Radiant Black #44. //Review
A couple of old friends need to catch up. Seems kind of strange for them to meet in a touristy pizzeria in Chicago. After all, they're kind of from there. Given the line of work their income they both have to catch up in a way that it's going to be kind of important to the city as a hole. So it seems perfectly natural for their to lie low in a very, very public space. They've got a lot to talk about in. Radiant Black #44. The writing team of Kyle Higgins & Joe Clark continue a long running sci-fi, superhero drama with the art team of Marcelo Costa & Paulo Daniel Santos. Color comes to the page courtesy of Rod Fernandes & Marcelo Costa.
There's a lot that's been going on in Chicago. In order to keep it all straight, they would have to draw a map. As luck would have it, the kids menu comes with a map of all the different locations of the restaurant and question. Pick up a few crayons and they can pretty much work out exactly what it's going on in and around the entire area. There's a lot to have to keep up with.
The writing team is delivering a story that would probably more comfortably fit in a couple of different titles. They're able to keep all of the different elements of the story distinct and coherent without feeling rushed. That's quite an accomplishment given the fact that there is as much going on as there is. The pacing of the current issue is pretty impressive. And although it's not something that would be really easy for somebody to pick up as their first issue with this particular title, it's easy enough to follow and compelling enough to want to follow.
The art team is delivering a lot of entry to the page. It's not exactly an action-centric issue, but it is doing a good job of delivering attention. The distinct feel of this particular titles. Version of Chicago continues to feel very well fought out on the page. It feels very immersive, even if the story is focused so tightly on just a few characters per scene. There's enough in around the edges of all the tight close-ups to deliver a pretty immersive world. Once again, the attention to detail is really impressive.
As interesting as it all is, Radiant Black is delivering a story that feels passed together from various other superhero characters without adding too much of its own aside from the distinct flavor of Chicago and some rather well-rendered dialogue. It's not like it isn't entertaining, but it clearly seems to be missing something when the most memorable thing about it turns out to be the fact that it happens to be set in Chicago. Long-term readers will have developed some kind of connection to the characters as well. However, there isn't much about them that seems as distinct as it needs to be to really create a unique impression on the page.
