The thing that’s drawn me to Radiant Black, other than its unique take on a superhero book, is how it’s captured a lot of what my life is like. That’s by design, since co-creator Kyle Higgins has likened it to a millennial take on Power Rangers, but Radiant Black #32 has only solidified that this is the comic for my generation. “How?” you might ask. Well, dear readers, let me count the ways.
For starters, there’s still the mystery of who is hunting down and killing duplicates from the Catalyst War’s alternate timeline and blaming it on Radiant Black. Not helping matters is the fact that there’s seemingly online chatter that’s out to paint him as the devil. And of course, there’s what happens when Marshall decides to switch from a normal dating profile to using Radiant Black as a profile. Apparently he forgot that being a superhero, and a semi-famous one at that, considerably widens the dating pool.
To Higgins and Joe Clark’s credit, and especially Eduardo Ferigato’s, they use it as the setup for one of the funniest pages I’ve seen in a comic book this year. That page features Marshall on a variety of dates, wearing his Radiant Black helmet paired with a simple suit. I don’t know what’s funnier; the variety of expressions that Ferigato draws on Marshall’s dates, or the tangent that Marshall goes off on about potentially saving Billy Zane (though it confirms to me that Higgins and Clark have watched and appreciated The Phantom, so I applaud their taste.)
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While I haven’t been on that many dates, other parts of the issue stood out to me. Chief among them was Marshall being told to slow down being Radiant Black, whether it’s by postmaster/spymaster Kieran or by his doctor when he gets more meds for the injuries he’s suffered in battle. At certain points in my life, friends and family have urged me to slow down and take things easy rather than go at the world’s breakneck pace. Once again, Radiant Black has truly spoken to me in a way that few other comics have.
Radiant Black #32 also introduces a mysterious new female character, who seems to be interested in Marshall in more ways than one. She also has a unique costume and power set that takes on vibrant life thanks to Rod Fernandes’s color art; part of those powers include a set of glowing golden wings, and technology that gives off a similar wave of energy that can destabilize Marshall’s Radiant powers. She and her crew also converse in Spanish, which Becca Carey leaves untranslated for a sense of realism. I also love that when Marshall gets hit by this new tech, Carey once again shows his word balloons slipping out of sync – it adds to the otherworldliness of his power set.
Radiant Black #32 is one of the more relatable comics I’ve read on the stands: it captures issues I’ve been dealing with in my life, including dating (or lack thereof) and trying not to sink too deep into “the grind”. All I need is the power to manipulate gravity and the parallels will be complete.
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