When one of Rogue Sun’s villains comes to town, the hero can’t be far behind, but there’s still a multidimensional threat to be faced. Your Major Spoilers review of Radiant Black #33 from Image Comics awaits!

RADIANT BLACK #33

Writer: Kyle Higgins & Joe Clark
Artist: Eduardo Ferigato & Marcelo Costa
Colorist: Rod Fernandes
Letterer: Buddy Beaudoin
Editor: Michael Busuttil
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 30, 2025

Previously in Radiant Black: After the devastating end of the Catalyst War, Radiant Black has tried to get his life and his city back to normal. As Radiant Black investigates a new threat, he’s shocked to find it closer to home than he ever could have imagined! And as if that wasn’t enough: look, up in the sky! It’s a vampire! It’s a werewolf!

It’s… Bludmoon?

UNDER THE BLUDMOON

It’s Easter Sunday, and Marshall/Radiant Black is making the parental rounds. First, he visits his best friend Nathan’s newly widowed mom, who is slowly coming to terms with the loss of her husband and her son moving away. The real craziness begins upon visiting his own mother, who has somehow become part of a group that believes a conspiracy theory: Radiant Black himself is actually the evil version of himself from the other timeline of the Catalyst War, and also that he is the prophesied Antichrist. But when reports of a winged villain in Lakeview start circulating, he excitedly takes to the air, thinking that it might be the beautiful Mariposa, a new super-girl in town.

Instead, it’s Bludmoon, a bat/wolf hybrid creature who usually hangs around New Orleans and bugs his colleague Rogue Sun.

AN INTERESTING TAKE ON REALISM

After last issue’s meet-cute, this one takes a turn for the strange, as Radiant Pink teleports him to New Orleans, Rogue Sun gives him some questionably useful advice, and Marshall ends the issue as confused and out-of-sorts as he began it. Where most books categorize “realism” as sex, violence, nudity, and such, this one feels like the reality that I experience. Last issue’s plot featured a reference to Clerks, and I’m honestly not sure why I haven’t really drilled down on that parallel previously. Marshall’s world is very much like a Kevin Smith joint, including the ending, which promises that, as always, things are going on that our hero has no clue about. Artistically, it’s a nicely done issue, and I particularly appreciate a visual gag where Radiant Black tries to Google a cure for werewolf bites while levitating his smartphone, only to have his virtual assistant cycling through multiple wrong searches while he tries to turn it off.

BOTTOM LINE: STILL A TOP-NOTCH BOOK

In short, all the things that initially drew me to the Massive-Verse still apply to Radiant Black #33, including the bizarre real-world tangents, character with lives of their own despite not being the main character, and distinct, clean visuals that create a very realistic world for our hero, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall. It’s one of the most consistent books on the market, all the while constantly evolving and changing, a near-impossible proposition that the creative team pulls off with deceptive ease.

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RADIANT BLACK #33

80%

80%

The Plot Thickens

Marshall's own mother thinks he's the Antichrist, and his only confidante is a snarky kid from New Orleans, but the slow burn is working for me.

• Writing

  8
• Art

  8
• Coloring

  8
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