A cop, a shooting, and a world turned upside down. Black Cotton #1 by Scout Comics explores what it would mean if white was a minority, and a black cop commits police brutality.  

BLACK COTTON #1 (OF 6)

Writer: Brian Hawkins and Patrick Foreman
Artist: Marco Perugini
Letterer: Francisco Zamora
Editor: Courtney Toohey
Publisher: Scout Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 17th, 2021 

Previously in Black Cotton: This comic is set in an alternate reality where “white” and “black” are reversed. The series centers around an elitist family known as the Cottons. Important characters are Zion Cotton, a cop in Virginia, Elijah, Zion’s billionaire dad, and Qia, Zion’s sister.

ROLE REVERSAL

The issue starts with black cop Zion Cotton stopping a white girl in a hoodie. When she turns around, he pulls his gun and shoots fearing that she had a weapon. The Cotton family goes into turmoil trying to figure out how to stop a huge press debacle. Elijah and Qia are angrily trying to reach Zion but he doesn’t pick up his phone. Qia decides to go to Zion’s apartment and sees angry protesters with signs of “White Lives Matter” and “End Police Brutality”. Qia states that they are an elite family, above these people and that this could make their empire fall apart. Qia then goes and meets with the victim’s family and their lawyer to try and make this all go away.

BLACK COTTON

Throughout the issue, the Cotton family kept saying the phrase “Black Cotton” and I struggled if this was supposed to be a direct reference to something in our reality. Perhaps a reference to the “KKK?” I figure that there is some secret thing that will reveal itself in a later issue.

This comic is drawn in black and white, and it really emphasizes this racial battle happening within the issue. It catches you off guard because you have to look at their skin color because there is nothing else to focus on. We also have to spend special attention on what the characters focus on. Zion hates what he did and seems to have genuine remorse. His family on the other hand only care about keeping their status and money and little about the women is dead.

The parallel is clear. It sheds a light on what has happen in recent times. It shows how the powerful view people. At this moment, I’m unsure what the end message is going to be, but this is a challenging read in a good way.

BOTTOM LINE: THOUGHT-PROVOKING

This comic makes you think. It isn’t designed to be an easy read or fun and enjoyable. Instead, we are taken into a different perspective of recent events that we may not have thought of. This makes it a great read because it reflects modern events. 4 out of 5 for me, but it is hard to judge it based on modern comic standards.

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