The Devil’s Red Bride is a jarring experience as a reader, cutting back and forth between timelines before we get a sense of who the characters are. This is partly due to the purposeful structure and partly due to the number of characters speaking off-panel before we even know who the characters are. As we find our footing halfway through the issue, and the story comes into focus, Girner’s story becomes more enjoyable. It’s a bloody story about appearances, gender roles, and honor that will thrill anyone who already loves samurai fiction, but for those looking to find characters to root for and invest in, this issue delivers little in the way of character development so far. The concept is interesting, though, and with the way, the issue leaves off in both the flashback story and the events happening “now” (three years following the bloody clash of the past), there is great potential here for this to be a comic that subverts tropes with style.