Leroy Douresseaux Revews "BLACK DYNAMITE: Slave Island"

BLACK DYNAMITE

APE ENTERTAINMENT/ARS NOVA

WRITER: Brian Ash

STORY: Michael Jai White, Byron Minns, Scott Sanders
ARTIST/COVER: Jun Lofamia
COLORS: JM Ringuet
PREVIEW PIN-UP: Ed LaRoche and Dustin Evans (colors)
ADDITIONAL ART: Scott Fuselier and Brian Ash
46pp, Color, $5.95

The next great Black comic book character may be a character that originated in film. But this character’s first comic book appearance is so damn good that his cinematic origin in not a hindrance for his place in comic books. We need comic book super Negroes wherever we can get them. Let’s welcome Black Dynamite.

Black Dynamite was a 2009 independent feature film that was simultaneously a send-up of and homage to the Black exploitation (blaxploitation) films of the 1970s. The film starred Michael Jai White as the title character, Black Dynamite, a cross between Shaft and Marvel Comics’ Luke Cage, out to stop a plot to rob Black men of their manhood.

In fact, the film’s director, Scott Sanders, guides the film so smoothly that Black Dynamite also works as a straight action comedy. The script, written by Sanders, Michael Jai White and Byron Minns, even manages pointed political commentary and some rather subversive and occasionally racially charged humor.

Published by Ape Entertainment, Black Dynamite brings the character from the world of film to the world of comic books. Also known as Black Dynamite: Slave Island, the comic book is written by Brian Ash (from a story by the film’s screenwriters, Michael Jai White, Byron Minns, and Scott Sanders) and drawn by Jun Lofamia. Slave Island is also a direct sequel to the movie.

The story begins when Black Dynamite gets a call for help from a doctor friend of his, Alex Haley (seriously). From one of Haley’s patients, Black Dynamite learns about an impossible resort named Slave Island. There, the evil slave owner, Noah Hicks, runs a plantation as if it were a hellish Disney resort or bizarre bed and breakfast. There, slaves will wait on guests, and guests can watch slaves work in fields or get beaten with a whip. Black Dynamite is determined to burn the place down, but he can’t do it alone. Perhaps, the buxom lady Mandingo, Betty, will help him start a revolution.

If you liked Black Dynamite the movie, but don’t like the comic book after reading it, then, you just don’t like comic books, because this is one dynamite comic book. Slave Island has the exact same comical tone as the film, and the style, wit, and subversive humor of the comic book is a carbon copy of the film. I don’t know Brian Ash, but I do know that he has written one bad mutha f****ing comic book, and he has scripted a Black Dynamite tale that should make this character’s creators happy.

Meanwhile, artist Jun Lofamia has channeled 1970s Marvel. Lofamia’s cover for Slave Island recalls Luke Cage comic book covers, and his interiors recapture all the funky glory of Marvel’s “black” comic books like Black Panther and the various Blade comics. Lofamia’s storytelling is strong thanks to his compositional and design skills.

Black Dynamite: Slave Island is a one-shot, but hopefully there will be more.

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Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux - support on Patreon.

You can read my review of the movie Black Dynamite here.