Tuesday, August 17, 2021

#IReadsYou Review: RADIANT BLACK #1

RADIANT BLACK #1
IMAGE COMICS

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Kyle Higgins
ART: Marcelo Costa
COLORS: Marcelo Costa
LETTERS: Becca Carey
EDITOR/DESIGNER: Michael Busuttil
COVER: Michael Cho
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Marcelo Costa with Eduardo Ferigato; Marcelo Costa; David Finch, Jimmy Reyes, and Marcelo Costa; Goñi Montes
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (February 2021)

Rated “T+/Teen Plus”

“(Not So) Secret Origin”

Radiant Black is a new superhero comic book series from writer Kyle Higgins and artist Marcelo Costa.  The series focuses on a failed writer who discovers a cosmic force that changes his life.  Letterer Becca Carey complete the series' creative team.

Radiant Black #1 (“(Not So) Secret Origin”) introduces Nathan Burnett.  He just turned thirty-years-old, and things are not going great.  He is a failed writer, has two awful jobs, and has thirty-eight thousand dollars in credit card debt.  Nathan leaves Los Angeles and returns home to Lockport to live with his parents.

Reunited with his old pal, Marshall, he goes out for a night on the town.  This is the night Nathan discovers and unlocks something cosmic that changes his life.  This new thing seems totally unique, but there is more to it than Nathan can imagine.

THE LOWDOWN:  If what I am reading on the Internet is true, Radiant Black may the first entry in a new “shared universe” of superhero titles from Image Comics.  That made me interested in Radiant Black, although I would have read the first issue anyway.

Marcelo Costa's art and colors do look radiant, and Costa's graphical storytelling is straightforward and calm.  That's a good thing; it is as if this story is saying, “Let's not get ahead of ourselves, now!”

I'm not sure what pace writer Kyle Higgins will adapt in revealing Radiant Black's secrets, but there is something charming and sweet in the matter of fact way this first issue reveals itself.  There is an old-fashioned sense of wonder and discovery in Radiant Black, but it is new, at the same time, and I like that.  Even Becca Carey's lettering seems determined to keep everything simple, but moving.

I like Radiant Black #1, but I won't give it a grade, although it seems like something I should call “a perfect first issue.”  I feel as if I need to know more, and I think the second issue will throw lots more at me.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans looking for something new with a touch of classic in superhero comic books will want to try Radiant Black.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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