Red Circle: The Hangman #1

This was a fascinating comic for a couple of reasons. I read about the Black Hood back in the Impact Comics days, and always thought the character was decent, but I wasn't aware of the Hangman. JMS opens the story with a lengthy flashback about a Union doctor left behind enemy lines. After delaying his escape to help a wounded Confederate soldier, the doctor is captured and set to be hung. In a neat cutaway scene, a mysterious being offers Dr Robert Dickering the chance to survive his hanging, but he must stay on the Earth meteing out justice until the end of time. It's a neat scene since we don't know who this stranger is. The devil? God? JMS never lets us know, shrouding the Hangman's origin in a neat little mystery.

The story actually goes a bit downhill when the story jumps forward and we see more of the Hangman in modern times. He's a pretty generic brute with very few qualities to set him apart from the heroic masses. I found the story much more interesting while it was set in the Civil War.

Tom Derenick's art always leans towards hulking heroes and hot ladies, but he actually does a really strong job on the normal builds of the soldiers in the first half of the book. I do like his art most of the time, but I didn't find the design for the Hangman to be too interesting. I'm not sure this is a character I care about seeing that much more. He's kind of like a crappy Ghost Rider. I find myself much more interested in Dr. Dickering than in the Hangman.

Fair