Great premise! The writing isn't too smooth but the potential was undeniable. Would definitely check out the rest of the series to see how the plot develops and - hopefully - improves.

Netgalley Synopsis: 

In a world that already hates and fears them - what if only Black people had superpowers. After miraculously surviving being gunned down by police, a young man learns that he is part of the biggest lie in history. Now he must decide whether it's safer to keep it a secret or if the truth will set him free. Collects issues 1-6.

My Review:

Kareem is being hunted down by someone who controls the police. After minding his own business with his friends, he's shot down by some random police car on the side of the road. He wakes up in an ambulance and proceeds to jump out of the back and take off into a seemingly abandoned building. He meets someone there he never expects, someone who says they can help. The art in this book is amazing, and unlike any of the other comics I've read lately. It's black and white, which makes it stand out and really works with the story. I like the characters, they're scared, they're tough and they're just trying to figure out how to stay alive in a world where you have to hide your powers. I just like the book in general. It sucked me in from the moment I started it, it's an enjoyable read all the way through. I definitely recommend checking it out if you get a chance.

Thanks for reading!
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

(Ignore the star rating - star ratings suck)



Title: BLACK, Vol 1

Author: Kwanza Osajyefo

Contributors/Art:

Jamal Igle, Khary Randolph, Tim Smith III, Steven Walker, Robin Riggs, Sarah Stern, Dave Sharpe, Sarah Litt, Patricia Daguisan, Derwen Roberson

Genre: Graphic Novel, Sci-Fi (Superhero)

Series: BLACK #1-6





A Few Starting Notes:


(I received a free digital review copy from the publishers via NetGalley as an opportunity to provide a fair and honest review. This does not affect the content of my review.)


I've been meaning to write this review for quite a long time. But every time I sit down to write it, I feel slightly lost.




Because BLACK is unique, and intense, which makes it very, very, difficult to review.

Still, I'm gonna do my best 😅

As a reminder, I'm a white Welsh chick, so there's a limit to my perspective.

This book is Black American #OwnVoices.







The Premise:



Kareem Jenkins, a young black man in America, is gunned down by the police.

He dies.

Except, he doesn't stay that way.

And with that, he is exposed to one of the greatest conspiracies of all time: people with superpowers exist.






There is a gene that creates people with superpowers, and it only occurs in black people.

What would certain powerful white people do to stop that little fact coming out?

...And what would they do to use it for their own ends?








The Best Bits:



Firstly, the poetic justice of an X-men style plot and set-up consisting of only black superheroes is awesome.

(X-men has long been an allegory for the Civil Rights movement in America.)

With BLACK, we take the Civil Rights allegory, and we run with it.






This book has sooooo much awareness when it comes to race relations in America!

It somehow binds together not only the past and the present of the challenges that Black Americans face, but also places these skilfully alongside the premise of superpowers.






And it's shocking in places.

Many people will find it distasteful, I'm sure (more about that later,) but it's the kind of shocking that makes you sit up and pay attention.






Our colour-scheme here is black and white, shot through, in places, in red.

So much symbolism there!

Social commentary in the colour scheme! I mean, wow!









Content Warnings:



As this is a graphic novel, I really have to warn you that it does get really GRAPHIC.

- police brutality/shooting/racism

- racist murder

- general racism (inc. 'n' word and other slurs)

- systemic racism

- lynching/tarring and feathering (VERY GRAPHIC)

- torture (VERY GRAPHIC)

- experimentation on black people (VERY GRAPHIC)

- death by burning

- graphic nudity

- general graphic violence

- graphic depictions of dead bodies





The Not So Great Bits:



This book is violent and shocking.

Some people may even say that it's gratuitous, though I wouldn't agree with that.

The cover of the second issue - included in this volume as a chapter marker - is of the bodies of Black people, hanging from where they've been lynched.





It's chilling.

Not everyone is gonna be able to read it. And that's OK; take care of yourselves.

Be careful my nerdlets - please!





A note for my fellow white people:

Be honest with yourselves - are you more upset by the images, or the white guilt that comes with them?

