In RADIANT BLACK #3, available from Image Comics on April 21st, 2021, Nathan Burnett is your average writer with writer’s block… and he’s a burgeoning superhero. When his latest short story goes nowhere, he looks for inspiration wherever he can.
The Details
- Written By: Kyle Higgins
- Art By: Marcelo Costa
- Letters By: Becca Carey
- Cover Art By: Marcelo Costa
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: April 21, 2021
Was It Good?
No. It was boring. The most exciting aspect of this issue is the fight scene on the cover, and that scene isn’t in the book.
To be fair, this issue does capture the struggle of what it feels like to have writer’s block, but that’s all it does.
The art is passable but bland. The excessive use of muted color palettes robs what little story there is of pop or strong visual interest. It’s not bad art. There’s simply nothing here to capture your attention.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Nathan Burnett can’t get seem to get going on his short story about a bank robber taking an opportunity to start life afresh. When he tries to get in a rhythm in his living room, his mother interrupts (yes, writers hate that), so he decides to move to his room. Inevitably, Nathan finds himself looking at cat memes. The harder he tries to buckle down, the less progress he makes. Off he goes from some fresh air.
Nathan meets his friend, Marshall, working the register at a video store (those are still around?). They have a less-than-quiet talk about what to name Nathan’s superhero persona. Nathan is not quite bought into the idea of being a superhero while Marshall is fully in and quickly starts establishing a social media presence for the newly-dubbed Radiant Black. Nathan leaves annoyed.
Nathan heads to a local pub for a beer, hoping to dig further into the character he’s writing. After scribbling in a notebook and downing two pints, he’s nowhere and goes home.
Tapping away on his laptop in his room, his window explodes inward as Radiant Black flies in, grabs Nathan, and flies high into the sky. Radiant Black lets him go to fall to his death… when he wakes up screaming from his nightmare. His phone is beeping as the social media account Marshall set up notifies him somebody is asking for help.
So far, the dream is the most exciting part of the issue (spoiler: it’s the ONLY exciting part of the issue), and it doesn’t happen until 13 pages into the issue.
Radiant Black responds to the call for help. A family on their way to a basketball game is stuck on the highway with a flat tire. Radiant Black tries (and fails) to change it, so he flies the car to the stadium in time for the family to watch the start of the game.
How Does It End?
Radiant Black receives a thank you present that would make cat lovers proud. Nathan gets his groove back. The creative team promises everything changes in the next issue.
Final Thoughts
RADIANT BLACK #3, available from Image Comics on April 21st, 2021, gives readers a deep look into the struggles of writer’s block. Unfortunately, you can’t help feeling the creative team had their own block in making this third issue. There’s no story, the superhero alter-ego shows up for 3 pages to change a tire badly, and whatever plot was established in the first two issues is completely ignored.
Score: 5.5/10
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