Things are looking up for our Radiant friends… Cue the giant robots! Your Major Spoilers review of Radiant Black #23 from Image Comics awaits!
RADIANT BLACK #23
Writer: Kyle Higgins
Artist: Eduardo Ferigato
Colorist: Raul Angulo & Marcelo Costa
Letterer: Becca Carey
Editor: Michael Busuttil
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 12, 2023
Previously in Radiant Black: One giant robot? No problem. All the Radiants working together took it down easily. So what if there’s one more coming?
…What’s that? Look at the cover? Why would I look at the… oh.
Oh no.
A LEVEL-UP
While Wendell (Radiant Yellow) tries to access the communications array of the giant robot that the Radiants blew up a couple of issues ago, Radiant Black meets with his website team. He has some definite ideas, but the team isn’t interested, threatening to unionize, and telling him that they KNOW he’s Marshall. When Marshall then walks in, they quickly acquiesce, agreeing to help him file for trademarks and monetize the Radiant Black IP. With that win under their belt, though, you know that disaster is bound to follow. When Wendell accesses the robot’s memory, he finds that it was merely a scout… and there are half a dozen more incoming.
And they’re all homing in on the Radiants.
THE ODDS ARE LOW
Marshall’s solution for the immediate problem is actually more disconcerting than the robot menace itself, but that shock is followed by another, as Wendell finally gives up another of his secrets, ending with a moment I’ve been waiting for since Nathan awoke from his coma. This issue’s art is really dynamic, with the heroes’ POV shot as the robots tear the roof off Marshall’s house standing out, but storytelling clarity is lacking a time or two. I’m still not sure how many robots actually were in battle against Radiant Black, and the final sequence where both Radiants Black prepare for war, while mostly effective, has no backgrounds at all. The most dramatic moments mostly land, though, and the plotting holds together through sheer inertia, making for a positive reading experience, albeit one that feels somewhat rushed.
BOTTOM LINE: UH-OH
The back-burner plotline is coming to the forefront, and Radiant Black #23 hurtles into the first phases of The Catalyst War with a few art and plotting wobbles, but an overall successful story and the possibility of another Radiant waiting in the wings, earning 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. The big question is what the Massive-Verse will look like when all is said and done.
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RADIANT BLACK #23
Marshall and Nathan have figured a few things out, but it's Radiant Yellow who holds the key to their future in an issue full of tension and impending doom.
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Writing7
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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.