The conspiracies swirl, and even the power of Radiant Black isn’t enough to dispel the pernicious lies, while Jaeger waits in the shadows. Your Major Spoilers review of Radiant Black #34 from Image Comics awaits!
RADIANT BLACK #34
Writer: Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark
Artist: Eduardo Ferigato and Marcelo Costa
Colorist: Rod Fernandes and Marcelo Costa
Letterer: Becca Carey
Editor: Michael Busuttil
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 28, 2025
Previously in Radiant Black: They know the truth. They’ve read the signs. Only they know what is really happening in donut shops across America. It’s time for the world to see.
THINGS ARE GETTING DARK AGAIN
As Radiant Black #34 opens, a group of armored Second Earth believers attacks a donut shop with heavy artillery, insisting that the workers show them the door to… I’m actually not sure. Radiant Black calls it “Donut Narnia,” but it’s not even enough to break him away from a meeting with his merchandise team, trying to deal with supply chain issues for the same reasons as the real world. What is enough to bring him home is a text from his roommate, Radiant Pink, whose message claims they have a broken pipe. What they actually have is a home invasion by the armored jerk known as Jaeger, part of the Second Earth movement, who has one very simple demand for Marshall/Radiant Black:
Leave Earth forever. Or Jaeger will kill every single person he loves.
THE WORST KIND OF VILLAIN FOR RADIANT BLACK
Jaeger is eminently hatable, which is good. My problem is that he’s detestable for both in-universe and real-world reasons. We, as readers, know that his crusade is nonsense, and his gruff, unrelenting seriousness is a good foil for Radiant Black’s flippant nature. But that very same seriousness, combined with how easily he routs both Radiants and destroys their home, makes him feel almost out of place. I want to see him get his face bashed in as much because of what feels like a tonal mismatch as for his in-universe evil. The last-page cliffhanger does boil the blood, though, proving him to be even more evil than you might think. Ferigato, Costa, and Fernandes make him look good, though, and I appreciate that they make Marshall and Eva look as interesting out of their helmets as in them, while the horrifying Pizzagate vibes of the opening sequence are unexpectedly realistic.
Perhaps TOO much so?
BOTTOM LINE: FUN STUFF
Despite my concerns, Radiant Black #34 debuts a despicable new villain, threatens the Radiants in a new way, and looks quite good, earning a better-than-average 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. Jaeger’s debut seems to herald an acceleration of the Second Earth plotline to open warfare, so his oh-so-well-deserved beatdown shouldn’t be TOO far away.
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RADIANT BLACK #34
The new villain is awful in ways both good and bad, the art look solid and Radiant Pink proves herself to be smart and capable as we up the ante.
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Writing6
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Art8
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Coloring7
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.