The surprises keep on coming as we finally discover the truth about Radiant Red. Your Major Spoilers review of Radiant Black #6 from Image Comics awaits!
RADIANT BLACK #6
Writer: Kyle Higgins and Cherish Chen
Artist: Darko Lafuente
Colorist: Miquel Muerto
Letterer: Becca Carey
Editor: Michael Busuttil
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 21, 2021
Previously in Radiant Black: Whose face is hidden beneath the helmet of Radiant Red? And why will it challenge everything we think we know?
SATOMI NEVER GIVES UP
Radiant Black #6 starts with a party: holiday party, to be precise, where we meet Satomi and her fiance Owen. There’s clearly tension between them, but when they return home to find a man on the doorstep demanding payment, it becomes clear. Owen has gambled away too much money, and not for the first time. She offers to cash out her grad school fund, but when she goes to the bank, Satomi finds that he’s already emptied it and gambled that as well. Of course, when she’s hit by a glowing red collapsar, things change for Satomi, as she is transformed into one of the Radiants. With her life and her engagement crumbling, Satomi realizes that she can use her powers for more than just punching evil, which leads to her arriving home with two duffel bags full of cash. When Owen asks where she has been, she simply responds, “I handled it.”
PUTS THE FIRST THREE ISSUES IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT
For the THIRD ISSUE in a row, Radiant Black #6 upends the table and puts everything in an entirely new light. Last issue’s reveal of multiple Radiants was a shocker, but finding that the brutal, pragmatic Radiant Red is a petite schoolteacher from Illinois is a nice, unexpected plot point. I’m also wondering if the creators are going where issue #5 made me think they were going (think Power Rangers), but regardless, I’m in for the long haul. This issue’s guest-art is just as strong as the regular team, and it opens with a big family holiday dinner that feels perfectly mundane and regular before transitioning to the super-powered craziness. The final half-page splash of a stone-faced Satomi surrounded by fluttering hundred dollar bills has not supernatural or super-powered elements at all, but it may be one of the best superhero panels in recent memory.
BOTTOM LINE: ANOTHER WINNER
In short, Radiant Black #6 upholds the book’s streak of excellence in both art and story, providing a clever and well-paced story paired with excellent art and coloring for a phenomenal reading experience and 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. This book reminds me so much of the early days of Invincible that I’m entirely confident in telling you to get onboard now before the back issues start to skyrocket in price, because this is a really good comic.
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RADIANT BLACK #6
For the third issue in a row, the Radiant Black team delivers on a well-crafted, unexpected plot twist, and I'm totally enthralled by it all.
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Writing9
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Coloring19
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.