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A review by speculativebecky
Tuskegee Heirs Flames of Destiny by Greg Burnham, Marcus Williams
4.0
Tuskegee Heirs is a sci fi adventure story set in the 2090’s, about a team of five pilots who are being trained in secret for ?? some impending threat, in a world complicated by the fact that human piloted jets are illegal. The name of the team pays homage to the historic Tuskegee Airmen, a group of all Black pilots fighting in the US Military in WWII, who were the first Black men allowed to serve as pilots during a time of Jim Crow laws and a racially segregated military. The comic nods to this and other pieces of history, and intentionally centers a diverse group of Black teens positioned to save the world. It’s exciting to see this representation and intentionality, since the world of comics, especially of the world saving variety, is heavily white dominated, and also typically centers male stories.
I was a little disappointed that the plot and worldbuilding were not very fleshed out by the end of this volume, the world ending threat is still a mystery, and the sides fighting against each other are not clearly delimited. However it’s very obvious the story is only just beginning and there’s a lot more to come, so I’m definitely willing to forgive less than a hundred pages for not explaining everything. The characters in this comic are terrific, and their personalities shine right through on the page. The art is also fantastic, and really made me excited about reading. Looking forward to more from this team!
I was a little disappointed that the plot and worldbuilding were not very fleshed out by the end of this volume, the world ending threat is still a mystery, and the sides fighting against each other are not clearly delimited. However it’s very obvious the story is only just beginning and there’s a lot more to come, so I’m definitely willing to forgive less than a hundred pages for not explaining everything. The characters in this comic are terrific, and their personalities shine right through on the page. The art is also fantastic, and really made me excited about reading. Looking forward to more from this team!