Ruthless and violent, a combatant skilled in both armed and unarmed fighting techniques, he appears to be invulnerable, apparently through a combination of being incredibly fit, having a high pain threshold, and drug overdose.
[6] Red Ketchup first appeared in 1982 as a supporting character in the Michel Risque comics series by Pierre Fournier and Réal Godbout, published as a monthly serial in the humor magazine Croc.
He is soon hired as stuntman in a harebrained grade-Z film loosely based on his own life, gets embroiled in a sordid case of human trafficking and he reunites with his sister Sally, whom he hasn't seen in 25 years.
In L'Oiseau aux sept surfaces ("The Bird with Seven Faces"), Ketchup, back with the FBI, is given a bogus mission, basically meant to keep him out of trouble.
Tasked with saving the all-American Thanksgiving turkey from foreign threats, Ketchup somehow ends up in Japan investigating sightings of Godzilla-size farm animals.
In Échec au King ("Viva Las Ketchup"), Red is charged with probing paranormal and cryptozoological mysteries, and the Search for Elvis.
In Elixir X, Ketchup's archenemy Doctor Künt (first seen in Kamarade Ultra) has stumbled upon a possible Fountain of Youth, merchandized as a face cream by a reckless pharmaceutical company.
Set in 1986 during the Cold War, the animated series closely follows the genre-shifting nature of the original comics, incorporating political satire, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, and parody of classic movies.
The adaptation expands the relatively brief serialized stories into a twenty-episode arc, primarily drawn from the content of the initial three comic book albums, with a focus on developing the lives of the supporting cast.
The character Red Ketchup, a hard-nosed agent with a high tolerance for pain and drugs, is portrayed as a complex figure with limits, such as refusing to harm women or children and advocating for the underdog.
Overall, Red Ketchup represents a successful adaptation of a culturally significant Quebec property, with a blend of humor, satire, and genre diversity, making it more internationally appealing than previous comedy series produced by Sphere Animation.
[11][15] The animated series directed by Martin Villeneuve is the most-watched show on Télétoon la nuit, with the airing of its first 10 episodes even surpassing The Simpsons in Quebec.
[17][18] In the English version of the series, Michael Kash assumes the role of Red Ketchup, while Benoît Brière brings the character to life in French.
Sally, Red's sister, an ultra-feminist with a dry wit and colorful vocabulary, can be described as a blend of Janis Joplin and Julianne Moore's Maude character in The Big Lebowski.
In the French version, writer-director Martin Villeneuve lends his voice to the character of Bill Bélisle, a journalist and Sally Ketchup's former lover.
Notably, he creates replicas of Red Ketchup to form a mini army and develops a formula to enlarge humans into killing giants.
In the English edition, Nicole Bauman, also serving as Production Manager at Sphere Animation, provides the voice for the Russian Olga Dynamo, Red's female counterpart.