Published: December, 2019
Written by: Art Thibert, Pamela Thibert, Taylor Grosso
Art by: Art Thibert, Periya Pillai, Hack Shack Color
Image Comics/Extreme Studios (original run), Hack Shack Studios, 52 Pages
Review:
I had the old issues of Art Thibert’s Black and White back when Image published them in 1993. I barely remembered the series but I did always like Thibert’s art, especially his X-Men stuff.
So when I saw that he was crowdfunding a remastered version of that old creation of his, I figured I’d back it and get reacquainted with these characters.
Overall, this was an energetic and nice read. This version of the book looks really good and it is improved upon.
I wasn’t quite expecting it to end in the middle of the story but I also backed this awhile ago and I might have forgotten that detail. So there is a second volume coming out in the future, which will complete the story. When that happens, I’m not sure, as Thibert is currently working on another project called Chrono Mechanics.
As far as the story goes, I found it pretty interesting but it reads like a lot of the other early Image superhero stuff. It feels as if it doesn’t know where it’s going and it’s trying to find its footing. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Todd McFarlane’s Spawn was a bit shaky in its early issues. I would definitely say that this is better than Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood, which I always thought was poorly written. So for early Image stuff, I’d say that this is somewhere in the middle.
I liked the characters but I also didn’t feel like I was given enough material to fully understand them, which doesn’t do much in generating excitement over the eventual second volume.
Still, this did a decent job of laying some groundwork for future exploration. However, I’m not sure if Thibert wants to keep this series going or if the second part will just be the actual end of it.
Rating: 6.25/10
Pairs well with: other early Image and Valiant superhero comics.
Talking Pulp 