Black Mask Studios 2018
written by Kwanza Osajyefo
illustrated by Tim Smith 3
Coloured by Derwin Roberson
Lettered by David Sharpe
In a world where only black people have superpowers, what price do they fetch on the black market? From the pages of BLACK, this new story features Anansi and Hoodrat investigating a human trafficking ring that will take them across the globe and bring them face-to-face with dark pasts of abuse, child soldiers, and families torn apart.
I am a fan of this series mainly because there really is nothing else out there that comes even remotely close to it. In our society we see that we have this issue with people who appear different than we do and so the “role reversal” here is so nice to see. I do think that people need to open up, explore and have a conversation, without anger or prejudice, about what their fears actually are. That kind of dialogue would be instrumental in educating everyone to changing their views. Unfortunately there are too many that won’t do that but we have this as well and the way these guys are doing this, particularly this issue, is a different equivalent.
I like the way that this is structured it has a dynamic opening which captures the attention of the reader nicely. Also if you haven’t read the first arc that’s okay this is a great jumping on point for new readers. Oh and I do have to admit that this opening was superb and if this were any book on the market it would have the same impact only be more wildly seen and loved. It is pure excitement and kicks off the story in a way that is incredibly strong.
This really delves into Kurokumo’s background as a boy taken, yes kidnapped, and trained to be an elite assassin for Amime. I like the fact that the story is so involved and on a personal level like it is. All too frequently when a story delves into such a personal story regarding a character it tends to get overly complicated and has to run way too many issues in length. So what we see here already has me excited as Kurokumo returns to the ones he left and betrayed in search of answers and it expands him as a character and does some great characterisation at the same time. It really works in ways that blend everything into a coherent seemingly one strong story thread.
The interiors here are strong, clean and tightly done. The lienwork is nice, smooth and has some varying of weight behind them. Could use a little more variations but it doesn’t detract from the overall look and design of the book. While I am looking through a few things stand out beautifully and that’s Anansi’s student and her lineage which is seemingly rat like in appearance and the colour gradation that we see are superbly handled. The creativity and imagination are wonderfully on display in these pages. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a nice eye for storytelling. The lack of real backgrounds however makes me sad because it seems to me to have been a lost opportunity to show off the skill and work as well as expand the world they live in.
if you are looking for a new type of superhero book then you really owe it to yourself to be looking hard at this book. It is a solidly written book that has a strong set of characters and it’s an interesting universe with complex storylines and being something new and fresh.