A review by the_lyon_reads_tonight
Black Volume 1 by Kwanza Osajyefo
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Ok, so I enjoyed this one but I wanted to enjoy it so much more. The concept is phenomenal, only black people have super powers and that has been one of the driving forces of racism and persecution. Good right?
But the actual execution struggled. There are SO many characters that it is near impossible to keep track. It would be like if Marvel had introduced every character that was in endgame in iron man 1. Exhausting for the reader and hard to keep up. It felt like I was reading the 30th volume of a comic instead of the 1st. The second tough thing was that it was just very on the nose. I expect that to some degree in comics but particularly in the last two volumes, it just had characters flat out stating what the concept was and if you have to do that, you have missed steps.
On the upside, X was a great main character and that last frame was fire….I wish Waters had gotten a little more time since I think she could have driven the story forward more effectively. Overall, a fun read visually but not one that I will probably keep reading.
But the actual execution struggled. There are SO many characters that it is near impossible to keep track. It would be like if Marvel had introduced every character that was in endgame in iron man 1. Exhausting for the reader and hard to keep up. It felt like I was reading the 30th volume of a comic instead of the 1st. The second tough thing was that it was just very on the nose. I expect that to some degree in comics but particularly in the last two volumes, it just had characters flat out stating what the concept was and if you have to do that, you have missed steps.
On the upside, X was a great main character and that last frame was fire….I wish Waters had gotten a little more time since I think she could have driven the story forward more effectively. Overall, a fun read visually but not one that I will probably keep reading.