'Red Team Volume 2: Double Tap, Center Mass' by Garth Ennis and Craig Cermak is a police procedural graphic novel. I didn't read the first one, but I'm not sure that it's entirely necessary.

Eddie Mellinger and Trudy Giroux are cops and partners. They were on a squad called Red Team and they lost some friends. They are just trying to make it as normal cops when they stumble into a crime involving a very rich kid and some drug dealers. Things go South when they find a couple dead bodies in the rich kids trunk. He lawyers up, and Mellinger and Giroux go in to major cop mode. They also fall for each other even though she's got a boyfriend and he's married.

It was mildly interesting. The story seemed pretty standard. The ending is about where I thought it would go. The art wasn't overly memorable. Based on this, I'm not sure I need to go back and read the first one, but this one was ok.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dynamite Entertainment, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I've read quite a few comic books written by Garth Ennis and this one didn't disappoint. It captures the New York City grit and that inner city vibe. Red Team is about an elite anti-narcotics unit. I absolutely blew through this comic in one sitting. It was awesome.

It is probably unfair for me to review as this book ending up being different than I had expected. I like mystery/thrillers and it did not read that way for me. I believe someone who likes this voice and genre would find it to be well written and illustrated.

So this is a really good cop show. There's an ongoing anti-narcotics investigation, with a lot of ins and outs, but really makes this compelling is the dynamic between the two leads as they end up in bed (in the extramarital fun way).

Cermak's bright colours paired with heavy thick inks makes for a really great visual range.

Verdict: Try it if you need more police drama in your day.

Think of this as a NY police noir. Detectives Eddie Mellinger and Trudy Giroux used to be part of NYPD's elite Red Team anti-narcotics unit. But now they are running warrants on the street. But a chance encounter with Eric Nightengale and his car trunk full of bodies and drugs put them back in the game. Unfortunately, their antics to get the drug dealers keep leading them deeper into trouble and farther from the law. Will their actions doom them or redeem them? Read and find out.

Damn, this was good. I haven't read the first miniseries but it didn't impede my enjoyment of this at all. Our two detectives have a large case fall into their laps. A wall street banker's son almost runs some kids over and the detectives pull him over. They find a whole lot heroin and some dead bodies in the trunk. Turns out the silver spoon douchebag has been dealing drugs. This gets the ball rolling on a nail biting case of intrigue with lots of twists and turns.

Ennis writes some Ed Brubker / Brian Michael Bendis level dialogue here. He shows he can just straight up nail police procedural fiction. It reads like a miniseries. Craig Cermac's art is far superior than what we normally see come from Dynamite. It reminded me some of Gary Frank from the Hulk days. It's absolutely top notch. It won't be long until he moves on to the big boys.

I really like this author, but this story was so cliche that even the surprise relationship between the partners was no surprise. The whole rich white boy who wants to fit in with thugs was so boring and there was more talking drama than real action. This was just okay. If I didn't like this author I probably would have given this a lower rating.

I can't make any comparisons with the first book, as I've not read it - all I know is that this is really, really good. It's like Ennis started to channel Brubaker, and while the noir classics from the latter are a lot shorter, you really don't worry about this being a long book with dialogue and drama like this. Sexy, violent, intelligent - this was right up my street.

After whiling away the hours in traffic talking about her relationship—and chasing after a guy who runs into a pole—the two cops who’ve been punished for something that happened in the first issue come across an entitled brat with gang bodies in the trunk of his speeding car, which of course leads to all kinds of red herrings and tangents and conspiracies before they finally discover what’s up.
In case you ever wondered, being shot in the head will not stop someone from having sex.
My fave scene was him gently ripping into the SWAT guys for failing to clear the crime scene. On the other hand, I’m getting tired of the cliché of cops not clearing crime scenes due to lazy writing. . . just sayin’. Another highlight was the stroll through the art gallery, which was all kinds of awesome.
The sex scenes are intentionally hilarious. For instance, that’s one happy voyeuristic dog on the couch! There’s funny usage of arms and legs to block naughty bits, and how can she not be the perfect woman when that kind of “pillow talk” gets her hot?
I’m surprised that such a convoluted story actually wrapped itself nicely at the end. Still a tough ride to get through, and there were a few plot holes that would have brought it to a screeching halt if they hadn’t been ignored, but it wasn’t as bad as I feared after the slow beginning.
As far as the artwork goes, these are some really bright colors for this genre.
Over twenty pages of sketches and scripts.

Take a few, selected, highly-trained, well-intentioned people. Assign the responsibility to protect the sheep and to hunt down the wolves. We are talking about super-heroes, don’t we? Or, since we story involves cops and drug dealers, we are talking about heroes, don’t we?
No. We are talking about men and women. And men and women sometimes fail.

Once there was Red Team: for people put in charge with dealing with the worst-of-the-worst among criminals. They did their job. And they gave themselves a mission, and went over the edge. Because justice requires rules, like it or not.
Now only two of Red Team members remain, a man and a women, now workings as ordinary cops. But let Fate drop into their hands the lead to another big drug operation and another villain who must be stopped to make the world a better place… what then? I won’t spoil you any surprise, but let me say this: the greatness of Ennis is to let his characters make their own minds, and their own mistakes, in the light of past lessons and in the shadows of their own weaknesses. And since we are talking about people and not guys flying around in spandex, our cops have families and relationships and sometimes they develop feelings which can jeopardize what little peace they can find at home.
Another central theme is death in the line of duty. The event is not played out as Shakesperian drama, neither with the callousness of certain procedurals in which bodies are just the fuel to drag on the show. Ennis’s characters fear for their own life just as any ordinary human being would. Their job – a demanding, never-ending one – has gifted them with the ability to immediately and precisely weight the danger level of any situation: and more than a few times, they know that nothing can save them. There are those gifted with the braveness to go on their way despite of this, and those who have traced the line never to be stepped over. What they all have in common is the knowledge that death is not glorious, it just sucks and it is ultimately inevitable.

I have been following Ennis’s work through the years since his run on Hellblazer. I am familial both with his <<as crazy as I can be>> stories and with his <<as grim as I can be>> stories. Through the years he managed to write about a Preacher on a quest to literally meet God and he showed he could re-invent the Punisher after decades of stale continuity.
I noticed an evolution in his writing and how he depicts his characters. It looks to me that Mr Ennis is more and more bored by the exceptional and the uncanny and attracted to what all human beings – as unique as we would like to be – share in common.
Is it grim? Is it funny? One way or the other, Ennis we will find a way to make it into a good story.

Garth Ennis is now stranger to hard hitting, violent and bloody stories what with Preacher and The Boys in his back catalogue, Red Team continues this trend. Another excellent story of violence and corruption that's sure to hit all the right buttons with Red Team fans.

Not really my type of graphic novel. This will be more appealing to crime fans or Patterson readers.