Loading Previews this week cut down on my catch up but I did get through a few. Like many of you, I am still trying to burn down a pile while still keeping in the know on new ones. To help a little I will complain less about rushed completions to Star, Not All Robots and the end of the first Autumnal arc. All three displeased me but easy to say watching from the seats rather than being in the ring.
The new ones all have potential. Black Panther Legends has pre-teen TChalla, his adopted Caucasian brother Hunter and Shuri witnessing the entrance of Wakanda onto the global scene. The tone of the MCU Wakanda is obvious in the story but page six actually is what caught my attention. When the family arrives in Johannesburg they are separated into two lines, one for Europeans and one for Non Europeans. The artwork shows the actual separation, white and not white. This reminded me of Trevor Noah’s memoir and his explanation of his real family and the fact that his parents’ marriage was not legal in South Africa. He has stated that often the family would walk on separate sides of the street to avoid attention. We often miss social commentary in comics but it’s nice to see a single page show so much about the environment the characters are in and would have faced in the actual world at the time the story is told.
Trojan took a minute, and a few pages, to get into. The secretive nature of the characters meant having to lend patience until the actual point of their meeting is finally revealed. The last page make you immediately want to purchase issue two. That image compared to the image on cover A, is a nice representation of the content of the book. The down sides are the tone of the story and the biology of the primary character. I will not ruin the reveal but am happy to talk with you about it should you wish.
Kroma was interesting but also a little wonky. I find a story about a religious order controlling young boys, and what appears to be repressing/punishing a female just for being one, very off-putting. The use, and absence, of color is the one attractive thing that kept my attention. The artwork for cover A was well chosen. After reading the issue it was proven a splendid choice, just not sure the visual is worth the journey yet. I will give them another issue to sway me with the story but the potential has a short window on this one.
- Black Panther Legends #1
- Trojan #1 of 4
- Not All Robots #5
- Star #2
- Star #3
- Star #4
- Star #5
- Autumnal #8
- Kroma #1
- Grim #2