Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Review: Black Dynamite- Slave Island

BLACK DYNAMITE/ SLAVE ISLAND (Ape, 2011; softcover original graphic novel)
Black Dynamite is among the greatest films ever committed to celluloid. Black Dynamite: Slave Island is among the greatest comic books ever committed to paper. Much like how the film is a love letter to early '70s Blaxploitation movies, this comic book is a love letter to early '70s Marvel Comic books, albeit with the word "motherfucker" used in copious amounts. From it's quasi-homage cover of Luke Cage, Hero For Hire #1 to the washed out looking color, which ironically took a lot of work on computers to make look low-tech and old, this feels like something from 1972. Props to the crew first: Writer Brian Ash's dialogue had me laughing hysterically, as much if not more so than the in the movie. Pure. Fucking. Genius. Artist Jun LoFamia does a convincing job of making this feel like a 1972 Marvel comic, and that's awesome. Colorist J. M. Rinquet made this thing look old, from the "aging" of the color of the panel borders, to the fake color bleed, printing inconsistencies and the flat color palettes used. This book looks like an old comic book. Again, it is ironic how high-tech means had to be employed, to great effort, to make this look old and low budget. Pure. Fucking. Genius. The first printing sold out quickly (I ended up having to buy it online), and a second printing is on the way. NOTE TO COMICS RETAILERS: Do not make this mistake again. The will of the people must be listened to...and the people demand Black Dynamite! Order it by the thousands!
The shark fight is among the greatest fight scenes anywhere, ever, and even blows away the shark fight scene in the Batman TV series from 1966.

2 comments:

  1. I've been out for a while, but comics are $6 these days? Sheesh!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a 48 page graphic novel. Cardstock cover, heavy paper. It'd be a bargain at the twice the price, because Black Dynamite is that awesome.

    ReplyDelete