Picking up from the shocking ending of issue #5, Radiant Black’s life just got a whole lot more complicated. Pursued by a new enemy and not sure whom to trust, will our hero escape with his life? Or is this the beginning of the end? Issue #7 is written by Kyle Higgins, drawn by Marcelo Costa, colored by Natalia Marques and lettered by Becca Carey for Image Comics.
After two issues with guest artists, Radiant Black’s main artist, Marcelo Costa, returns for an action-packed issue. It’s nice to see him back, though that’s no slight to the artists who stepped in for issues #5 and #6. Costa’s art — the sleek and angular line work, his use of body language — are so defining to the look and feel of this book. His storytelling sensibilities are defining for the series, balancing traditional superhero action with a grounded awkwardness of people just discovering their powers, particularly important for Marshall, who is a burnout loser. It wouldn’t be appropriate for him to be standing burly-chested and heroic. The most iconic moment here is the reprise of the vomiting-helmet-gag from issue #1.
The action in this issue centers on an assault on Radiant Black and the newly introduced multi-colored Radiants from the end of issue #5. They are being chased by a mysterious assailant whose powers manifest in a very cool glitchy effect that seems to disrupt the Radiants’ abilities. After an initial tussle, the group escapes, and are eventually separated thanks to Radiant Pink’s portal creation abilities.
Storywise, this issue is Kyle Higgins at his most traditionally superhero, which is both its strength and weakness. After six issues of origin, experimentation and subverting superhero tropes, the book begins to embrace some of those bombastic elements to strong effect. Holding off on the big action and frenetic pacing on display here makes this issue feel heavy with stakes. The gorgeous double-page spread toward the end, depicting a sprawling interstellar conflict, complete with giant robots, is a genuinely surprising expansion of scope that is all the more effective because the creators so firmly established a smaller, character-focused story for the book until that moment.
The straightforward superhero action is also where the issue feels lacking. Not to say any of it is bad, because the script keeps the story moving forward and the characters at its heart. But the interruption of Marshall and Satomi’s fight in issue #5 brings this story back to a familiar superhero meet-cute — first they fight, then they team up, which kicks the emotional payoff we have been waiting for since issue #4 a little further down the road. That’s not necessarily a problem, but my curiosity at this point is much more rooted in exploring Marshall and his motivations, which we still don’t know much about.
Costa’s return makes this action-centric issue a joy to look at. There is an impressive multipage sequence where the characters are falling out of the sky and Costa draws the panels as vertical towers. The characters are heavily foreshortened, with the bottom of the panel weighted down with the largest figure in one panel, then reversed in the next. Combined with the subtle motion lines, these layouts give dizzying vertigo that offers an impressive illusion of motion.
While it’s not the series’ best, this issue has exciting action, introduces several new mysteries, and deftly balances the burgeoning cast. The frenetic pacing keeps the characters on edge, heightening the threat from the mysterious glitchy warrior whose relentless power gives the ragtag team only fleeting moments to catch their breath. As a tantalizing opening salvo for the next arc, this issue gets the job done in entertaining fashion, even if it is not quite as unique as earlier entries.
Tim Rooney
By day, Tim is a nonprofit professional. By night he is either reading, writing, or thinking very seriously about superhero comics.
