A review by greeniezona
Black Volume 1 by Kwanza Osajyefo
4.0
I discovered this book through kickstarter and was fascinated. The premise is great (what if only black people had superpowers?), and when the paperback arrived it looked fantastic.
I felt kind of ho-hum about the other two graphic novels I read during the readathon, but this one I really liked. At first I thought it was going to fall into some similar traps, as a lot of different characters and factions and suspect motivations are introduced in this slim volume, and at times it verged on overwhelming. But at least here it felt like a deliberate choice -- like Kareem (the main character) we are thrust suddenly into a world that has been hidden -- that has developed schisms and hurt feelings and vendettas. Like Kareem, we have very little time to figure out who the "good guys" are and pick a side. And unlike the world of Marvel, there's no assumption that you already know anything about the world before jumping in.
Except racism. If you haven't already figured out that this world (our world) is racist AF before picking up this book, you're probably not going to like it. If you agree with racist shitbag Director Theodore that "these violent liberals are being radicalized by Black Lives Matter," you'll probably want to burn it with fire. Because this isn't just a superhero showdown with a sheen of social commentary, this is racial analysis with superheroes.
I really liked the art, and the kickstarter extras were fun. Very solid.
I felt kind of ho-hum about the other two graphic novels I read during the readathon, but this one I really liked. At first I thought it was going to fall into some similar traps, as a lot of different characters and factions and suspect motivations are introduced in this slim volume, and at times it verged on overwhelming. But at least here it felt like a deliberate choice -- like Kareem (the main character) we are thrust suddenly into a world that has been hidden -- that has developed schisms and hurt feelings and vendettas. Like Kareem, we have very little time to figure out who the "good guys" are and pick a side. And unlike the world of Marvel, there's no assumption that you already know anything about the world before jumping in.
Except racism. If you haven't already figured out that this world (our world) is racist AF before picking up this book, you're probably not going to like it. If you agree with racist shitbag Director Theodore that "these violent liberals are being radicalized by Black Lives Matter," you'll probably want to burn it with fire. Because this isn't just a superhero showdown with a sheen of social commentary, this is racial analysis with superheroes.
I really liked the art, and the kickstarter extras were fun. Very solid.