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Is It Good? Blackout #1 Review

Comic Books

Is It Good? Blackout #1 Review

Judge a book by its cover and you might think this was Iron Man crossed with The Guyver. Sounds pretty sweet, come to think of it; but is it good?


Blackout #1 (Dark Horse Comics)


Is It Good? Blackout #1 Review

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It may look like a straight superhero comic, but don’t be fooled, this little puppy is set in a science fiction future that’s close to looking like ours. Oh, and corporations still suck and want to ruin everyones lives with greed.

So not much change at all really.

Except for maybe a suit that lets you teleport around. This isn’t BAMFing around in a Nightcrawler purple haze of smoke, though… but via some kind of interdimensional rift. In this rift it’s very cold, things are pretty trippy looking and it’s a bit of a dangerous trek. Annnnd of course our hero doesn’t know where he got the damn costume and doesn’t really want the power.

You know, your average hero these days; one who’s called to action but is just as lazy and boring as you are.

Is It Good? Blackout #1 Review
Trippy!

It’s a bit early to stamp this book as contrived of things we’ve seen before, but so far it’s not lighting any fires in the story department. Shadowy people are doing bad things, they want our hero stopped and they’ll stop at nothing to do so. He’s learning his powers as he goes so we can too and he makes some mistakes. Nothing pops out at me as that new or fresh, aside from the basic premise of the suit that is as it’s a pretty cool little gadget to fool around with. Turning the pages on this book however, left me wanting a heck of a lot more.

Is It Good? Blackout #1 Review
Nice effect on the right.

The art however, is pretty flippin sweet. Artist Doug Wheatley provides a neat glow effect on our costumed hero (maybe that credit should go to colorist Rain Beredo) and dang does Blackout always look cool. When it comes to technology and people Wheatley gives everything a nice weight and verisimilitude that makes things realistic enough despite all the flashy special effects of the teleportation. In one sequence Wheatley nails, Blackout takes on some special ops men who catch him by surprise. You feel every punch and hit and this is due to all the great kinetic energy and sense of physics he imbues such pages with.

Is It Good? Blackout #1 Review
”Note to self” is used way too much in this issue.

Is It Good?

So often in comics it seems like the art carries things and keeps your interest. In some cases it does you a service as things pick up later in the story, and I’m holding out hope that happens here, but as a first issue goes you won’t be overwhelmed with good vibes, but rather teleported through its pages through the art alone.

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