Red is a three-issue comic book mini-series published in 2003 and 2004 by WildStorm imprint Homage Comics. It was created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Cully Hamner.

Paul Moses is a retired Agent of the CIA, formerly working in "foreign acquisitions". Living in a secluded area, his human contacts are limited to pleasant phone calls to his handler (who desires what she believes to have been Moses' type of work) and letters to a niece who lives in England.

Michael Beesley, the newly politically appointed Director of the CIA, is taken to Room R as part of his initiation, where he learns of Moses' existence and the full extent of his activities. Disgusted by what he has seen, and fearing public reaction should any of those secrets leak out, he orders the assassination of Moses.

A three man hit-team is sent to Moses' residence, and he kills them, recognizing the pattern of the attack and realizing his death has been sanctioned. He calls his handler only to learn that she has been transferred. He informs the Agency that his status has changed from Green to Red before leaving his house and going on the hunt.

Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths just past this range are called infrared (below red) and cannot be seen by the naked eye although they can be sensed as heat. In some cultures, certain shades of red are used to symbolize anger or aggression.

It is the color of blood when it is exposed to sunlight. In western countries, it is most commonly referred to as a color of evil, love, and sometimes, though rarely, happiness.

The word red comes from the Old English rēad. The word can be further traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root reudh-. In Sanskrit, the word rudhira means red or blood. In the English language, the word red is associated with the color of blood, certain flowers (e.g., roses), and ripe fruits (e.g., apples, cherries). Fire is also strongly connected, as is the sun and the sky at sunset. Healthy, light-skinned people are sometimes said to have a "ruddy" complexion (as opposed to appearing pale). After the rise of socialism in the mid-19th century, red was used to symbolize and describe revolutionary movements.

WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, (often rendered Wildstorm) published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999. Until it was shut down, the WildStorm imprint remained editorially separate from DC Comics, with its main studio located on the West Coast. The imprint took its name from the combining of the titles of the Jim Lee comic series WildC.A.T.S. and Stormwatch.

WildStorm published common American comics, as well as creator-owned material and licensed properties from other companies, covering a wide variety of genres. Its main fictional universe, the Wildstorm Universe, features typical costumed heroes in various scenarios.

The publishing activities of WildStorm have varied, with changes in ownership affecting the ongoing publication of some of its titles. Peaking during the 1990s, WildStorm maintained a number of its core titles from its early period (such as WildC.A.T.S. and Stormwatch) and subsequently continued to publish material expanding its core universe. WildStorm's main titles included WildC.A.T.S, Stormwatch, Gen¹³, Wetworks and The Authority, though it also produces single-character-oriented series like Deathblow and Midnighter, and has at times published secondary titles like Welcome to Tranquility.

Sherlock Holmes ( /ˈʃɜrlɒk ˈhoʊmz/) is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to adopt almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve difficult cases.

Holmes, who first appeared in publication in 1887, was featured in four novels and 56 short stories. The first novel, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887 and the second, The Sign of the Four, in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The character grew tremendously in popularity with the first series of short stories in Strand Magazine, beginning with A Scandal in Bohemia in 1891; further series of short stories and two novels published in serial form appeared between then and 1927. The stories cover a period from around 1880 up to 1914.

All but four stories are narrated by Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson; two are narrated by Holmes himself ("The Blanched Soldier" and "The Lion's Mane") and two others are written in the third person ("The Mazarin Stone" and "His Last Bow"). In two stories ("The Musgrave Ritual" and "The Gloria Scott"), Holmes tells Watson the main story from his memories, while Watson becomes the narrator of the frame story. The first and fourth novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear, each include a long interval of omniscient narration recounting events unknown to either Holmes or Watson.

Warren Girard Ellis (born February 16, 1968) is an English author of comics, novels, and television, who is well known for sociocultural commentary, both through his online presence and through his writing, which covers transhumanist themes (most notably nanotechnology, cryonics, mind transfer, and human enhancement). He is a resident of Southend-on-Sea, England.

Ellis was born in Essex in February 1968. Ellis has stated that the televised broadcast of the moon landing is his earliest coherent memory. He was a student at the South East Essex Sixth Form College, commonly known as SEEVIC. He contributed comic work to the college magazine, Spike, along with Richard Easter, who also later followed a career in writing.

Before starting his career as a writer, Ellis did "most of the shitty jobs you can imagine; ran a bookstore, ran a pub, worked in bankruptcy, worked in a record shop, lifted compost bags for a living".

Ellis's writing career started in the British independent magazine Deadline with a six-page short story published in 1990. Other early works include a Judge Dredd short and a Doctor Who one-pager. His first ongoing work, Lazarus Churchyard with D'Israeli, appeared in Blast!, a short-lived British magazine.