Radiant Black vol. 2: Team-Up

Vol. 1 gave me some good “Invincible” meets “Power Rangers” vibes as I started reading it, before it served up a twist that expertly subverted my expectations.  It also left off on a cliffhanger that not only had new Marshall, the new Radiant Black, throwing down with his nemesis Radiant Red, but also meeting up with new Radiants Pink and Yellow, as well as an antagonistic Radiant that wanted them all dead.  It takes two issues to resolve this as the fighting stretches all the way from Russia to the depths of space before it gets resolved by the God in the Suit.  Things become much more down-to-earth in the issue that follows as we see Marshall finally coping with the changes his new powers have brought to his life, only for things to go way far out there in the next one as he goes on a cosmic quest to save his best friend  The fallout of that is addressed in the penultimate issue as Marshall deals with some lost time and a new Radiant-adjacent antagonist.  Then the volume wraps things up with a spotlight on Radiant Pink and how her post-suit life looks to be less stressful than how she was managing her life before as a streamer.

If that sounds like a lot of ground to cover in six issues, it certainly is.  The good news is that writer Kyle Higgins (with Joe Clark and Meghan Camarena co-writing issues 11 and 12, respectively) and artist Marcelo Costa (with Eduardo Ferigato and French Carlomagno doing solid work on issues 9 and 12, respectively) all present it in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming.  In fact, the protagonist switch continues to feel like a smart move as Marshall displays a charisma that’s smartassed and heartfelt in equal measure, and holds the story together through its many shifting tones and settings.  Really, the big swing that Higgins and Costa take in issue 10 wouldn’t have worked as well with a more straightforwardly sincere protagonist like Nathan.

This means that in the ways that count, vol. 2 of “Radiant Black” is a solid follow-up to its first volume.  More potential storytelling possibilities are set up with the new cast and I’m interested in seeing where the creators take them.  It’s just that there aren’t any big twists in this volume like the one that elevated the first.  While that in itself isn’t a bad thing, Higgins and company are looking to spin “Radiant Black” into its own superhero universe.  I’m of the opinion that this is too much too soon, and I’m worried that their ambitions may take away the focus that’s made this series as good as it is.  I don’t want to believe that’s going to be the case, but we’ll see how it goes when vol. 3 and “Supermassive” arrive.