I’m not a Tokusatsu gal. The Japanese tradition of costumed superheroes with outrageous names fighting endless goons and flamboyant monsters in a seemingly infinite sea of quarries should, by all accounts, be extremely my kind of thing. But whether it’s Power Rangers, Kamen Rider or Ultraman, every attempt I’ve made to dive into the genre has left me cold, even in the realm of comic books.
While his recent Ultraman mini for Marvel has been a fun ride, Kyle Higgins’ tenure of the wildly successful BOOM Studios Power Rangers line just didn’t click for me. They were undoubtedly well-made comics and added some very welcome emotional depth to the franchise, but my Toku Apathy wouldn’t let up.
Thankfully, Radiant Black has managed to crack through my defenses and left me wholly entertained finally.
Higgins’ first Image series since 2015’s C.O.W.L., joined by Marcelo Costa, Becca Carey and Michael Cho on covers, Radiant Black stars Nathan Burnett. A writer-turned-starving-writer with overwhelming credit card debt who is returning to his hometown to move back in with his parents, Nathan is one of the issue’s greatest strengths. While not a revolutionary protagonist, he’s a white millennial who is disappointed in his life. It is hard not to find at least one part of his story relatable. Having worked in a banking call center where I had the absolute joy of taking loan applications, the opening exchange between Nathan and a bank employee informing him his loan application has been denied hits very close to home.
A hallmark of Higgins’ time steering the Power Rangers ship, from what I have read, is the fleshing out of the Rangers as actual teens. Struggling with personal issues, their own identities and uncertain futures, their problems felt real and grounded the characters in a sense of emotional honesty. He carries that forward here, trading Teenage Problems for Anxious Broke Millennial Problems to great success. Nathan’s worries are ones that I, personally, have run into countless times and give him a genuine everyman sense of authenticity that even Peter Parker has been lacking for decades. It doesn’t hurt that having his lead be a white dude writer helps stave off the discomfort of a white guy writing a Japanese icon present in Higgins’ Ultraman work.
Nathan eventually stumbles, literally in his case after a night of drowning his sorrows with a childhood friend, onto a mysterious otherworldly power source and gets a flashy super-suit complete with a dazzling Toku-inspired transformation sequence. While Costa’s art is well-executed through the issue before The Big Hero Moment, he really makes his mark when the superpowers start flying. Radiant Black (presumably Nathan’s superhero name, although it is never said in the issue itself) has a killer design, sleek and clean with a modern yet classic aesthetic. The real secret weapon is Costa’s colors, making the crackling lightning and glowing force fields at Nathan’s disposal look genuinely cool and not of this earth.
The issue doesn’t have much in the way of action, a brief scene with a speeding train being about the height of thrills, but that works to the debut’s advantage. Rather than spend precious page real estate on a haphazard super-brawl, we get quiet moments with Nathan and his friend Marshall that highlight just how vital this chance to do something with his life is for Nathan. It isn’t a bold, never-before-seen take to have a superhero want to save folks and make the world better because of past failures, but when draped in Millennial Debt and the weight of failing at your life’s dream, it certainly hits closer to home than many swings at the genre. The final pages, teasing that Nathan isn’t the only one out there who found this power, leave a pretty exciting hook for the series’ future direction and have me looking forward to #2 as soon as I can get my hands on it.
Radiant Black isn’t reinventing the wheel, nor is it even trying to. Every inch of its story owes some of its roots from Ultraman to classic Amazing Spider-Man to an immediately apparent degree. But that’s OK! Those stories and archetypes have persisted for decades for a reason, and Radiant Black is an extremely well-crafted take on them. Higgins and Costa seem to know exactly what this book needs to be and are content to polish that identity till it shines, and it works. If you’re looking for something you’ve never seen before, you should look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for an engaging, modern and gorgeous take on some of the most timeless genres of superhero storytelling, Radiant Black is about as good of a purchase as you could make.
Radiant Black #1 is out Feb. 10.
Zoe Tunnell is a 29-year old trans woman who has read comics for most of her adult life and can't stop now. Follow her on Twitter @Blankzilla.
