewhere.

The films, for their part, have made the opposite bet: that of the pleasure of seeing seasoned actors having fun in action roles. This bet worked in 2010; it ran out of steam in 2013. RED 2 received a significantly more lukewarm critical reception and a lower commercial result compared to its predecessor, which put an end to the franchise - no third part was filmed. For the reader, the trajectory summarizes a recurring mechanism: when an adaptation exhausts its source from the first film and thrives on its own inventions, the sequel only has to outdo it. We saw it withMen in Black IIand with The Golden Circle; RED 2 is a particularly clear example of this, since the original material fit into a single mini-series.

The characters, from paper to screen

• Frank Moses— The only character really from the comics.
• Marvin— The paranoid former agent, created for the first film.
• Victoria— The elite killer, creation of cinema.
• Sarah— The love interest, absent from the comic.
• Bailey, Katja, Han— The newcomers, invented for the future.

WildStorm: a label that has given a lot to cinema

Placing RED in its editorial context sheds light on a broader phenomenon. WildStorm, founded in the early 1990s by Jim Lee in the wake of the creation of Image, then bought by DC Comics, became at the turn of the 2000s a laboratory for adult and genre stories – thriller, science fiction, espionage – often conceived in short series. Warren Ellis created several of his notable works there, including RED, but also series that would also interest Hollywood.

This catalog has proven to be a mine for the studios: clear concepts, short stories that are easy to adapt, and rights already consolidated with a single publisher. RED is the typical example — a three-issue miniseries that became a two-movie franchise, driven by an A-list cast. For the collector, this configuration creates a discreet and affordable key:RED #1(2003, WildStorm) is the number to aim for, the first appearance of Frank Moses, in a print run without any particular rarity but whose value is due to its status as the source of a film franchise. It is a profile comparable to that of the Timecop story at Dark Horse: the first appearance of a concept sold in cinema, remaining accessible because the film did not create a lasting cult.

Cully Hamner and the line economy

A word about the designer, whose work explains a lot of the effect produced by the mini-series. Cully Hamner uses sober, cut-up drawing, without superfluous effects, as opposed to the overload that dominated American comics in the 1990s. On RED, this economy directly serves the purpose: the scenes of violence are brief, almost clinical, and the absence of graphic emphasis makes the character of Frank Moses all the more chilling. Nothing is spectacular, everything is efficient — exactly like the professional he describes.

This balance is what the films have most radically abandoned. The pleasure they provide is precisely due to the emphasis: slow motion, improbable stunts, distributed. These are two opposing regimes, and it would be vain to criticize the second for not being the first. But for the reader, measuring this gap has a practical value: it clearly indicates what he will find when he opens the comic book - not "the film in drawings", but an autonomous work of which the cinema has only retained the starting point. This is also what makes RED a good example for understanding the WildStorm catalog of this period, where several authors worked in this tight register.

Where to start reading

To discover the source, the mini-series RED by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner (2003) is available in collection and can be read in one sitting. It will surprise anyone who only knows the films: no team, no humor, no romance - a single man, an agency that wants to erase him, and violence without brazenness. No album tells the story of RED 2: the comic has never had a sequel.

Chronology of comics to know

• 2003— RED: the mini-series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner at WildStorm.
• 2010— The first film turns the thriller into a team-based action comedy.
• 2013— RED 2 extends the inventions of the film, without comic sources.

Collection side: what numbers to aim for after the film

RED points to a discreet modern key.RED #1(2003, WildStorm) is the number to aim for: first appearance of Frank Moses, in a short mini-series that became a film franchise. The three issues are easily collected as a complete series, at modest prices – the comics did not have a lasting cult following and the franchise ended after two films. Collections remain the simplest way to read. It is an accessible collection entry for those interested in the WildStorm catalog or the work of Warren Ellis. As always, condition and gradation determine value; relying on real recent sales is strongly recommended.

Its place in the saga and for the collector

RED 2 will remain as the culmination of a departure: the sequel to a film which already deviated radically from a mini-series without sequel. This is not a betrayal – Warren Ellis having never extended his story, there was nothing to betray – but the illustration of a mechanism: a franchise can live entirely on its own inventions once the source has been absorbed. Its relative failure has also closed the story. For the collector, RED #1 remains an accessible and coherent piece in an Ellis or WildStorm collection. For the reader, the interest is to discover the cold thriller which the cinema has made into a comedy of retirees - two objects which are in no way alike.

The verdict: one character preserved, everything else invented

• Loyalty: Frank Moses, his “RED” status, his skills intact despite his age and the idea of ​​agencies erasing their elders come from comics.
• Freedoms: the entire plot is original - the comic has never had a sequel -, the team, the romance and the nuclear issues are creations of cinema, and the film extends the additions of the first rather than the source.
• Collectible numbers: RED #1-3 (2003, WildStorm).

RED 2 does not adapt any comics: the mini-series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner never had a sequel, and the first film had already exhausted the material. The sequel therefore extends the inventions of cinema – the team, the romance, the light tone – to the point of running out of steam. For both the reader and the collector, it is an invitation to return to the original, much harsher thriller.

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