Second issues can be tricky things. First issues have a lot of work to do, of course, but once the world and the characters have been established the second issue has to carry on the hype of the first book, build on the introduction, and keep people engaged. This seems to be something that comes pretty easy to Radiant Black.
The first issue introduced us to our lead characters, Nathan Burnett, a man in his early thirties, struggling to make it as a writer, who's working a side gig as a driver to try and stay afloat, yet has to move back in with his parents because his debts get too much for him. It's a character that I think a lot more comic readers will be able to identify with over Pulitzer winning journalists or billionaire playboys. Despite these issues, Nathan has been trying to put his life back together, and after going out for some drinks with his friend Marshall he discovers some strange, miniature black hole; which when it goes into him transforms him into a super powered person.
Now it's the next day and Nathan is trying to figure out what to do, both with his new powers and with his personal life. Over the course of the book we get to see Nathan have some conversations with his family, where they help him plan how to get back on his feet; as well as him being approached by the two police officers he had a run in with the night before. Having seen his amazing new powers the two cops encourage him to use his abilities to help people, especially as a similarly powered being, albeit red and black instead of white and black, has been robbing banks.
This spurs Nathan into action to try and do something about this other powered person, even if it's only approaching them to find out answers about his own new abilities. But how does the average person track down a costumed villain? Well, Nathan has a pretty good way of doing it actually. Picking up fares around town and asking them about what they've heard about the situation not only nets him a probably location, but also earns him some good money at the same time.Who said being a superhero doesn't pay?
Sadly, the man in red doesn't seem open to talking with Nathan, and after a brief scuffle, manages to get away. Despite this, Nathan is able to retrieve the stolen money, learns some more about his new powers, and finally feels like he's getting his life together. It feels like the perfect follow-up to the first issue, where he had no idea how to get his life back on track, but has now found something he believes in, and something that will get him back on his feet.
These personal issues are one of the things that I really love about Radiant Black. It's not a series that just focuses on the super heroics, that relies on spectacle to keep the readers interested. It's a bout a regular person, someone going through recognisable struggles and doing their best. This part of the story doesn't just make a good grounding point to the weirdness and the action, but is entertaining and well written enough that it could carry the book itself.
But that's not all that Radiant Black is about, and we get a lot of hints at the scale of things to come. We've got another person with powers like Nathan, but could there be more? We also get hints at a strange language, which could imply a possible alien origin for the powers; and we get the tiniest hint at something that was revealed on one of the variant covers (giant Mecha!). There's a lot of mystery in this book, a lot of things that we don't know yet, and I'm glad that the answers are coming slowly over time.
Kyle Higgins has shown before that he's a writer who can balance the regular everyday life with people having to be heroes, but I think this issue might be one of the best examples of it yet. You really do get the feel that Nathan is a regular person, the kind of guy you might go grab a beer with. Artist Marcelo Costa also does a phenomenal job, and every part of this book looks beautiful. Whether it's the two powered people battling each other whilst covered in glowy powers, or Nathan sitting down to eat breakfast with his dad, every single panel of this book looks amazing. There's a level of attention and care given to this book that can sometimes feel like it's missing from even some of the biggest titles.
If Radiant Black continues to produce this level of writing and art it's very quickly going to become one of my favourite comics of all time; and it's one that you should definitely be getting in on early before it becomes the next big thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment