Short but interesting story of retired agent specialized in bringing down countries, people, man,woman and children as long as it is in interest of his country.

Paul Moses is a walking legend of undercover "foreign acquisition department" of CIA, happily retired and going through nightmares every day while trying to live with what he did while being active agent. When new director goes through briefing and finds out about Moses he is deeply disturbed - not because of what he did mind you but because people may find out. And worse - they could find out about it on his watch, while he is director.

So he does what every popular politician does - he decides to kill Moses [by sending group of fresh Paul-Moses-like assassins - I mean like actions that Moses did stopped when he retired, get real) and this triggers Moses to go after those who sanctioned his murder.

I especially liked the discussion between Moses and Kane (one of the director assistants) - here we can see that while administrations change main objectives are the same and state-machine is ready to continue (mis)using walking weapons like Moses while it can to finally dispose him in worst possible way when he is no longer needed.

Great story of a man trying to live with himself for his deeds in the past getting pushed to the very edge by [true un-human] career politicians and policy makers who see everyone but themselves as cannon fodder. This is not the first time novel is based on this subject - but do give it a try, you are going to enjoy it.

Art is great, action is non-stop, only it is a short one (70-something pages).

Highly recommended to all fans of action and thrillers. ( )

If you've only seen the film adaptation you MUST read RED by Warren Ellis. This isn't the Hollywood brew ha-ha campaign of a love story of Frank Moses in the middle of killers tailing killers. This is the real deal here - we get to see true Paul Moses in style doing what he was trained to do best - be retired, extremely deadly. He pretty much gets activated back after his former employer want him dead since of course he knows too much and could blow the lid of a lot of dirty dealings. That's it, that's all - this is a short read and a one shot.

So for fans of the film, the film took a lot of liberties in expanding Paul Moses' universe. As a result there are a few other RED comic book prequels floating out there about Victoria and the gang, but they are more like cash cows to capitalize on the success of the 1st film. This also has squat to do with RED 2, which bombed like a flaming pile of turd on a doorstep with a firecracker lit in the middle.

Warren Ellis delivers. That's all you need to know to read it.

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The art was perfect. It reminded me of Powers. The writing was beautifully done, and conveyed both the main character and the supporting cast in a brutal way that left no room for discussion. ( )

I'll be interested to see the movie adaptation. From the IMDb summary of the plot alone I can tell they added quite a bit. Since the plot is such a basic one in regards to revenge I can't help but think they optioned this just so they could have Warren Ellis' name attached to the movie. ( )

Good short story/comic for someone who likes government malfeasance and intrigue. The main character is completely unbelievable, but that's okay. I'll happily suspend my disbelief and buy into the lie that anyone in our government has any scruples right now. There's a bit with him killing peasants that's totally believable. ( )