Scarlett has made it all the way into an insanely secure facility to save a friend. And now that she’s done that much, the mission isn’t over yet. There’s a powerful weapon in the facility that finds her meeting-up with her ninja colleague Stormshadow inside the facility and things are getting really complicated in Scarlett #4. Writer Kelly Thompson reaches the penultimate issue of her mini-series with artist Marco Ferrari and colorist Lee Loughridge. It’s a fun bit of rising action that leads the series into an interesting direction by issue’s end in a way that feels very well integrated with the rest of Skybound’s G.I. Joe / Transformers shared universe.

Scarlett has told Stormshadow that the weapon in question is on the 44th floor. (It’s not on 44. Neither Scarlett nor her friend are going to 44. They’re going to 48.) The thing is...do they WANT to go to 48 to find this thing? They’ve already found each other and there are other units in play going after the weapon in question. Are they really needed? Do they really need the headache? Everyone else appears to be on 44. So maybe they should just go to 48 to figure out what all of the fuss is about.

Thompson has gradually been increasing the complexity of the plot since the first issue. Having reached the penultimate chapter in the series, Thompson is free to let the complexity reach its peak just before the climactic reveal at the end of the fourth issue. It’s kind of a big deal, but Thompson manages to run a fiendishly clever dual-track story that plays both with larger issues with the G.I. Joe universe while also focussing pretty narrowly on Scarlett’s own personality in a way that makes the script feel just as much about Scarlett as it does the larger universe. This isn’t an easy thing to do for ANY writer on any sci-fi adventure series like this. Thompson nails the balance perfectly.

Ferrari keeps the action moving from panel to panel with aggressive action that occasionally explodes into bone-jarring confrontation. Above all, the action shoots gracefully across the page, occasionally slowing-down for a more serious moment of emotional drama before tumbling into something much bigger and more devastating. There’s a really magic on the page in the atmosphere that is clearly and concisely rendered by the color of Lee Loughridge.

Thompson heads a remarkably tight narrative package that works quite a bit better than most of the rest of what’s been on the mainstream comics rack this summer. The fact that she’s able to weave together a lot of subtlety and nuance while delivering a very well-executed action story that also fits into a larger comic book universe is really, really impressive. It’s too bad Thompson’s run with Scarlett is only going to last for one more issue. She’s a fun character with a lot of potential, but she’s never been given enough room to explore that potential until now. 

Grade: A