Radiant Black vol. 7: All-New, All-Different

Marshall Ward is now Radiant Black – full-time – in the wake of the “Catalyst War.”  What does that mean for him?  He’s now doing superheroing full time along with trying to find a new girlfriend and paying the bills as he hangs out with Eva, a.k.a. Radiant Pink, in the apartment they share.  The man is also trying to get past the fact that his alternate-universe self went full villain during the “War,” until word about that alternate-Earth leaks onto the web. Now people are actually trying to get there, while some refugees from it are being murdered.  Oh, and then there’s the mysterious and very resourceful individual who has it out for Marshall and wants to see him dead.

I was all for seeing Marshall be the one true Radiant Black, but this isn’t a very inspiring start to his current run.  “All-New All-Different” is anything but as co-writers Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark serve up a story about a well-motivated antagonist who has it in for our hero and not only fail to provide any twists in its execution, but then proceed to drag it out for five whole issues.  More interesting is “The Long Life of Radiant Yellow” at the end of the volume which at least tries to tell an unusual story while setting up future ones, and has some distinctive art from Stefano Simeone.  Marshall’s smart-alecky personality is still fun to see in action, but it’s not enough to sustain this volume which has me questioning my commitment to “Radiant Black” as a whole.