You don't have to say, but please don't lie to yourself - make sure you understand your own reactions truthfully.





The main downside to this book is the lack of character development.

This isn't unique to BLACK - a lot of series dealing with this many characters struggle with it, especially when they're introduced more or less all at once.

I think here, the character development is sacrificed for the plot, and the points that the plot is making.

Sometimes the action gets a little confusing, but the message always shines strong - and I think that makes it worth it.






Verdict:



This book is bold.

It's so unique, and packs a powerful punch that has little to do with the superpowers.

It's not a comfortable read, and not everyone is gonna be able to read it, but it's a powerful and heart-felt series.

I highly recommend it.

Let me start off by saying that the premise of this graphic novel is so deep that I don’t think 6 issues will be sufficient enough. With that being said, I believe this work encapsulates the systematic disadvantages and oppression that African/Black Americans face daily. In this comic, we see these underrepresented groups emerge as the gifted superpowered elite in an alternate reality of the United States. Even though, they are endowed with these abilities, they still face the paradoxical issue of dinging the balance between the justice system and keeping other Black Americans safe from harm. In ways, it reminds me of a mixture between Luke Cage/Black Lighting/Black Panther, but the superpowers are a selective mutation only found in those of African descent. There are moments where it did feel like too much was happening at one time, and I wish the Osajyefo would have stretched it out more so that the series would last for several issues, but all in all, I loved every page! I will definitely be looking for the next issues to finish Kareem's story.

Gorgeous art and very hard and sensitive topics, thoroughly enjoyed this comic

This was a very interesting story. I really enjoyed the art and vision.

This felt... a bit flat. Underdeveloped, if you asked me. Could use another month of work with a good editor that would push the author to deepen the characters.

I really wanted to like this title, because the premise is simply amazing. Unfortunately, the execution of the idea really fell flat for me. There are better titles in a somewhat similar vein that I would rather purchase for my library. It's not a bad or poorly done book, it's simply not as good as it could be.

I liked this quite a bit more than I expected to. I've never heard of this author or the series before hand. It's interesting and has a great plot. I enjoyed the characters as well. I'll definitely be looking into more work by this author.

Fascinating. A gripping page turner with many surprises, twists and turns. Takes you inside the minds of the characters and helps you to see the world in a way you may not be familiar with: a whole new perspective. I couldn't put it down. I can't wait for the next installment. Highly recommended.

5 stars for the art + 4,5 stars for the concept + 3 for character depth = 4,16 stars

This is a beautifully illustrated comic about an alternative version of our world in which all people with super powers are black. Situated in the United States, all other systematic disadvantages for black people are still at play, but now there is another layer. The gifted are struggling between finding justice and keeping their people safe, fearing that exposure of their powers might bring upon a genocide.

I absolutely loved the artwork and concept, the only criticism I have is that so much action happens and a lot of characters are introduced in only a limited amount of pages that the introduced characters stay quite shallow. Hopefully there will be more depth if there is a sequel.

A fantastic approach to the superhero comic that takes the experience of racism and race relations in contemporary America and uses these tough issues to make an entertaining, thought provoking, and moving comic series.

In this what if story, humans start developing various superpowers. But only black people. 

I really wanted to like this but I think this book was trying to tell too many stories in too short a time. We follow Kareem as our introduction to this world and several interesting concepts are shown to us through him but WAY too many of them and WAY too many characters. Kareem meets one team, then there are prisoners, then there's another team, then there are rebels, then there are agents of the government involved, then they're fighting, and then I am confused. I mean WOW what a premise but it needs more time to show it's full potential. As it is I have to give it around a 2.7 but man, if the creators here reissue this story in a more detailed way? I am totally down.

Great idea, poor execution. It's a fantastic concept, "What if black people developed superpowers?". But the story is a convoluted mess with a cast of over a hundred super powered individuals in 6 issues. The characters become nothing more than a power set. The story would have worked better if it had started on the ground floor with people just now starting to develop powers. Instead Kareem is immediately dropped into multiple bases with hundreds of super powered individuals and grand conspiracies run by stereotypical racists. A real world approach to the book would have worked much better.

Explorations of race relations should be carefully undertaken to avoid wholesale vilification or lauding of a single race. So this book starts on uneasy footing. Police brutality against people of color is an important and timely topic and the addition of super powers adds a new winkle especially as it includes that which many stories ignore: the desire of those in power to control the super powered individuals.

3.5 stars. I loved reading this graphic from the beginning to end. It's "what if one of the big comic books still wrote about the powers and people but really included systematic racism like the kind we have IRL?" It has great art, frenetically paced action, and a backdrop of racism but still with tongue and cheek moments here or there. The crazy pace does make you wish for more information (less gaps) but I am hopeful for Vol. 2!

First, thank you to Net Galley and Diamond Publishing for offering this title for a short time so that I could read it. This series is on several best of lists for graphic novels 2017, including Forbes Magazine as an honorable mention. I also read that the authors have a movie deal.

The premise for this book started with Kwanza Osajyefo's simple wondering:

What if only Black people had superpowers?
That is exactly what this series is about. It is about a bunch of boys that are stopped by police. They all get shot but one of them does not die. He is brought into a secret society where he learns that he has quarks that give him superpowers. Not only that, but only Black people, throughout history have these superpower.

I'm in! It is such a refreshing new take. Granted I am not the typical audience for these graphic novels. I am a Pacific Islander. I am a female, old, highly educated, mother, grandmother of boys. I am not the typical consumer.

Still, I spent my career as an English teacher refusing to teach out of textbooks. I begrudgingly taught the dead white male curriculum to non-white students only after bringing in females, minorities, Hawaiians, brown, yellow, red, black writers as a baseline for discussion. As a middle school teacher, I made it my mission to find books that my boys would enjoy. This is it.



These superheroes cannot walk away and be anonymously rich and handsome Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen. These superheroes continue to live lives of violent desperation. They continue to be seen as thugs, hoodlums, criminals. Now we are finally meshing entertainment with social justice and social commentary still packaged in a readable format. This is what I have been looking for.

LOVED IT! I immediately wanted to see if it was optioned for a film or tv series, and it has been optioned to make into a film. This was so great. I hope the studio does it justice. I love that it's done in black and white and I loved the message.

The story is that three teens are walking home are stopped by cops looking for three black men who robbed a restaurant. The problem is the description could be anyone, but the police immediately pull guns on them. One of teens is so scared he starts to run, though the other two don't. The police immediately fire upon them, killing them. All witnessed by a young African American female detective, Ellen Waters, from that neighborhood.

When Kareem Jenkins wakes up in the ambulance, this starts off a story told from Kareem's POV and the officer who witnessed the shooting. She starts to investigate other's who may be like Kareem and help her find him. And Kareem tries to figure out who's actually on his side.

Kareem learns that he is one of many others, and is recruited by an underground group who we realizes they are African American who have superpowers. This seems to only happen to Black people and they are trying to keep it under wraps as well as recruit anyone else who has abilities.

At the same time, there is a government (maybe) organization who also realizes this is going on and they are trying to find Kareem because his genetic makeup that give him his powers are unique. We aren't really sure of their goals. Are they trying to kill Kareem or do they want something else, much more sinister from him?

The problem is, Kareem doesn't know who he can really trust. Because the group who helped him get away is also holding and surpressing those who seem to be out of control. And Kareem may be the most powerful of them all, to date. Who can he trust?

This was an awesome read. Fast paced as it was a comic, but done is a way that flowed. I really enjoyed reading it.

I had lots of fun reading this but as much as the primal concept of it intrigued me, the realisation of it was a bit disappointing… The side characters were very hard to remember and the whole story felt kind of blurry to me, in the sense that it lacked some structure…
However, I am looking forward to reading the next installments in the hope it will be more structured, because it has, in my opinion, a LOT of potential.

What caught my attention about this book was the unique premise. It was refreshing to find a new story with a great concept. The illustrations were an amazing touch to the story. There were a few too many characters introduced that kind of overshadowed some, but it wasn't to hard to keep up. The pacing has its ups and downs, but it is only the first volume and I am looking forward to the next chapter in the series. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.